i have kept as much as 3 years worth at the current burn rate (that burn rate does not include traditional regular income from ETF etc) on fiat in there. plus the regular burn rate is in large part covered my my tradition stuff.. 401s, etf, stocks, so even if btc crated tomorrow i *should* bbe set.
The "standard" that is often recommended is 3 to 6 months of current burn rate. For your fiat or cash emergency fund.
Interesting that you have 3 years. Although I have read about one traditional early retiree (or maybe he isn't retired yet), that claims he has 7 years worth as his emergency fund. I think that is too much, but hey, that's his comfort and safety level, and good on him for that.
Considering the bitcoin cycles, I'd say 3 years is good, 4 years might be better, but beyond that might be wasting your money unless you have more than you really need.
I mean, if that guy loses all income for 7 years, he should be good, and still have his capital or other investments intact.
1st my wife and i are retired so that may change ones definition of "emergency." i retired many years earlier than even my most optimistic goal. it allowed my wife to take an early one too but the years early for her were not as much as mine due to reasons. anyway thank you bitcoint.
i wouldnt really mind 4 years of emergency money (ie separate from any saving account one may have, as i said emergency money is not used for TVs new computers toys etc. its there for, well, emergencies that could serious fuck up your future.
but i settled on three because i have enough passive income through traditional stuff that it takes a load off what i need in the emergency fund.
three years even in a bear market will allow some halfway decent price point to be waited for selling if i need to (yes less of course) as i would have plenty of time to sell what was needed before it gets really low (like a local bottom). being able to watch an 80% drop and just wait it out because i know i can wait for a somewhat decent price (as opposed to a mindrust price but no guarantees of course) helps me sleep at night.
I would define emergency and the money stuffed into such an account as what is your actual annual expenses, regardless of whether you are retired or not.
If you spend approximately 40k USD per year, and you have 120k in your emergency fund account, then you have 3 years. Having 160k should give you some peace of mind.
The one dude I mentioned had something like 100k USD expenses every year, he has maybe a 4 children or something, and he saved up 700k as his emergency fund (and has a lot more than that invested in traditional fiat investments) ... I don't think he's a bitcoiner at all, but have not researched if did anything recently to change that.
I'm pretty sure if they did, they would categorize bitcoin has "put money you can afford to lose" or "limit to 1% allocation" or something like that. They see it as gambling. We (royal we) might see it as an asymmetric bet.