The Importance Of A F*** You Fund & How To Learn What Your FU Amount Is

Ensure your freedom to leave any situation that is no longer serving you.

You might have heard someone mention that they have a FU fund or FU money. That means that they have money saved, on average six months of living expenses, to help them remain free. It is their way to ensure that they will never be stuck in a job that’s breaking their spirit, forced to rely on someone else financially or forced to remain in a place due to lack of funds. The name comes from what you intend to do with the money. It is money you use to say fuck you to a situation that no longer serves you, instead of being stuck in it and made to feel more miserable every day.

If you’re lucky, you never have to touch that money. You can just keep piling it up. But if you do have to use it, just make sure you build up those savings once more. That isn’t to say that you should expect things to go wrong. But I find it is always best to hope for the best and prepare any and all eventualities.

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How do you know how much money you need?

I believe the common goal is to have a FU fund with a year’s worth of living expenses. But most settle for a few months worth or six months worth. So how do you know how much money that is?

Well, if you keep a budget, you know the monthly amount you require. You will only need to multiply it by however many months you wish to save up for.

I will use my own budget as an example.

• Housing:

I pay 3500 sek per month for my room, and 595 sek for my storage unit.

• Food:

I aim to spend about 500-600 sek a month on food, and I usually do.

• Insurance:

I put away 220 sek for my annual insurance policy that’s paid mid-year.

• Health:

I like to budget for at least 300 kr a month for health expenses, but usually more like 500 sek or 1000 sek, just to be on the safe side.

• Home:

I have no home items to purchase, but I receive an annual gift certificate that should cover any unforeseen home expenses.

• Clothing and technology:

My gift certificates from surveys cover the budget for clothing and technology.

I pay 300 sek or less per year for my phone plan, so I budget for 25 sek.

• Transportation:

I don’t have any transport to pay for, and I have no debt to pay.

• Savings:

At my previous job, I saved a minimum of 3000 kr each month and 10-15’000 sek at most. It all depended on how much I had earned through the various freelancer gigs I’d had.

My FU amount:

With the economy being what it is, I consider my bare minimum budget to be 5000 sek, and that is an incredibly small budget, so I prefer to have around 6-7000 sek. If I do, I feel a bit more at ease and I have a little extra for a rainy day.

That means that I would need to save somewhere between 18’000 sek and 42’000 sek for six month’s worth of expenses, and twice that for a full year. Thus, I have settled for 60’000 sek for a year’s worth. It will mean that I have enough for the essential expenses, and some more money to spend on food if need be. And I’d be able to put some money away each month or invest it.

Do you have an FU fund?