Experts always recommend having an emergency fund. This helps in many situations when financial resources are spontaneously required. However, this doesn’t just apply to savings at home or in the bank account. Cash in your wallet can be just as important.
Unlike the question of how large your emergency fund should generally be or how much cash you should have at home, there is no specific expert recommendation for the optimal amount of money for on the go. This is due, among other things, to the fact that the amount you need to carry in case of an emergency can of course vary depending on your personal situation and the specific conditions of your place of residence.
As a rule of thumb, you should have enough money to cover the most important expenses such as food, transport and necessary items for a few days. When determining an appropriate amount of cash, it’s helpful to consider several factors.
Factors influencing daily expenses:
It is also important to note that there may also be various situations in which the usual card payment is suddenly no longer possible. This can be primarily due to technical circumstances, which often occur unexpectedly and can last for a long time.
When cash becomes the only payment method available:
Based on the factors and possible circumstances mentioned, a practical amount of cash or “mobile” emergency fund could be between 50 and 200 euros. If you don’t like carrying too much with you, you should be able to get by with the smaller amount for a short time and without serious exceptional situations.
Sources: own research
This article was created using machine-assisted (AI) technology and was carefully reviewed by the editorial team before publication.
By Dana Neumann
The original for this article “This is how much cash you should always have with you as an emergency fund” comes from futurezone.de.