What Issues Should I Consider When Establishing And Maintaining My Emergency Fund?

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Updated 12/1/2023

There’s a lot more to an emergency fund than just 3–6 months of expenses. How does one properly define “expenses” anyway? One thing we do know is that clients think about their cash and expenses a lot. Yet, as planners, we like to spend a lot more time on the “complicated” stuff. Let’s change that up a bit.

With this checklist, you will enable a more meaningful conversation on a topic that is often overlooked and will provide greater value to your clients. This checklist covers the key issues to consider when establishing and maintaining an emergency fund, such as:

How to properly define an emergency fund that is appropriate for your client’s situation.
Having a plan to address both expected and unexpected expenses in one’s emergency fund.
The pros and cons of where one’s emergency fund is located.
Understanding how one’s emergency fund might intersect with other planning goals, and what implications that may carry.

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