The 1983 and 1986 Surveys of Consumer Finance were used to analyze patterns of meeting a guideline of holding enough liquid assets to cover three months of income (emergency fund adequacy). In both years, only 32% of households met the guideline. Only 21% of households met the guideline in both years. Logistic regression analyses show a consistent pattern. The probability of having adequate emergency funds increased with education, home equity, and age and decreased with household size. Households with a Black head had significantly lower probabilities of having adequate emergency fund holdings than similar households headed by a White. KEY WORDS: emergency funds, liquidity, financial ratios, Survey of Consumer Finance

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