Fellow MMMers - I'm 100% on board with MMM's assertion that an emergency fund is not necessary for people with their financial act together. We still maintain one (just over $1k) in my family, but I believe it is entirely unnecessary and would love to make those dollars our employees. Furthemore, we have $2k in a car replacement fund and $2k in a travel fund (and we add to both of those monthly).
I'm in the military, she does work that pays very little (let's call it volunteering on steroids), and our net worth is nearing 250 kilodollars. Expenses are less than half of income, while our savings rate is in the 40% range and our giving/charity rate is about 10%. I told her that if we find out that the military is cutting me (distinct possibility in this budgetary environment), then we'll have at least 6 months to buckle down and save (we could probably kick the savings rate up to 65% while still giving to charity), not to mention the fact that I'll be given separation pay.
Can anyone help me with some talking points to convince her? I think her barriers are based upon different money views - she says she doesn't have the same trust in the market as I do, but I say that even if the markets crash hard (50%+) we'd still be able to extract living expenses for 3-5 years (assuming no additional income). Also, when she was young her mother struggled to provide for their family for a good decade before she solidified their financial standing. I think that's probably a big contributor, too.