Since a lot of us here have expressed interest in not starving to death in a gutter, I figured I'd start a weekly thread to discuss financial matters.
Ground Rules
- Remember that we're all just Internet randos. Don't bet your life savings on a hot tip from this thread.
- Keep culture war in the culture war thread. Yes, global events may impact our personal finances, but that does not mean we have to incessantly harp on culture war aspects here. If you are going to discuss it, please stick to the practical impacts of it on an individual level.
- Be kind. Remember that everyone here comes from different circumstances. We all have different resources available and different risk tolerances.
- Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Better is better. Celebrate people when they take a step up and work to move their finances in the right direction. Don't flame out because they haven't followed what you consider the optimal path. Everybody has to start somewhere.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
How much emergency cash do people keep around?
and where precisely so I know where to lookI don't mean uninvested money in a checking account or whatever, I mean literal cash not in a bank.I have a few thousand, which might be too much, but zero feels like too little.
Literally nothing. I don't even have any notes in my wallet.
What are you keeping it for? In a situation where the electronic banking system goes down for a meaningful amount of time, I'd rather have food stockpiled than cash (although you can of course have both).
Several years ago, my bank card was compromised, and when I went to use my credit card, it automatically locked because of "suspicious activity". This all happened on a three day weekend when I couldn't straighten it out easily. It taught me the value of having some cash on hand for essentials.
Awhile ago I had to call my bank in advance to seek approval for a very large transaction that I 100% knew was going to get denied and flagged as fraudulent. They were able to extend my limit for the day and I was able to get the transaction split into two separate bills, 50/50 and it went through just fine. There was another time when I was moving money between accounts, one into an Venmo account, and somehow a small online transaction got denied, using my debit card. It was such a pain in the ass to contact Venmo customer support (it’s intentionally buried in layers of bureaucratic bullshit), they couldn’t process it through. The usual “Uh. Yeah. Sorry. Don’t know what it is but can’t help you.” Anyone that’s been a supporter of FinTech companies over the years has obviously never had to resolve a problem with them when things go wrong. There’s a lot more rot underneath the “innovation” of these businesses than is imagined.
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