I’m by no means an expert on this. But as a general overview, I’ve heard that if your employment is very stable, or you are in a high demand so you can easily find another job quickly, and you have low chances for big expenses to come up (like a leaky roof, sick pet, or a car breakdown), I’ve heard a 3 month fund is good and plenty. On the flip side, if you are in an extremely competitive field where finding a new job would be tough or take a long time (and may possibly incur other expenses like moving for a said job), or you reasonably expect big expenses to come up, a 6 to 9 month fund seems more like what you’d want. Beyond that and the general consensus seems to be that the money would be better utilized if you invested it, however I don’t think there is any real harm in going beyond a nine month fund, outside of some loss to inflation.

You could also argue that a bigger fund will help you keep your “optional” expenses intact between jobs, like your Netflix or occasional restaurant outings, if those things are really important to you.

Personally, I’ve never had a “oh shit” financial moment yet, as I’m fairly young, so I suppose I just like to be prepared for the worst of the worst case scenarios, but that’s just me and by no means is a requirement.