Couples, Disagreements, & Emergency Funds

Malthusian

Reed_Richards wrote: »

We don't own anything particularly valuable so if Malthusian's principle is correct I would be better off if I didn't pay for insurance as our savings would cover any replacement costs. However I feel that my contents insurance reduces stress and worry and if something bad did happen then being able to claim on insurance would greatly reduce the stress and worry of the event itself.

Fair enough. But if your chattels are really that inexpensive, the payout from the insurance, after deducting the excess, is unlikely to be worth the hassle and, especially, the higher premiums you will pay in the future for your not-very-valuable contents insurance.

If it would be worth the hassle and the insurance payout would be a useful and valuable sum, then your contents are more valuable than you're giving them credit for. If paying to replace everything would compromise your lifestyle then it's not a risk that can be self-insured. Someone with two houses still needs buildings insurance because if their home burns down it's unlikely they can simply shrug it off and move to the other one - the loss of the extra house would compromise their retirement plans. Conversely someone with six months savings in the bank can replace their boiler without it effecting their current lifestyle or retirement plans.

Where we started was not home contents insurance but boiler insurance and unemployment insurance. Nobody with six months' savings in the bank needs an insurance policy to pay a few hundred quid when the boiler breaks down, that's gold-plated belt and braces, extended warranty territory.

Unemployment insurance is extremely expensive and very limited for obvious reasons, and again an emergency fund is more cost-effective and also provides more peace of mind. (Because if I slap my boss in the face with a well-deserved trout then my emergency fund will still provide while I look for a new job, which an ASU policy won't.)

Note that income protection is a very different beast from ASU insurance and much more valuable. Hence me asking whether the OP has sorted it, plus pension contributions. If they have then it's perfectly possible that they can afford to play Alan Titchmarsh depending on what would happen if they spent part of their savings on the garden and then a rainy day came (other than really luscious roses). If they haven't then they need to do that first.

[Deleted User]

IMO an emergency fund helps you sleep at night.


Now you have your emergency funds I would then save for the garden. A nice garden is desirable but I wouldn't want it at the expense of defaulting on my mortgage if I lost my job or became ill.

Mojisola

steve4373 wrote: »

I’ve worked hard and spent a lot of time building up our families emergency fund to cover nearly 6 months worth of household expenses.

Lately she has wanted to get the garden relandscaped and we both know this will cost a fair few thousand. We don’t have enough money for it at this very moment because she’s been on maternity recently etc.

You are obviously on top of your monthly bills but have you and your wife gone through them together - there's nothing like seeing how quickly your reserves would disappear if your income stream stopped.

Could you get her to compromise and spend some time planning the garden changes while you continue to save into a 'garden fund' so that the emergency fund can stay protected?

Alan2020

Teach her a lesson she won’t forget, spend every penny in the emergency fund on a winter garden, then let the boiler spoil. Let her stay the whole winter without any heating, after one season will knock a good lesson in life which her parents failed to deliver. In fact let the house be repossessed, being homeless in the winter would knock some sense into her.

Brian65

You need to talk to her and explain the multitude of things that could happen and hit your earnings, leaving you wishing hadn't spent your safety net on something you could manage without.

Niv

Alan2020 wrote: »

Teach her a lesson she won’t forget, spend every penny in the emergency fund on a winter garden, then let the boiler spoil. Let her stay the whole winter without any heating, after one season will knock a good lesson in life which her parents failed to deliver. In fact let the house be repossessed, being homeless in the winter would knock some sense into her.

This is the definition of cutting your nose to spite your face.


I know you are joking, it would teach her a lesson but maybe would not have the desired overall outcome the OP would like

katsu

Sit with your wife and discuss your money goals.

How long are you likely to be out of work - does she think 6 months is more then you need?

If you did the garden, what would be left?

MaxiRobriguez

Niv wrote: »

This is the definition of cutting your nose to spite your face.


I know you are joking, it would teach her a lesson but maybe would not have the desired overall outcome the OP would like

It might end up in divorce after which our friendly OP wouldn't need to worry about this conundrum in the future and could just arrange his finances as he sees fit. Bing!