Emergency funds and banking

I saw a discussion about keeping emergency funds for the long haul without touching them, and it got me thinking. Why not invest that cash in something that can give you quicker returns? I wanted to share my thoughts here since it's pretty relevant for those of us in the Bitcoin space. I've had an emergency fund sitting in my bank account for a while now, and it’s just collecting dust while the bank is racking up fees. I’ve decided I’m done with that and I’m going to start lending out my emergency funds instead. The plan is simple: when I lend, the borrower has to put up a valuable asset as collateral. That way, if they default, I can sell that asset to get my money back. Keeping my emergency funds in a bank where they just keep taking fees? No thanks. Some might wonder, what if an emergency hits while I’ve lent my money out? Well, I’d just get a loan to cover it and then sort it out when I get my emergency fund back. So, if you’ve had your funds sitting idle for ages and you’re not even using them, maybe look into a low-risk investment that could provide short-term gains. That way, if you need cash for an emergency later, you can just borrow against your investments.

An emergency fund is like insurance; it's a price you pay to protect yourself from risk. You seem to think you've come up with a great idea, but you're not the first person to have a similar idea and get burned. For starters, you don't have to keep your emergency funds in the bank; you can keep them in cash. Relying on a loan when times are tough is high risk because when the time comes, they may not give it to you or they may charge you high interest. I had an emergency fund that I didn't use for years until I had to use it. It gives you much more financial peace of mind to have an emergency fund, even if you don't use it for a long time, rather than playing around with loans.

I would argue if it's better to earn from interest account which you can retrieve your funds instantly without waiting for few hours or a day. Usually this only available for digital accounts, whether you stake your money in digital bank or centralized exchanges. Emergency funds need to be very liquid, even you offer short term loan like a week, but you need the money in day 5, you will have a problem.

Exactly, as from what I learn from one famous financial adviser here, you should have at least 6 months buffer or emergency fund. Like in case that you lose our job, at least you still have the money to continue to live and pay the bills until you got a new job. So you will not be pressured at all and as you have said, peace of mind knowing that you still have the money to sustained. Worst case is that you can't find a job in that timeframe but I doubt if if you are really resilient to go find a new one. I have know someone, like that, in just a week she finds a new job and so her emergency fund is still intact and then he can continue to pay for the mortgage of her house.

How much does bank charge compared to the risk of being hit by an emergency when you have nothing at hand and have to go source for means of borrowing? emergency fund protects you and your asset from uncertainties that can either get you frustrated or push you to selling your coin in loss. there are chances that when you go sourcing for money to borrow, you might not see it and then might be left with the option of selling your coin to offset the emergency. this is what having an emergency fund can save you from. it is even better that if you are not comfortable with the banking system that you keep the funds in cash form or even in USDT depending on your country which is also a good alternative to the banking system.

That's also a clever way to use your emergency money for something that would profit you without losing, a lot of things makes absolutely sense in what you explain about bank because it will also going to be a lost on someone if they are saving an emergency money they do not want to use for another thing that would generate income and the bank is cutting it for them, except if the person would withdraw it into cash and save it manually that whenever the need arises they will just visit were they kept it and take the amount they need and leave the rest. Lending is risky but if this measures is what you usually explore then there is no way you will loss your money.

You should keep your emergency funds with you at all time and there's no need to use it for loan giving because it's for an unforeseen circumstances and not for doing business. Life is full of uncertainty, therefore, it is not wise to be hit with an emergency, you should start running here and there looking for who will borrow you money when you had yours but used it for business. What if you did not see anyone to lend you the money. You can keep your emergency funds in usdt, and keep it in a self custody wallet.

If you want to hold an emergency fund then obviously you shouldn’t hold it in a bank. In some countries it’s more likely than others that you may have trouble withdrawing your funds in an emergency but even First World. Countries have withdrawal limits & red tape to access your funds. Keep it in cash & or Bitcoin. You should be the only person who can access that money.

Never knew about this "to have 6 months emergency funds saved upfront" and I will put it into practice. For me, the emergency funds I like saving up to are what could last for me for a month. I haven't thought about having more emergency funds just in case the unexpected happens, like losing my job. However, with this info learned, I will begin now to act fast, have more emergency funds so that I will have something to hold on to for some months, even when I have no source of income, my bills will still be paid from my emergency funds untill I bounce back(having a job or business)

Do you think the decision you have explained here is right? You should always act thoughtfully, never think after acting. When you have an emergency fund, it is better to use that fund for good purposes, never for risky purposes. You have said here that your emergency fund will lend money to those who want to borrow money with interest and they will continue to give you interest. At some point, your interest amount will become the total loan amount and you will make a lot of profit there. But here you will do everything right. But you should not take interest from the borrowers by lending money because doing this business is not accepted in most religions. Moreover, if your money goes to an influential or bad person, then you may fail to withdraw your money from there, so I will never support your business and it is not reasonable. Do good business. If you can do good business, you can improve in life, but it is much better to be poor than to become rich by borrowing money with interest.

The question is what emergency are you preparing for and is your fund going to be impacted by lending out this money? If you lend the money out and prices soar and you need to buy things with your emergency fund, you'll end up stuck because the people you lent to might not be able to pay back.. The same goes for how many people you're lending to, lending to one person is very different to lending to multiple with different payback periods - also the bigger these loans are risk wise, the higher your emergency fund being used for it should be.

Emergency funds is a safety net,that's majorly and strictly for emergencies and unexpected situations.Your bank account holds your daily and regular money but still consider your emergency fund as your financial backup plan.Banks and emergency funds plays respective crucial roles to our finances and it's best to adopt both systems.

If your emergency funds that is being kept in the bank is being deducted gradually with charges, I will suggest you keep your emergency funds in a stable coin, since it's a long time plan. Keeping your emergency funds in fiat is not only prone to charges by the bank but also prone to inflation that creeps in gradually, so a stable coin helps to maintain the value of emergency fund to certain extent. However, giving your emergency funds out on loan poses more risk, because emergency can actually come when those loans might not have been repaid, and you will likely face danger in real time, so keeping your emergency for what is was meant for, is actually the best.

Wrong to hold emergency funds in a volatile asset like bitcoin, cash or bank is much preferable, bank charges are even little that i wouldn't notice. Emergency funds should be always available, if bitcoin volatility affects emergency funds, then you have problem solving emergency. Let me help your idea, short term loans can work, and the borrower should be someone responsible enough to pay back in time as agreed. Don't also loan out all what you've accumulated in your emergency funds,  anything can lead to emergency which will require quick funds.

We need an emergency fund to keep ourselves safe and not disappointed if anything in life, because the need arises as an urgent one in demand, if we aren't able to endure a past records of saving culture personally, we may be grounded by disappointment for having access to an emergency fund from other sources, such as banks or any other person we could reach out to for a quick financial assistance.

Lending your emergency funds is really a bad idea even for the banking institutions the recovery of default loans is a big task so imagine what will happen if someone default and ran away with no signs at all, if you consider keeping money idle in the bank is costing you money then just buy gold coins with it, which is stable and almost instantly you can convert it into cash irrespective of which part you are currently in there.

This is a good question that can describe well the full concept of emergency funds. Honestly speacking, in my country, local banks don't provide this kind of products. I wonder what could be the difference between emergency funds and saving accounts. Afaik, banks don't charge fees for saving accounts so it's like you save cash. But the problem is when you have an emergency, withdrawal procedures may take hours to days depends on the amount. From what i read in previous replies, withdrawals from emergency funds took same procedures and may delay as well. I really to understand this concept and why it's not adopted in my country banking system.

Your idea is good, but basically, you can't treat an emergency fund like that. The name itself is clear "EMERGENCY FUND," which means the fund is for protection when you experience unexpected circumstances. Even if you are currently fine every second, minute, day, week, and month from now, you will not know what will happen to your life. If you don't like keeping emergency funds in the bank, you can keep it in cash, this will also make things easier for you.

Why don't you buy shares and borrow money against those? In the 1st world it is straight forward. in the developing world you might need to buy shares through the banks service. Talk to your bank manager.

It’s called emergency funds, no matter the condition which you are, you are not suppose to invest in it. You might be planning to invest it for short period of time, but don’t be surprise that immediately you invest with the money, then emergency might come up, and you won’t have any funds to take care of the problem, you won’t have choice than to sell your investment, and you might be selling at loss, that’s why I don’t encourage investing or looking for short term profits with emergency funds. If you can invest or trade with your emergency funds, then it’s no longer emergency funds. You are already taking risk with the money, which you might be thinking you will be successful, but at the end things might not really go well for you. So just leave your emergency funds in wherever it’s kept, don’t even think of taking any risk with it.