Comments on: To buffer or not?

By: Karla (threadbndr)

Karla (threadbndr) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:54:01 +0000

I keep $1000 buffer in the checkbook. Plus it’s linked at the credit union to my ‘front line’ efund of about two month’s expenses. After that is the main efund at ING.

I get nervous if the checkbook falls below that $1000 mark, because there have been two times (over the last 5 years) when our payroll download didn’t work correctly and we weren’t paid for a few days while the bank got it fixed. Not good.

By: Carnival of Personal Finance - Time to Give Lots of Link Love! | Fix My Personal Finance

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:14:37 +0000

[...] Almost Large wonders how large a financial buffer is [...]

By: Carnival of Personal Finance #160

Carnival of Personal Finance #160 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:38:31 +0000

[...] Living Almost Large uses the word “buffer”, so I’m biased from the get-go. The question is how big of a financial buffer do you need? [...]

By: LivingAlmostLarge

LivingAlmostLarge — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:07:24 +0000

I get nervous when I think about how long it takes for me to transfer money from HSBC to BofA. It usually takes about 5 days. I also prefer to pay bills immediately so I just keep buffer so I can pay everything asap.

By: Slinky

Slinky — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:28:18 +0000

I spend/save/etc the money I made the month before down to the last cent. ie This month I spend the money I received in June. So I generally have at least a month of income in my checking. If an emergency comes up, I use that money and then transfer the money from my emergency fund. I also have a line of credit in case my checking gets overdrawn. If that reaches it’s limit, it pulls from savings (for non monthly expenses), but it shouldn’t ever reach that point. (I’m not sure what sort of emergency would result in me blowing through several thousand dollars in less than a week. (the longest it would take to transfer from emergency savings) I only get charged interest on the line of credit (cents if paid promptly) and would only get overdrawn and charged fees if going through all of the above resources. So I guess I technically have a buffer. If I didn’t have all of the above, I would keep one month’s expenses somewhere that is immediately accessible.

By: The Carnival of Personal Finance: American Flag Edition | Mighty Bargain Hunter

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:55:16 +0000

[...] Almost Large wonders how large a financial buffer is [...]

By: Kristy

Kristy — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:52:48 +0000

We keep about $500 in the checking. But we have a savings account where we normally keep an extra $2,000 just in case we need it. I can always move money over.

By: frugal zeitgeist

frugal zeitgeist — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:58:00 +0000

I have very little buffer in my primary checking/saving accounts. Having said that, my checking account is linked to my EF; I can either write a check from my EF or transfer money within two business days. Anything more immediate can generally be put on a credit card.

This system was tested when I had to buy a $1500 plane ticket for a next-day flight in March. I put it on a credit card, put in a transfer order from my EF to my checking account before the card closed, and everything was fine.

By: Ashley @ Wide Open Wallet

Ashley @ Wide Open Wallet — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:05:40 +0000

We keep a lot in our checking. Just the way we pay our bills, I doubt it ever gets below $2,000. I think if we had less than $1,000 in there I would start freaking out.

By: Angie

Angie — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:51:33 +0000

I tend not to keep any buffer in my checking. By payday, I’m usually down to the last $20 bucks. My checking account is at the same bank as a savings account where we keep a couple thousand that can be transferred immediately, or overdrafted (in the case of a bank screw-up; I balance to the penny!) Even though it’s only getting a fraction of a percent interest, it’s better than the nothing earned on my checking acct., and I know not to “accidentally” spend it when I look at our checking account.