Post
Topic
Board Speculation
Merits 1 from 1 user
Re: Buy the DIP, and HODL!
by
Falconer
on 15/05/2023, 17:40:34 UTC
⭐ Merited by JayJuanGee (1)
So far I haven't been very strict about setting aside an emergency fund and I can tell you it's pretty flexible from one month to another. I mean, the amount can vary as the needs that I have to fulfill each month increase or not. But of course I wish I could put it aside every month as long as I have my salary paid out at the beginning of the month even if it's only a few percent of the amount I've managed to save. Part of it I think is good for investment, and part of it as an emergency fund.

You do not need to be adding to your "cash reserves" or your "emergency fund" every month once you get to a kind of sustainable level.  I recall at one point in my life when I was single (no business and no family) that I had a monthly cashflow cushion of $500 (which just meant that the lowest point that the checking account balance projection would ever get would be $500)... but that did not account for other places in which I might have to draw if my income dried up or my expenses increased.  When I added a business then I had to increase that $500 amount to $1,500 and there were times that I went up higher and down lower, and sometimes when I would lower it too much then I would see that I was getting into "pickles" too frequently, so I would raise it order to lessen my chances of getting into "pickles.".. so cash cushion is one thing and then how much in reserves is another thing - and if you are having to dip into your reserves frequently, and if you are always (or frequently) into the practice of engaging in replenishing it, then it may well be a sign that it is NOT high enough.. or something is wrong with your balancing of factors, your life style or maybe just the various ways of your income are really inconsistent or your expenses are "all over the place.".. it might also be a sign that you are overly investing into BTC (or whatever other investments that you might have) .

I would imagine that it would be preferable to get to a position in which you are not bouncing around a lot (sure some bouncing is probably not a bad sign in terms of needing to be somewhat aggressive and not overly whimpy in terms of how much you are investing into risky assets - such as bitcoin), and so it is not necessarily easy to strike something close to a balance - and the ultimate goal would be that you are choosing how much to invest into bitcoin based on "extra" cashflow that comes from income and/or fewer expenses, rather than every month struggling to replenish your emergency funds that are already overly depleted... and of course, those are judgement calls in which you have to figure out your own proper, appropriate and comfortable balancing.
I understand that I may mess up this plan in the future when one or two cash flows from multiple sources suddenly dry up. However, I have learned many things from the experiences of the people around me, including maybe some of your experiences in managing finances. This management sometimes won't go according to what we plan, but trying to avoid mistakes in the sense of managing it properly must be attempted.

Children need a lot of things and expenses will increase along they grow up. Just a few days ago my emergency fund had to be reduced due to a need that I can say is urgent, but I have to be grateful it doesn't exceed 10% of the total cash I have as an emergency fund. As I said before, I'm pretty flexible about this plan, and probably won't always oblige myself to consistency on the plan.