Emergency Fund: Prioritizing Financial Risk Management

Prioritize building emergency fund with 1.5 months expenses, then resume investing cautiously.

### Building and Maintaining Emergency Funds: A Key Element of Financial Planning
* 💸  Despite having an emergency fund with **1.5 months of expenses**, Ninjo is advised to consider the risk of facing another emergency with **insufficient savings**.
* 📊  Generally, individuals are recommended to have **3 to 6 months of living expenses in emergency reserves** to manage risks effectively.
* 🔄  It's essential to view financial planning as a **dynamic process**, as life events and emergencies can alter the **financial order of operations**.
* 🔍 " Go do the research to figure out if you're **3 months, 6 months, or even beyond 6 months**, and then that's going to answer your question.
* 🎯  Once a person determines their **Safe Harbor amount for emergency funds**, they can adopt a hybrid approach, focusing on both **building up emergency reserves** and **investing for the future**.
* 🏊‍♂️  Emergency funds act as a safety net to prevent individuals from being **financially exposed** during unexpected situations.

[Music] Yeah, we've got a good question to start us off from Ninjo. Ninjo, it says, I have had to tap into my emergency fund. I still have roughly 1 and a half months of expenses still in savings. So my question is, do I pause my investing to save back up, or do I just not invest as much? Um, I thought this was a great question and, uh, a great financial order of operations question. So what do you have to say to him? Well, here's what I like, Ninjo. Uh, you had an emergency fund, so first let's start there and say kudos to you for having funds available when something happened. Now, you did not say what caused you to drain your emergency fund, but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume it was an emergency. That's awesome. That's awesome that it's there. Well, now in the spot that you sit, you have 1 and A2 months of expenses currently sitting in your emergency fund. Here's what makes me nervous: What happens if another emergency

happens. What happens if there's another unknown unknown that comes your way? I worry. I'm concerned that you may be a little too lean. So, when I think about my personal financial situation, and I would encourage when you think about yours, you have to think about it through the lens of risk management. What are the things that are going to cause me to be too risky? Or what are the things going to help me remove risk? And I would think that only having one and a half months, you know, that are standard fairs. We want you to have 3 months to 6 months of living expenses in emergency reserves. If you're at one and a half, I think you got to prioritize building that back up. And fortunately, the FU can be the tool to help you figure out how and on what trajectory to do that. That's right. If you go to money.com resources, you can download your own copy of the food, but and this is important. I wrote down three quick things. First of all, it's what we think.

versus the reality. I think a lot of people find out about the financial order of operations. They just assume you go from steps one all the way through nine kind of like you're walking up steps. However, this is not the way life happens to us. Life has a lot of curveballs, has a sense of humor. It's not uncommon that you'll have emergencies, you'll have life changes, your food will change over time, and there's nothing wrong if you think about the fact that you were obviously beyond step four of the financial order of operations 'cause steps one and four, your cash step, steps within the foo and now you're having to take a step back 'cause you're back to 1 and 1 half months of emergency expenses or you said that's what you're spending. So now I ask you, go do the research to figure out are you 3 months, are you 6 months, or even beyond 6 months, and then that's going to answer your question. It's okay to go back to step four.

all your efforts into that. However, once you cross into if you figure out and you say, Hey, maybe I'm 3 months to be comfortable, but because I'm in a great career where I could change jobs easily, um, I don't have a lot of people counting on my money if there's an emergency. So, I do six because it gives me peace of mind, but three would actually get the job done. I think once you cross whatever that Safe Harbor amount is, it's okay then to transition into this hybrid method where yes, you are putting more towards your emergency Reserve, step four, but then also you're putting money to work in steps five and six through your employer plan. But just make sure you triage so that you don't have you're too far out on the wrist Spectrum. That's what Bo was alluding to, that emergency reserves is to keep you from swimming naked whenever you get into an emergency situation. I love it, no skinny dipping, no skinny dipping, that's awesome.

What Is the Best Strategy for Refilling My Emergency Fund?

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Managing Your Finances After Tapping Into Your Emergency Fund

It's important to prioritize building up your emergency fund, especially if it's currently at only one and a half months of expenses.

You may need to pause your investing or reduce the amount you invest in order to replenish your emergency fund.

Consider using a financial tool to help you figure out the best trajectory for rebuilding your emergency savings.

The Reality of the Financial Order of Operations

Life often brings unexpected events and changes to financial plans, challenging the idea of a linear progression through the nine steps of the financial order of operations.

Emergencies and life transitions can disrupt the process, leading to a need to reassess and potentially step back to earlier stages.

Researching and determining the appropriate length of emergency funds is crucial, even if it means returning to step four of the financial order of operations.

It's important to assess your comfort level and financial stability when determining the size of your emergency fund.

Once you have a sufficient emergency fund, consider allocating money to other financial goals, but prioritize based on your needs.

The key is to strike a balance between building your emergency reserve and investing for the future to avoid taking on too much risk.