Rainy day money?

[Strawberrycornetto]

We are about to make lots of big changes to our financial position. I know I have read that it is advisable to have an easily accessible pot of money in case of emergencies. Does anyone know how much is recommended in terms of monthly income?

Thanks.

i don't know what is recommended but we have about six months worth of bills (everything that we pay out on a monthly basis) covered in case one of us is ever out of work.

As a rule of thumb, three months worth of all your essential outgoings (all bills and food) is ideal. Six months is even better, but realistically three months is more achievable for most people.

The best way to work this out is go through the budget planner on www.moneysavingexpert.com and work out what you'd need.

We have three month's salary put aside for emergencies - it's scary how quickly it would run out if we actually had to use it!

Generally three months as Hopefully says, but you do not say what the changes are to your situation so it may be more. Usually three months is for those that are working in secure jobs. If you are going to be in a period of financial instabilty and you have a mortgage, etc to cover then clearly you will need more for as you say you can get through three months pretty quickly.

Thanks everyone. I think we will have 3 months net money in our emergency fund plus a separate fund to cover all the one off expenses we wil have during the period where things will be a bit less certain.