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birb_cromble  6d ago (text post)   1090 thread views

Weekly Finance Thread

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.
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How much emergency cash do people keep around? and where precisely so I know where to look I 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.

We've got a couple hundred sitting around for tipping housekeeping.

Otherwise, I feel like I should have some (a couple thousand?) in our go bag. The issue is I don't know how to size it: in a scenario where banking and payment infrastructure is shut down entirely, what problems am I trying to solve with cash? Seems like extra ammo would be a better use of the space. Maybe gold jewelry if I expect to be moving abroad?

The issue is I don't know how to size it: in a scenario where banking and payment infrastructure is shut down entirely, what problems am I trying to solve with cash?

The banking system need not fail generally for backup cash to be useful, it just needs to fail you. This could be through some bank error, or it could be because you got put on a list. Not long ago I would not have predicted that "donated a small amount to a non-violent protest movement" could result in your bank assets being frozen, but it happened in Canada. Now I think it's wise to assign some low probability to otherwise innocuous things exposing you to this kind of risk.

As anti-AI sentiment builds perhaps "frequently commented on SlateStarCodex" could be reason enough to freeze a person's assets.

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