Was at a coffee shop in Portland and overheard two freelancers arguing about their emergency fund amounts. One said $5k, the other said three months of expenses minimum.

3 comments

3 Comments

My cousin in Austin is a freelance photographer for weddings. He keeps six months of expenses in his fund because the entire fall season got canceled one year due to wildfires. It took him four months just to book new clients for the next cycle. That replacement timeline is everything.

beth71125d ago

Overhearing that three months minimum thing... that's the bare floor, not the ceiling. What about the type of work they do? A freelance graphic designer with steady clients is in a totally different spot than someone doing one-off gigs with no contract. The real question is how long it takes to replace their income if every project vanished tomorrow.

jana_black25d ago

My friend who does freelance web dev keeps a full year of expenses saved. She says her retainer clients could bail with 30 days notice. That replacement income timeline you mentioned is key. How do you even start to calculate that for unstable gig work? Seems like a scary math problem.