<prompt> Human: Based upon todays top post, there is clearly much debate about what an emergency fund should and shouldnt be used for.My position is that it is primarily for job loss. That is partially based upon the common advice to have an emergency fund that will cover XX months of expenses. We dont say that an emergency fund should be enough to cover 2 major home repairs, a medical bill, an auto repair, a lawyer for 2 months and a vet bill.Simply by that definition, it seems that an emergency fund is designed to cover 3-6 months of routine costs of living in the event your income is lost.  <response>: I would imagine different people will have emergency funds for different reasons, so its impossible to say it has to be for one or the other. For me, its a cover against job loss. But even if it werent, Id still calculate it in terms of monthly expenses because... well thats easier than deciding a monetary objective based on lets assume j have an appendectomy tomorrow, then the transmission goes out on my truck on the way home, then my dog has a tumor...If one is concerned about additional expenses, one should reevaluate the balance of an emergency fund. But the mean average of saving money is to secure yourself against the worst case scenario. Not having an income is, in terms of having money, a worst case scenario that is most easily tackled in terms of raw numbers. 