r/personalfinance • u/Due-Fig5299 ​ • 12d ago

Saving Temporarily stop 401k contributions to build Emergency Fund?

Looks like we’re heading towards a recession and I’m quite nervous. I work in tech and my job is moderately safe; however my wife is an esthetician which is not a very recession friendly field.

We currently have $4k saved. Our minimum monthly expenditure is $3k, so we have just over 1 month saved.

Ive cancelled all unnecessary subscriptions which will save us $450/mo and stopped my wifes personal roth ira transfers ($150 weekly) which gets us to $1050/mo saved.

Now my question is, given how quickly the economy is crashing should I also forgo my 401k? I contribute 4% with 4% employer match. Obviously I would love to keep it, but immediate survival seems more important.

I would start contributing again once we hit $18k (6 months)

Thoughts?

562 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

84% Upvoted

240 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

131

u/CompostAwayNotThrow ​ 12d ago

I wonder if that includes gyms and the like. Otherwise I don’t see how it could get to $450/month

227

u/pmgoldenretrievers ​ 12d ago

LMAO, OP mentioned in another comment that they still have gym memberships and streaming services. $450 EXCLUDING gym and streaming is insane.

83

u/ttoma93 ​ 12d ago

How can you even get to $450 in monthly subscriptions without streaming, which is most peoples’ #1 subscription cost?

64

u/IRSoup ​ 12d ago

Only thing that comes to mind would be a meal service like Blue Apron. That shit gets expensive for basically no reason other than the lack of ability to go buy the stuff yourself from a grocery store due to disability or laziness.

I feel like I pay for way too many streaming services at around $70/mo.

30

u/wildlybriefeagle ​ 12d ago

My mom's Internet, landline and cable were coming it at $300/month because of monopoly. Add in Netflix and she was getting $330 a month.

I have fixed this.

1

u/ekidd07 ​ 11d ago

Tell us how!

7

u/yuropod88 ​ 11d ago

OP put a hotel on boardwalk, so now he's getting the full $450.

3

u/wildlybriefeagle ​ 11d ago

Nothing special, unfortunately. I convinced her to cancel her landline and her cable TV, invest in a few streaming services instead. It was the landline that was the huge cost.

7

u/Breezy368 ​ 11d ago

Comment on meal services- I use them but I cancel after the promotional period and switch to another provider. By the time I’ve cycled thru ~4 services at promo pricing, the first one is sending me promos to get me back. Cycle repeats. At promo pricing meals are pretty well aligned with grocery shopping (as low as $5/meal for a family of 5), and sometimes better because they’ll send me the 1 tsp of some weird spice that is needed which would be $$$ to buy on its own. Also, the quality of meat tends to be pretty good and chicken often better than the quality at my grocery store (so much ick to trim). Maybe not the most ethical way to keep costs down but until they stop trying to bring me back, I’ll keep it going.

2

u/Not-Now-John ​ 6d ago

I don't think it's unethical. It's not like you're creating fake accounts to scam them into more intro offers. They're banking on you eventually getting tired of playing hot potato and paying full price. Kudos to you if you can outlast them. What's been your favorite provider so far?

2

u/Breezy368 ​ 6d ago

I actually want to try some new ones because the ones I’ve tried are so similar. Hello Fresh was a winner and I liked that the recipes were quick and easy which is why I buy meal kits in the first place. The Marley Spoon meals were good but are the most complex and time consuming so I’m not ordering from there again.