# How many months of net take-home pay do you have in savings right now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 4, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976 "2015-08-04T15:47:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/1 "2015-08-04T15:47:51Z")
Not gross pay, but how many times of your monthly net take home pay do you have in savings. Not your 401k or retirement accounts but in cash in the bank, under your mattress, buried in mason jars in the back yard. Poll to come… ---
**Author:** ![elninost0rm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/2 "2015-08-04T16:00:01Z")
7 months. ~4 months if you include my wife’s income, but she’s only lived/worked in the States for about 6 months, so that number is likely to balloon and/or exceed 7 months soon. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/3 "2015-08-04T16:04:11Z")
3 months, but anything less than a year’s pay is paycheck-to-paycheck by my way of thinking… one serious car problem or medical mishap and I’m cleaned out. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/4 "2015-08-04T16:08:48Z")
I included what is in my checking accounts since the interest on savings is so low, .25% if you are lucky, that it is not worth the effort of moving it. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/5 "2015-08-04T16:10:32Z")
I used to have a lot. Over a year. Then I went over a year without much income. Now I’m at zero. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/6 "2015-08-04T16:11:15Z")
Does money invested in liquid stocks count as savings or is that retirement? Either ~6 months or 1 month depending. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/7 "2015-08-04T16:54:53Z")
Almost 3 months, but I said 2 on the poll. I have a financial advisor friend who goes on about putting 33% of your check directly into savings, but I think that includes retirement funds. In any case, I do not follow that advice and perhaps some day it will bite me. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/8 "2015-08-04T17:25:57Z")
13 months. I really need to do something with this money rather than let it sit in a savings account. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/9 "2015-08-04T17:40:30Z")
27 months, but that’s only because we recently exercised some options and haven’t yet moved the cash out of savings. It’s usually about 8-10 months. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/10 "2015-08-04T17:46:40Z")
When we were both working, we’d rarely have a month in reserve, and there were far too many paycheck-to-paycheck months, especially early on. It was only in my last year or so at work that we really built up our savings account. Then we had to drill the well… My husband is still working and I’m looking at going back to work, maybe, because I’m bored. Our savings accounts are still sitting around a month, but because of my age, our IRA is easily accessible (separate from our 401K and annuities) - with only that to supplement my pension, we could go without any other income for at least 2 years, definitely more if we made severe adjustments to our lifestyle. At a minimum, we want to have the price of a new car in savings for when ours eventually dies (it’s a 2012, so no time soon, I’m hoping.) If I do go back to work, that’ll be easily doable, with more to spare. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/11 "2015-08-04T19:07:15Z")
About nine months’ worth of net pay is in savings/checking. I would prefer to invest a lot of this, since it’s quite easy to get money wired from an investment into checking/savings on a day’s notice, but for some reason my wife wants to have shitloads of cash accessible within minutes. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/12 "2015-08-04T19:17:02Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I used to have a lot. Over a year. Then I went over a year without much income. Now I’m at zero. Yeah, this is why we’ve got too much squirreled away. I lost my job right after we’d bought our first house and first kid, and the “toughest job I ever had” (trying to find a job) wiped out our savings. Now that we’ve both had jobs for a while… and the aforementioned kid is out of college and supporting herself… we’ve got too much in savings and not enough invested. But that “We could lose everything overnight!” feeling is hard to forget. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/13 "2015-08-04T19:27:04Z")
Less than one month. Many times less than that if you count my credit card debt. Once you dig yourself into a hole, it’s really hard to dig out of it. I live frugally, but there’s only so many places you can cut back. The tv/satellite is the next to go, but I’m having a hard time saying goodbye. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/14 "2015-08-04T19:29:43Z")
I keep very little in savings with the market going up, and banking interest so low. If it became necessary I could credit card most anything until I sold some stock, which should be 3-5 days at most. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/15 "2015-08-04T19:34:14Z")
About eleven months, but I’m saving towards a down payment on a house, though. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/16 "2015-08-04T19:42:12Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Does money invested in liquid stocks count as savings or is that retirement? Yeah, I have no idea how to respond. We keep $20k in cash, but many times that are readily accessible with no penalty (other than capital gains). So a couple of months’ salary cash, a couple years’ salary accessible. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/17 "2015-08-04T19:55:19Z")
5 months - but that includes all liquid savings, including money for the kid’s college. Can I just say I am not happy about this? It is my nature to be a saver. It is my spouses nature to be a spender. This is not a good combination… ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/18 "2015-08-04T21:21:53Z")
About 2 days’ take home pay. About 5 years in liquid investments, which I could have in my bank account in about 2 days. Get paid and pay bills twice a month, sweep the remainder into investments. I couldn’t imagine having months of salary sitting around doing nothing. I’ve never suddenly needed tens of thousands of dollars in cash. ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/19 "2015-08-04T21:42:16Z")
Only 3 months, but I’ve been pushing as much excess each month as I can to my mortgage to get it cleared out. Maybe not the smartest thing, but at the rate I’m spending I can be mortgage free in 3 years and that’s a goal that’s just too pretty to pass up. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976/20 "2015-08-04T21:52:41Z")
6-8 months, but if you add in my wife’s savings we’re closer to a year. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-months-of-net-take-home-pay-do-you-have-in-savings-right-now/726976.md?page=2)