How much is enough for a 6 month emergency fund?
Married, Dual Income, no kids. We are trying desperately for kids and spouse will probably stop working when they're born depending on how realistic that is, I.e. the economy, childcare, etc.
Right now my "essentials" for 6 months adds up to just shy of $27,000. I used things that I know I couldn't live without - food, water, shelter, required bills, money making bills, etc. And then I added about $500/month for a ACA plan for 6 months.
All together my goal has been about $30,000 for 6 months expenses.
My question to y'all is does that sound right? It seems kinda high to me... I have friends with a home telling me their 6 months is more like $15k.
To make matters worse I plugged my budget into Chatgpt and it said with my plan (future single income, first kid), I should in fact have $60k-70k saved up.
I'm open to a reality check please!