[toomuchtodo]

1. Keep 6-12 months of expenses in cash on hand. Cash. Not SPY, not I bonds, not HELOCs or lines of credit. Cash. When you are in financial peril, you don’t want to deal with a closed credit line, deeply depressed assets, or locked up instruments.

2. Don’t lose your job.

3. Network in case #2 doesn’t pan out.

(lessons learned from the 2001 and 2008 crises)

[MichaelBurge]

With #1, you count money in a checking account as cash right? Even though it's technically a line of credit that happens to have an insurance policy attached?

Or do you mean strictly physical cash under the mattress(or in a safe)?

[landemva]

When the debit card does not work due to network failure or bank holiday, crisp paper money will still spend.

[toomuchtodo]

Cash in a deposit account is entirely reasonable. Money market funds a bit less so. If FDIC fails, the fiat in the database won’t matter.

[ironlake]

>Even though it's technically a line of credit that happens to have an insurance policy attached?

Dear god. If your federally insured bank goes belly up and the federal government doesn't fulfill it's promise to make you whole, what will make the federal paper under your mattress have any value? Libertarianism is a cult.

[icedistilled]

not I bonds? Why not? after 1 year they are not locked up.