<prompt> Human: Hi! Im getting married in March, and I have a few questions for you married people about merging fiances. A little bit of background: my fiance has around 7,000 of Federal Student loans and makes around 2000 a month. I am a PhD student with no debt, and I make around 1500 a month no tuition and fees to worry about because Im fully supported : I have a 5000 emergency fund, and he doesnt have one. I presently save around 20 of my monthly income. We are definitely going to merge saving and checking accounts its one of the big reasons were getting married, but I have a few questions regarding spendingsaving differences.1. I would like to have a 20,000 or 8 month emergency fun for the two of us. My fiance thinks this is to conservative, and doesnt see the point of putting away money to never be used. Does he have a point or is this reasonable?2. I want to save around 20 of our combined monthly income. Is this a reasonable goal? 3. Assuming we save around 20, I would like to add 5,000year to our emergency fund, and ad 3000-5000 to a Roth IRA. Is this a good break down?4. Assuming all this works out, once we have a large enough emergency fund, what is a good way for us to invest our money? Were both relatively young 22 and 24 respectively, so Im not really sure what types of investments we should be looking for. Does anyone have any suggestions?Thanks for all your help!EDIT: We both own our cars free and clear. Were looking for a place that we can pay rentutilities for around 1000 a month.  <response>: its one of the big reasons were getting marriedThis should not be one of the big reasons for getting married.8 month living expenses is fine.Investing 15 to 20 percent of your income will put you in great shape. Max out 401K IRA opportunities. You can dump more into a taxable account. If you need to.Index funds are not a bad place to be, look for low cost options, buy and hold. 