How to inflation proof your emergency fund?

[zack1234]

So your saying don't bother saving because it's all going down the toilet?

So I am right then?

Lots of paragraphs says more about the individual than anything else.

How about this Eagl?

I always buy with cash and I am cheap, I will always have a job because I am cheap

Inflation will never affect my beans on toast.

If I have no money I will be your butler.

[Brooke]

So your saying don't bother saving because it's all going down the toilet?

No -- it is just much, much harder these days because so much market movement depends on the whims of a handful of dangerous bureaucrats.

So I am right then?

I don't care what we are talking about -- you are always right. 

Lots of paragraphs says more about the individual than anything else.

You have lots of paragraphs!  They are just all one sentence long.

How about this Eagl?

I always buy with cash and I am cheap, I will always have a job because I am cheap

Zack is a galactic treasure, and only cheap insofar as it amuses him to be, related to particular deviances, which we cannot discuss.

Inflation will never affect my beans on toast.

Especially if you stock up on beans sealed in 5 gallon mylar bags.

[morfiend]

So your saying don't bother saving because it's all going down the toilet?

So I am right then?

Lots of paragraphs says more about the individual than anything else.

How about this Eagl?

I always buy with cash and I am cheap, I will always have a job because I am cheap

Inflation will never affect my beans on toast.

If I have no money I will be your butler.

  Same with me Zack,except I will never have another job!


   The little monies I have actually work for me instead of the other way around!  The only reason this is like that is because I have no debt,none ,zero, and I never use credit to buy anything.

 Although if I lived in the US I might carry a mortgage because I understand the interest is a tax deduction,DAMN I wish I had that where I live...... I might have a mansion....    But in the high arctic a simple 2 story igloo will do!



   

[zack1234]

In the UK your earnings get taxed

When you save the rest of your earnings in a pension and retire to collect it they tax it again

You could not make it up

If your GREEK  tax is what normal people pay, EU handouts are the opposite to tax

Whats a emergency fund anyway? Something a financial advisor got paid $500 to tell someone not to sqaunder all their coin on kak.

[pembquist]

Its all been said already but in succinct terms I would say that is impossible to protect a small risk free liquid emergency fund from inflation since by definition it has to be cash.

[zack1234]

Buy something like a vintage watch

In 20 years someone who has stolen money from someones pension fund will have loads of coin to sqaunder on trinkets

[Rolex]

Liquid savings isn't such a bad thing. The average household cash savings where I am is over $110,000, and that reduces a lot more risk in emergencies than the average $216.41* of savings in the U.S.

As Brooke said, inflation is higher than "reported." When you pay more for a new computer, the government accounting says that you got more value, so there is no price increase.

Inflation statistics are the work of the devil, unlike the collision model, which is easily understood, but just seems like Einstein's theory of special relativity to the Bish.

I've liked cash savings since 2008, but that's just me. I top off the tank instead of worrying too much about inflation. I'm not spending it all at once anyway. It only affects you when you spend it.

Debt can kill you, saving won't harm you.

* Random number for effect, but probably close...

[Gman]

Brooke, I think many people feel the same.  Many.  It's hard to not become depressed when examining how it's all ended up.

Rolex, completely agree with that.  You live in Japan IIRC right?  I had no idea that the average person there had that much set aside compared to America. 

I keep an emergency fund similar to what Eagl suggests, however I also prepare for the possibility that electricity will = no go, which means electronic numbers of an emergency account won't be accessible.  So, I keep a large amount of cash on hand.  It doesn't even take a world wide meltdown, here in Canada not long ago, ice storms in Quebec shut society down, and they were only a few days from major, major problems.  The biggest issue was no electricity, which meant no access to emergency accounts, or any accounts, so folks without stored food/medication/fuel/etc were in serious trouble in some cases. Weather related disasters are the primary reason I have emergency funds/metals/stores, etc.  I'm sure people that lived through that, as well as other recent disasters like Katrina would advise anyone that keeping cash on hand isn't a bad thing.

I do agree that trying to protect your emergency fund from inflation is difficult, and just accepting that and adding to it yearly to keep pace as Eagl suggests is about the best one can do.  Splitting some (in my case I choose 1/2) of the funds off into cash or even some gold coins isn't a "nut" thing to do any more, if it ever was. 

[zack1234]

Eagl got anoyed with me for everything i said in this thread and you all agreed with me

I think its because of the Boston tea party

Japan can have savings they have 9 people doing the job of one to keep everyone in a job (This Is a fact)

In the US and UK if it takes 9  people to do a job they employ 3 (This is a fact)

Japan an economic powerhouse  my fat bott!

It was subsisdised like Germany to fight the Cold War and stop them both rampaging about when they did not get thier own way.

Eating Raw fish and making watery lager is the basis of mental instability

[Brooke]

They have great cartoons.

[BoilerDown]

Inflation is so low in recent history I don't know why you'd make it a primary concern.  Are you not a resident of the United States?

[zack1234]

Commie!

[Brooke]

Inflation is so low in recent history I don't know why you'd make it a primary concern.  Are you not a resident of the United States?

Cash has lost half its value in 15 years.  Consider what these things cost today vs. in 2000:

Big Macs
Apartment rents
Farmland
House prices
Sneakers
Restaurant meals
Groceries
Health insurance
College tuition

Sadly, salaries for most people are not 2x what they were in 2000.

We've been cheated (but most people don't know it yet). 

[zack1234]

How dare you I have reported you!

Your a Commie as well as a North Korean spy! Or a Greek spy

Who is the enemy this month or should I say who is not going to invade the US this month?

China does not feel cheated

My apologies

[Brooke]

Hmm.  My great grandfather was Greek.

I did a DNA test, and it said I was 1/8th Greek but not a spy.  I have blond hair.

The enemy this month is the Pope.

China should feel cheated.  We gave them a bunch of paper in exchange for goods.  They will find out the real worth of that paper later.  But they are making up for it by taking all the gold they can at prices stupidly manipulated lower by banker dunces.

I am a libertarian.  The libertarian is the antiparticle to the commie.