For this money minute, I'm going to answer to questions I get all the time. 1) Why should I have an emergency fund? 2) How much should I have in it? An emergency fund is simply cash you have in a savings account you don't touch unless there's an emergency, and the typical rule of thumb is to have 3, 6 or 9 months' worth of your living expenses (which you can find by having a budget and tracking your spending!).