Should An Emergency Fund Always Be In Cash?

I wouldn’t put all of my emergency fund into those items, but when it comes right down to it…you can’t eat the cash. I think those are all good choices, depending on your family’s needs and the emergencies you are most likely to face.

ten years ago when i was in debt up to my eyeballs, i took a real hard look at my lifestyle. changes needed to be made, no matter what the economy was doing. i kept a list of needs, wants and wishes..almost everything i owed money on is now paid off. there is now money in savings and emergency money near at hand. my pantry is full thanks to gardening and homecanning as well as good sales. we might eat out 4 times a year if an occasion arises..(big money saver) and our son went through seven years of college on scholarships and part time jobs. today my husband and i are both retired…but, that does’nt mean we quit earning a little money here and there. i take in sewing, and sell fruit from my own trees. my husband is currently a census worker. you will feel better when you have control over your life and life is not controlling you. you don’t need to get rid of your animals-you need to make up your mind to do the things you need to do to keep what you have.

I have been involved in preparedness for many years primarily because it is something my church advocates strongly and I work for the State so we also address this issue from a public health and safety position.

It is important to have some cash. In a disaster, ATMs (and other electronic card readers and computerized “tills”) may not function, or if they do, could be quickly drained dry. Large bills could be useless too. If you need to buy a small ticket item but the vendor cannot change your large bill, you will end up paying too much for that much-needed item (or go without it). So, a certain amount of small-bill cash makes sense. I would say several hundred dollars would be ideal.

I don’t think we should put all our savings in a mattress or other unsafe place where thieves may break through and steal or our Alzheimer’s kicks in and we forget where we put it (or we die and our family doesn’t know). But, we do want to be able to access enough to survive for a few weeks, as opposed to money market certificates or something not readily available.

It would benefit everyone to think about the unforeseen and plan for disasters. They can occur in many different ways. By being as independent as possible with preparations made now, including 72 hour kits for emergency evacuation, we can rest more easily. We can’t prevent the unexpected calamity but we can ease some of our fears about survival.

It’s an interesting question. I’ve never thought of my pantry as emergency savings. The way I look at it, my emergency savings is for those unexpected expenses that might come up (getting the transmission on the car fixed, major unexpected home repairs, etc). While I believe that you should be prepared for the unexpected, I think that should be separate from emergency savings.

I’m torn about having gold in your emergency savings. While I do think we are going to have crazy inflation soon, I’m not sure how easy it will be to get what your gold is actually worth quickly, if there is an emergency. I’d be interested to see someone do a blog post about that. Might have to do some research after tax season is over.