I just turned 29. No degree so I just work alot. As for emergency funds I have 16,200 saved. That is essentially all of my bills for 6 months including $500 a month just for eating out. Basically if I lose my job, for 6 months I do not want my lifestyle being effected in the least.

So if you add that to the 114k then I really have 130k, but i don't consider it money. The way i look at it is that is my insurance policy. I can't call Statefarm and get money upfront for an accident I haven't had yet, so why should I be able to do the same with my emergency fund.

I have been saving since I was 17.

Right now, my career is stable but I have been studying front end web development on my own to strengthen my future incase something happens. Right now I earn around 70k a year which is great to me since 9 years ago I was a cashier making $8/hr.

That is why I am genuinely thinking for the future now because in theory I practically have 2 years worth of my salary in cash and I know i need to do something with it.

I roughly save around 2-3k a month (depends on the amount of weeks in a month and I live below my means) My wife doesn't earn much. Her income is mainly to pay her own bills where mine covers everything else.

My main goal is to create some sort of cashflow so if something happens to me, my wife and son are taken care of. Thats why I have started to look more actively at the stock market, but my mothers words always go off in the back of my brain so for years I haven't. Now I think I am ready to try and see.

The main thing bothering me is, countless people tell me the market is ABOUT TO BURST, I see so many articles written on it so now I am just kind of sitting back and waiting. Thats why i asked the question today. I want to do something since I just cashed out my cd's again instead of putting them back in for another 2 years.