<prompt> Human: You see it in the wiki. You probably hear about it from Dave Ramsey and YNAB and other trusted financial gurus. Your financial advisor has also probably hammered it into your head as well.You need emergency savings.In December, my wife and I had a baby. A week later, she developed jaundice and needed phototherapy. In February, my car broke down and needed to go into the shop main seals gaskets. In March, my wifes 16-year-old cat was diagnosed with breast cancer.Let me translate that into financial numbers: 6000 babby we saved up for most of the expenses 200 lights 1800 oil change 500 telomeresI managed to stay afloat for the past 3 months, but the trickling in medical bills and the breast cancer is what brought me over the limit. We had finally exceeded what we were cutting out, we had to stop overpaying our student loans, and our credit card had a 2000 balance on it I pay off the balance every month. It was time to zero the balance sheets. Fortunately, I had 5k in emergency savings, plus an additional 10k in a joint account mostly bonds and equities. I transferred 2k from emergency savings to checking, paid off the credit card, and put my family back on track.My wifes car is about to go into the shop as well, but now that were in the clear, it should take us about 2 months to replenish the savings. I cant imagine what kind of shit creek wed be up if we didnt have this safety net.Moral of the story: You never know what will happen, and whether it will be a 12-gauge slug or a series of rounds fired in rapid succession from the AR-15 rifle of life. Get yourself some damn kevlar.Edit: Im glad to see all the conversation going on. Please keep in mind that Im not a financial advisor, fiduciary, or a CPA. Any comments I provide below are based on my own personal experience.Edit 2: I didnt think the cat thing would pop up so much. The money was for diagnosis labs, vet visit, etc., not for treatment. The cat was terminal by the time they found it, and she died last week. Other than the initial visit, it was decided that shed just die on her own, since she wasnt in pain.  <response>: Always good to hear how someone survived a storm. Shit sucks but you got through it and arent sinking. I wish you clear skies ahead. And a new set of Kevlar before life reloads. 