How to rebuild an emergency fund while supporting family and student loans
When an emergency wipes out your savings while you are already funding relatives and paying off student loans, monthly cash flow drops too low to rebuild a safety net at a meaningful pace. This leaves you feeling like your family's permanent retirement plan, terrified that everyone's money will vanish completely within a year and a half.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Temporarily lowering retirement account contributions to capture employer match onlyDid this help you?
- 2Cutting monthly food and utility budgetsDid this help you?
- 3Leaving investments untouched and slowly rebuilding savings through monthly budget adjustmentsDid this help you?
- 4Renting a 2-bedroom apartment using remaining savingsDid this help you?
- 5Starting small and using individual sales to fund the next piece of equipment or material instead of waiting to save a lump sumDid this help you?
- 6Donating plasma and doing gig work like DoorDash for extra cashDid this help you?
- 7Offering custom orders or focusing on smaller, lower-cost items to build up graduallyDid this help you?
- 8Using emergency funds to cover the overflow of expensesDid this help you?
- 9Considering canceling or postponing major events like a weddingDid this help you?
- 10Weighing whether to cover family medical expenses out of pocketDid this help you?
- 11Selling brokerage stocks to move cash into a high-yield savings accountDid this help you?
- 12Pausing extra payments on student loans to reallocate funds toward the emergency fundDid this help you?
- 13Paying off smaller loans using brokerage funds to free up monthly cash flowDid this help you?
- 14Paying minimum payments on parents' credit cards to avoid interestDid this help you?
- 15Working full-time overnight caretaking jobs to maintain flexibility during the dayDid this help you?
- 16Seeking guidance from a job coach to find a more sustainable career pathDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Can't get ahead to start again.”source ↗
“Anytime I start a small savings towards reigniting this dream something comes up.”source ↗
“Im the sole provider for my family . I work 40 hours a week and any extra they let me get. I donate plasma once or twice most weeks , and I occasionally doordash and just can't seem to get ahead.”source ↗
“What other programs can I look out for them? What type of help they can be eligible for? I hate that they don't have a plan at all. Probably, I am their retirement plan, and this freaks me out.”source ↗
“Their money at that rate would vanish in a year and half at maximum.”source ↗
“So emergency fund is now gone and I'm trying to figure out where to pull from to refill it.”source ↗
“because my wife and I are currently trying to support her mother, brother, and sister, as well as paying off my wife's student loans, there hasn't been much left over each month in some time.”source ↗
“I'm sure we can tighten up in a few other areas and start refilling it $100-$200/month, but I'd feel safer with at least another 10-15K I could move in immediately. Looking for any other options I might be missing.”source ↗
“Since April 2024, I’ve been financially supporting my parents.”source ↗
“I found out tonight as I was writing out bills that a credit card I’ve been paying off for my mom has a 35.99% interest rate”source ↗
“We just moved and I learned she opened a fourth credit card to pay for the couches and that total is $677.”source ↗
“I’m just so lost and so stressed, I would appreciate any advice at all.”source ↗
“Suffice to say after foundation issues, finding asbestos, flooding, etc. we where down to a few thousand 2 months ago.”source ↗
“Im trying to build it back up but that has been a very slow process unfortunately.”source ↗
“I know it’s her debt but I feel horrible if I let her credit score drop.”source ↗
“Essentially I will be wiped out on my TFSA and I'm really hoping my emergency fund will be enough to cover the overflow. This is the most demoralizing thing I've had to deal with as I had a sense of pride about how well I had managed my money in such a relatively short time, and all it took was two bills in short succession to send me back to square 1.”source ↗
“My question is, has anyone had this happen to them where unforseen circumstances wiped out their investments and they had to start again? What did you do and how did you recover financially?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4How to rebuild a wiped out emergency fund
- 2How to recover financially after losing savings in trading
- 8Should I use my savings or a HELOC for home improvements?
- 2How to pay for school or a hobby when you didn't save enough
- 28How to balance saving for retirement and enjoying your 20s
- 24How to help aging parents with massive debt and no retirement savings