cash-buffer

# Cash Buffer

The buffer is not an investment. Its job is sleep-at-night cash so a job loss, a medical bill, or a broken roof does not force a sale of long-term assets at a loss.

Inspired by kusandriadi/finance risk-management.md emergency-fund notes (MIT). Original Grok remake. Country-neutral. Complements cash-plan (the budget that funds the buffer), cover-map (insurance after cash exists), invest-map (invest AFTER the buffer), debt-order (high-interest consumer debt vs buffer order). Not a bank product.

Read `references/rails.md` before you write numbers. Fill the three templates under `templates/`.

## When to use

- Emergency fund, rainy-day cash, how many months of expenses
- Where to park the buffer (liquid and safe, not stocks or crypto)
- Starter vs full target, irregular-income bump
- How to rebuild after using it
- They already have (or will get) a monthly surplus from cash-plan and now want the dedicated worksheet

## When NOT to use

- This month's budget, 50/30/20, sinking-funds list, where the surplus comes from → use cash-plan first
- Avalanche / snowball sequence of named debts → use debt-order (this skill only decides starter-vs-payoff order at a high level)
- Health / life / disability / property cover → use cover-map
- Allocation, DCA, index funds → use invest-map (after the buffer exists)
- Retirement nest / 4% sketch → use nest-math
- Rent vs buy → use roof-math
- Brokerage, tax-filing software, legal drafting, crypto leverage, guaranteed-return pitches
- Bank / Plaid / Alpaca logins, account numbers, lender APIs

## Inputs

- Country / currency context (keep products generic if unknown)
- Essential monthly spend floor (needs only: housing, food, transport, utilities, required minimums, basic insurance). Not lifestyle spend. Label guesses.
- Take-home pay and whether income is steady, irregular, freelance, one-earner, or supporting dependents
- Current liquid cash they would actually use in a hit (or "unknown")
- Whether cash-plan shows a monthly surplus that can fund the buffer
- Whether high-interest consumer debt is crushing (APR they named, or "unsure")
- Whether a ~1-month starter already exists (debt-order asks this as a gate; this skill sizes the real fund)

## Procedure

1. Read `references/rails.md`. Refuse brokerage / bank APIs, SSNs, account numbers, return promises, and product sales.
2. Gate: cash-plan must show the monthly surplus that funds the buffer. If surplus is $0, send to cash-plan first. Do not invent a surplus. This skill sizes and places cash; it does not write the month budget.
3. Name the tension with high-interest consumer debt if it is crushing. A tiny starter buffer, then aggressive payoff (debt-order), not a full 6 months before touching 25% APR cards. State the order. Their call.
4. Size the spend floor: essentials only. Fill `templates/size-card.md`. Target sketch: ~3-6 months of essential monthly spend. ~6-12 months if income is irregular, one-earner, freelance, or there are dependents. Starter: ~1 month of essentials is better than zero; then grow to full. Label months-of-spend as a sketch. Confirm locally.
5. Place the money. Fill `templates/place-card.md`. Liquid and safe: a separate savings sleeve, short government-backed cash-like, or an insured deposit. Not stocks, crypto, or locked products. Separate from daily checking so a normal week does not nibble it. Country-neutral names only. Do not require a local branded product.
6. Insurance is not a substitute for cash (cover-map). Investing waits until the buffer exists (invest-map). Say both out loud if they want to skip the cash layer.
7. Rebuild rule. Fill `templates/rebuild.md`. After a hit: pause extra investing and extra sinking goals, refill the buffer, then resume. One use is the point of the fund, not failure. Recurring hits mean the size, the place, or the budget is wrong.
8. Closing line every time: education worksheet; not personalized financial advice.

## Output format

- Size card (spend floor, months target, starter vs full, irregular-income bump)
- Place card (liquid + safe, not stocks/crypto, separate from daily checking, labeled sketches)
- Rebuild card (pause extras, refill, resume; order vs high-interest debt)
- One line: education worksheet; not personalized financial advice

## Safety

- Follow `references/rails.md` with no exceptions.
- Education only. Not personalized financial, legal, or tax advice. Confirm locally.
- No brokerage / bank APIs, no SSNs, no account numbers.
- No return promises. Label months-of-spend as a sketch.
- Country-neutral: no Indonesia-only or US-only products as mandatory.
- Crisis / self-harm about money: stop; in the US, 988.

## Stop conditions

- Three templates delivered, or refused because cash-plan owns the surplus first, or they asked for brokerage / bank APIs, account numbers, or a guaranteed-return pitch