How many months of reserves do you keep?

[Laura Verderber]

Landlords, do you keep 6 months of reserves, or an entire year in cash? Whenever I have a chunk of money, I feel like it's begging to be invested. I hate letting money sit around becoming less valuable due to inflation. I keep one month of reserves. I figure if I need more I can plan ahead and save up or tap into credit cards or my lines of credit. Am I being too incautious? I have 7 rentals and 1 ongoing flip, so I'm still in the acquisition phase. Maybe I'd be less aggressive if I had more units. (My goal is 25 rentals and then to transition to hard money lending.) What do you consider a safe level of savings? Is it different for commercial?