<prompt> Human: They say you should aggressively pay off debt before establishing an emergency fund. The wiki of course has these switched. Would there be a reason to pay debt first, or is an e fund always first?  <response>: From the wiki: How should I size my emergency fund?For most people, 3 to 6 months of expenses is good. A larger emergency fund e.g., 9 to 12 months may be warranted if your income is variable or uncertain. A smaller emergency fund of 1,000 or 1 month of expenses is temporarily acceptable while paying off credit card debt or other debts with interest rates above 10. Read Figuring the Size of Your Emergency Fund for more.If you read carefully, youll see that the recommendation is to only have a minimum emergency fund while paying off high interest debt. This is so that short-term unexpected expenses dont trigger overdrafts, or require you to go back into debt. Other than that, what you learned at school is still consistent with standard rpersonalfinance advice. 