How to save money for future expenses
First, talk to your husband about this. You really need to persuade him that you need to be saving, and get him to agree on how and how much. Second, if you husband is not good at saving, work on getting something set aside automatically - ideally deducted from a paycheck or transferred to a savings account automatically. If he is the kind of person who might dip into that account, try to make it a place he can't withdraw from Third, get some advice, possibly training, on budgeting. Buy a book, take a video course: even start by watching some TV shows on getting out of debt. how can I save money for the future The fact that you are worrying is good. This is the first step. Follow this up with a plan. One way is first get hold of your income [its fixed you know the salary]. Maintain expenses, then see which costs can be cut down. Create individual goals and start investing for these. The best way for first timer is to invest into a Recurring Deposits or SIP in mutual fund, i.e. kind of forced saving so that you don't spend what is available in bank Account. You can't force a horse to eat carrots. You have to make him hungry...  It's good that you're ready to start saving. The hardest part about building wealth is that most people live in denial. They think a bigger hat is wealth. That said, you need to get your husband excited about the idea of saving. If you're capable of sparking a little passion in him for saving then you'll see your wealth grow almost over night.  So, how do you make someone excited about something as boring as saving? Great question. If you find a way, write a book. Honestly, I think it's different for everyone. For me it was like someone turned on a light. I was blind but then I saw. If he is a reader then I would suggest the following books in this order. If he makes it through those and has any argument at all against saving then write a book about him haha.  Now I want to be clear, the other two answers above mine were also spot on. If you can't get him passionate about it then you need to take the initiative and start doing it yourself. I can't stress enough though that you both need to be engaged in order to do it quickly and efficiently.  Good luck! "My answer will suck but it comes from someone who has been married: You can't control another person or convince them to do something.  What you can do is identify what they value and show how saving money increases their opportunities in what they value, but understand that the person could see what you're saying as invalid too.  If you're single and reading this, this is why you verify that the person has similar values to you. Think of it like someone who wants good gas mileage: you show them a car that gets 60MPG, and immediately they say, ""Well, but that's not a cool car.""  So their value isn't the miles per gallon, and you may find the same is true with your spouse.  India is paying more interest than the US and Europe in their savings accounts (I believe the benchmark interest rate is 7.5%), so - assuming your spouse values more money - showing him how to use money in savings to passively earn money might be a technique that works.  But it may mean nothing to him because it's (1) not his actual value or (2) isn't enough to matter in his mind. In other words, this is all sales and whatever you do (and this is regardless of gender), don't manipulate, as in the long run that tends to build resentment.  If there is a specific problem that you know he sees as a major issue and saving money can help, I'd recommend showing how savings would help with that problem.  People generally like solutions to problems; just remember, what you think he sees as a problem may not be what he sees as a problem.  This is why I chuckle when I see single people give married people advice; you can't just ""convince the person enough"" because you are not that person; we have to speak their language and we should be careful to avoid creating resentment. The part that sucks (or doesn't depending on who you ask) is that if we can't convince others to do it, we should do it ourselves.  Either (1) earn money independently yourself when applicable (realizing that you are about to have a child and may be limited), or (2) save the money that you and your spouse have agreed that you're allotted, if this applies to your situation (a few spouses divide income even when one is an earner)."
I would say that, for the most part, money should not be invested in the stock market or real estate.  Mostly this money should be kept in savings: I feel like your emergency fund is light.  You do not indicate what your expenses are per month, but unless you can live off of 1K/month, that is pretty low.  I would bump that to about 15K, but that really depends upon your expenses. You may want to go higher when you consider your real estate investments.  What happens if a water heater needs replacement?  (41K left) EDIT:  As stated you could reduce your expenses, in an emergency, to 2K.  At the bare minimum your emergency fund should be 12K.  I'd still be likely to have more as you don't have any money in sinking funds or designated savings and the real estate leaves you a bit exposed.  In your shoes, I'd have 12K as a general emergency fund.  Another 5K in a car fund (I don't mind driving a 5,000 car), 5k in a real estate/home repair fund, and save about 400 per month for yearly insurance and tax costs.  Your first point is incorrect, you do have debt in the form of a car lease.  That car needs to be replaced, and you might want to upgrade the other car.  How much?  Perhaps spend 12K on each and sell the existing car for 2K?  (19K left). Congratulations on attempting to bootstrap a software company.  What kind of cash do you anticipate needing?  How about keeping 10K designated for that?  (9K left) Assuming that medical school will run you about 50K per year for 4 years how do you propose to pay for it?  Assuming that you put away 4K per month for 24 months and have 9K, you will come up about 95K short assuming some interests in your favor.  The time frame is too short to invest it, so you are stuck with crappy bank rates. "The mix how how you present this feels contradictory. You would pull a 'major' portion from the emergency fund (EF), but at the same time, you'll replace it in a month.  The first bit scares me, this is not the purpose of that fund, and the issue is the aspect of money that's psychological. Money is a habit, if you justify this use of the EF now, it gets progressively easier for this purchase or that, and the fund loses its intended purpose. If the second half is accurate, that your income would replace that money in a month, i'd say the fund wasn't fully funded to its proper level, 6-9 months of all expenses to get you though issues as bad as a job loss.  The great thing I see in your question is what's missing. You're not looking to buy a car with a loan. That puts you in a good situation, and should push those answering to cut you some slack on the one month ""bridge loan"" from your own savings.  Edit - OP add 2 key points, His EF is 3 years expenses (wow, kudos to him!), but he's living like a student (i.e. with parents, which keeps his costs low). If this latter observation seems judgmental, I'll re-edit. The finances of everyone would be far better off if we adopted multigenerational living. The young could save as Fahad is doing, and when parents retire, they can know they are cared for. In the US, I'd say ""when you move out, your expenses will go up drastically,"" but in this case, that may not happen, or not soon. This is my observation the world is a big place and our answers need to fit the OP's situation, not assume our own standards apply to all.  Buy the better car. You saved. You earned it." Saving some money for the future is a good idea.  But how much to save is a tough question.  I retired with a small fraction of what the experts said I would need.  Three years later, I can confidently say I did not even need what I had saved. "That's not very correct math. It should be "" +household savings -spending + business savings -spending + imports -exports + government surplus -deficit = 0"" And then it seems like comparing oranges with apples?  How can you compare savings, spending and surplus of various instances?  If it would be + income - expense it would be more understandable. Then it's just about money, not about value.  It's possible to circulate a fixed amount of money around to various instances. If those instances are doing valuable favors to each other while circulating money, they generate wealth. However it's better to assign more money into the system to represent added value in the system. Price of money usually is something like ""total value in the system/amount of money in the system"". If you just add money, you can't add value." "First thing is that your English is pretty damn good.  You should be proud.  There are certainly adult native speakers, here in the US, that cannot write as well. I like your ambition, that you are looking to save money and improve yourself.   I like that you want to move your funds into a more stable currency. What is really tough with your plan and situation is your salary.  Here in the US banks will typically have minimum deposits that are high for you.  I imagine the same is true in the EU.  You may have to save up before you can deposit into an EU bank. To answer your question:  Yes it is very wise to save money in different containers.  My wife and I have one household savings account.  Yet that is broken down by different categories (using a spreadsheet).  A certain amount might be dedicated to vacation, emergency fund, or the purchase of a luxury item.  We also have business and accounts and personal accounts.   It goes even further.  For spending we use the ""envelope system"".  After our pay check is deposited, one of us goes to the bank and withdraws cash.  Some goes into the grocery envelope, some in the entertainment envelope, and so on.   So yes I think you have a good plan and I would really like to see a plan on how you can increase your income." Put your budget down on paper/spreadsheet/tool of choice (e.g Mint, YNAB, Excel).  Track every cent for a few months.  Seeing it written down makes The Financial Conversation easier.  One simple trick is to pay yourself first.  Take $100 and sock it away each month, or $25 per paycheck - send it to another account where you won't see it.  Then live off the rest. For food - make a meal plan.  Eggs are healthy and relatively cheap so you have breakfast covered.  Oatmeal is about $2 for a silos' worth.  Worst case you can live off of ramen noodles, peanut butter and tuna for a month while you catch up.  Cut everything as some of the others have answered - you will be amazed how much you will not miss. Dave Ramsey's baby steps are great for getting started (I disagree with DR on a great many things so that's not advocating you sign up for anything). Ynab's methodology is actually what got me out of my mess - they have free classes in their website - where budgeting is about planning and not simply tracking. Good luck. Make a menu of 15 (or more) things you like to eat.  Write a grocery list for what it takes.  Divide that list into perishable and non-perishable. Put those items into a calendar and try to stick to it. Depending on the amount of storage space you have, once a week fulfill your perishable list.  Use coupons and shop the sales to keep your prices down. On your way home, stop at the grocery store and buy only the perishables you will need that night for cooking.  I personally chose recipes that didn't always need fresh stuff (like canned tomatoes being good enough.) You spend more on the nightly stuff, but you make up some savings with the long term shopping.  Just count on going to the store for 10 minutes a night a part of your cooking routine.  I used to just look at the wall, but with an app like Evernote this would be pretty easy. Determine how much you are going to save first.  Then determine where you can spend your money.  If you're living with your parents, try to build an emergency fund of six months income.  The simplest way is to put half of your income in the emergency fund for a year.   Try to save at least 10% of your income for retirement.  The earlier you start this, the longer you'll have to let the magic of compounding work on it.  If your employer offers a 401k with a match, do that first.  If not, consider an IRA.  You probably want to do a Roth now (because you probably pay little in taxes so the deduction from a standard IRA won't help you).   After the year, you'll have an emergency fund.  Work out how much money you'll need for rent, utilities, and groceries when you're on your own.  Invest that in some way.  Pay off student loans if you have any.  Buy a car that you can keep a long time if you need one.  Go to night school.  Put any excess money in a savings account or mutual fund.  This is money for doing things related to housing.  Perhaps you'll need to buy a washer/dryer.  Or pay a down payment on a mortgage eventually.   Saving this money now does two things:  first, it gives you savings for when you need it; second, it keeps you from getting used to spending your entire paycheck.  If you are used to only having $200 of spending cash out of each check, you will fit your spending into that.  If you are used to spending $800 every two weeks, it will be hard to cut your spending to make room for rent, etc.