I know this is just a meme, but I think it’s an important clarification: The rule of thumb is ~6 months’ worth of expenses, not salary. It really is important to hold you over in case of sudden job loss, since it takes most people 3-6 months to find a new job (but it doubles as a fund for genuine emergencies too, which can save your ass for stuff like unexpected medical or vet bills).
But unfortunately, lots of people live paycheck to paycheck, so for them, a month’s worth of expenses is the same thing as a month’s salary…
I know this is just a meme, but I think it’s an important clarification: The rule of thumb is ~6 months’ worth of expenses, not salary. It really is important to hold you over in case of sudden job loss, since it takes most people 3-6 months to find a new job (but it doubles as a fund for genuine emergencies too, which can save your ass for stuff like unexpected medical or vet bills).
But unfortunately, lots of people live paycheck to paycheck, so for them, a month’s worth of expenses is the same thing as a month’s salary…
It gets worse than that. Many of us have expenses that are higher than our income.
I was going to say, until roughly 12 months ago 6 months of expenses would have been more than 6 months of wages for me.
Hell, still is if all I’m counting is my own income, and not household income