Not that I have ever had money designated as the "emergency fund", but I have kept money in savings (much in online savings) and checking accounts just because I liked to be flexible. Usually that meant I needed to pay for something large (read: car repair) with a credit card, and then I quickly paid it off (read: No interest). In the past days I have read a few blog posts where the issue of keeping or not the emergency fund has been discussed. Good arguments are made to not have one, as long as you have credit cards you can use in an emergency, and you have other less than 100% liquid funds you can access in a short amount of time. (CDs and brokerage accounts)
The above seems to describe me to a "T", and I have already been considering doing something like this. Plus I overdid paying taxes at the end of last year, so now I should be getting a refund of over $1,500.
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What follows is a train of thought going on as I mull this over. (oh, btw, I *was* a math major in college, so I love these type of math puzzles)
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After this month's mortgage payment my savings will be over half my outstanding mortgage, and unless my car dies I'm not going to have any emergency needs, at least nothing my credit card can't easily handle. Soooooooo... I have been putting $2,000 a month for a few months on the mortgage and it hasn't killed me. Maybe I should up that amount? I have a CD maturing in August. I have another one I could break - its only earning 2.3%. Those two CDs would give me another $2,500. Add that to the tax refund of $1,500, and that's $4,000. I have savings of $11,000. Together its $15,000, and I only need $19,000. If I go for a last payment at the beginning of September, that makes 7 more payments. Let's see, $2,800/mo. would just about do it. And doing this would save me another few hundred in interest payments. Oh man, I'm tempted. Soooooo tempted.
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When the mortgage payment is made for the begining of March, I will have to come back and indicate what I did 
Is it time to dump the emergency fund?
January 26th, 2011 at 02:47 am
January 26th, 2011 at 02:55 am 1296010505
January 26th, 2011 at 03:28 am 1296012507
Whichever way you go, I think this is your year. Buh-bye, mortgage!
January 26th, 2011 at 03:47 am 1296013624
January 26th, 2011 at 04:09 am 1296014960
I'm not sure of my current savings amount as it fluctuates so much, but it should be at least $10,500, possibly more, as of my next paycheck on Friday. And the mortgage balance is after the Feb. 1 mortgage payment, which my savings amount already has taken into account. So the sidebar is fairly accurate.
January 26th, 2011 at 05:38 am 1296020298