A thread about debt started me thinking about our approach to saving money. I heard you should have at least two months salary in liquid assets. Any other “savings” should go into longer term investments such as Money Markets, CDs, etc… At a certain point, the rest should be in retirement savings. This sounded like a good idea to Sn-woman and me and so we try to keep it there. Does anyone else subscribe to a specific plan for savings?
Yep. 15% off the top into 401K. Employer matches 4%. Not taxed til I retire.
Also some in a credit union from a previous job, where it gets pretty good interest.
Periodically siphon off a specified amount from the checking account into higher interest savings account.
Of course, it makes little or no sense to save money in an account paying, say, 1% if you’re lucky unless you are first carrying no credit card balances. Credit cards, as you probably know, have astronomical interest rates.
For a brief time last year a couple of banks were offering balance transfers for 0% interest and 0% transaction fee. I took the max, put it in another bank account that paid some interest, and then gave back the principal 1 month before the offer expired. You have to be careful with that strategy, though. If you are 1 minute late with one payment, you immediately get smacked with full interest on the whole thing.
MLS makes some good points.
Here’s my take:
Money that goes into my retirement, be it IRAs, 401K or whatever I do not consider savings. I just consider it as retirement tax, with my refunds due after I retire. I do not consider it savings because I do not intend to ever make withdrawls from it, for any reason, until after I retire.
Paying off credit card debt is a wise move right now with CC interest rates so high and savings interest rates so low.
Consider “savings” as an expense. Get into the habit of making sure some amount, any amount goes straight from every paycheck into savings. Once you’ve paid off your credit card debt – if you have any – increase your savings amount. Sure the interest rates don’t pay much right now. That’s not the point. The point is deliberately saving money all the time from every paycheck and build up that emergency money.
How much should you stash away for emergencies? At least six months of net income. Once you achieve that goal, don’t stop saving but continue it forever. You will never know when you need it.
Cautiously, from behind! 
Fagjunk Theology: Not just for sodomite propagandists anymore.
We have a compulsory 9% super fund.
On top of that I obligingly give another 45% odd to the government and they…um, well - that ain’t saving is it? I don’t have enough left to save better than 50cents week