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The Importance of An Emergency Fund

I am rerunning a post from 2016 that has been really relevant to us so far this year (and the last week of last year too). We had three events between the holidays and now, that we are so grateful for our emergency fund. It saved us again!

We woke up on a Sunday morning to no heat or hot water. If that wasn’t bad enough, our plumber was away for the weekend. The installer of the system was attending a football game was wasn’t available. Luckily, we found a temporary solution. That was great because the part took two weeks to come in (as it was back ordered). Next, I was driving home on the highway and I had car trouble. Help came quick and it was a minor repair. Lastly, the furnace began dripping and another call for service. All in all, this could have been a really expenses month on top of our regular bills. We were fortunate enough to have an emergency fund to rely on when needed.

In praise of emergency funds! I can’t say enough about having an emergency fund to use in times of an emergency, as well as having the protection of insurance. We had a big life emergency this time, and it could have been much worse.

While Dave and I were out of the house for about an hour and a half, an emergency struck our house. A feeder line for the toilet broke and we came back to a small geyser. Not only was the bathroom flooded, the water flowed into the master bedroom and then down into the basement. Ugh! You can imagine the damage this has caused. But it could have been much worse.

So this is how our afternoon went:

* Shut off the water – we had individual shutoffs installed all over the house
* Next the clean-up began – towels, wet vacuums and more
* Contacted the insurance company to file a claim. This is the first homeowners claim we ever filed.
* Started the removal of the damaged stuff, and this was hard without Dave being able to move things.
* The insurance company sent out Service Master to remediate the damage. They moved the heavy furniture, installed the industrial fans and dehumidifiers to lessen the damage
* Next day we had to replace the modem, as we lost phone and internet service. It’s difficult to make multiple calls with only a cell phone.
* The drying out stage lasted for days. It included the carpets, hardwood floors, ceramic tiles, sheet rock, furniture and that’s only the big stuff!

Now we are at the rebuilding stage, with the contractors giving us estimates for replacing floors, hard wood and tile, sheet rocking the portion of the walls that were cut away with water damage, painting of rooms, replacing furniture and items that were damaged and more.

Living in a disorganized home as two rooms of furniture and personal items had to be moved out of the rooms and the basement, made our home somewhat of an obstacle course for quite a few weeks. Hopefully by the holidays, we can be back to our organized house.

Increasing (or Starting) That Emergency Fund

Are you one of those people that sets a goal to have or increase your emergency savings fund each year. As we reach the year end, did you accomplish this?

An emergency fund is something that each and every one should have. If life hands you an unexpected expense and you really need to pay for this now, how will you handle this without that emergency fund? That unexpected expense can be a car repair, loss of a job, a home repair and more. These expenses typically come when you don’t have any extra money. If it’s something you need to do immediately, without this savings you will be adding debt to your budget. That’s where your emergency fund comes into play. If you have one, you wouldn’t have the stress of figuring out how to pay for it. That’s why you need to start or increase yours today!

Have you made your plan to start or increase your emergency fund? Don’t get overwhelmed thinking you need thousands of dollars now. Nobody starts off with thousands, think baby steps to increase your emergency savings with each and every pay check.

Steps to start your emergency fund:

Open a new savings account for your emergency fund – don’t link it to your ATM. debit card.
Set an amount to save each pay period – can you find $10 or more to save each pay period?
Set up automatic withdrawals from your paycheck – either through your payroll dept. or with your bank. Think pay yourself first attitude (you won’t spend it if you don’t see it).

Follow these steps to start out and increase the dollar amount at least annually. A good time to do this is when you get a raise at work – more money coming in, the more money can go to your emergency savings. Suze Orman’s suggests that everyone needs eight months in their emergency savings. That can be overwhelming, so let’s start with a goal of saving $1,000 in a year – you can do this as it’s on;y $20 a week.

If you haven’t started or at the level you want / need to be at, these are some great tips from WIFE – Women’s Institute for Financial Education to get you started.

Happy Savings!

Paydown debt or emergency fund – what will your choice be?

Both are important! Is one more importnat than the other for you? Here’s my thoughts

What’s More Important-Less Debt or an Emergency Fund?

The age-old question of payoff debt versus an emergency fund – which is more important?

If you have debt, then you know that the interest you are paying is a drain on your finances. You are correct, that interest is a waste of your hard-earned money. You know that you need an emergency fund and you have been meaning to start one, but you just don’t have the money.

Which should you tackle first? Let’s assume you have $500 in your budget to work with and we will look at a couple of scenarios.

#1 – You have debt totaling $10,000 and you are paying the minimum payment of $250 per month at an interest rate of 20%. It will take you 67 months (5+ years) and you will have paid back $16,750 ($6,750 in interest). That’s assuming you don’t take on more debt.

Then you put the remaining $250 to start your emergency fund.

#2 – You increase your payment on your debt to $500 per month. It will take you 25 months (just over 2 years) and you will have paid back $12,500.

You will not be starting your emergency fund until after the debt is paid. What would you do if an emergency expense happened? How would you pay for it?

As you can see, the answer is somewhere in the middle and you can think outside the box for faster results. You could look into reducing the interest rate on your debt – refinancing, balance transfer for a lower interest rate etc. The quicker you payoff the balance, the less you will pay in interest.

You need an emergency fund to be prepared for whatever happens in life. You will want to start to save something on a regular basis each and every month, even if you have debt.

Save

The Importance of Having an Emergency Fund

So this is how our afternoon went:

Save

Your Savings Account is Your Emergency Fund

Your savings account is your emergency fund. How much should you have? I’m not asking about your retirement or investment fund – I’m asking about your standard savings account. You probably don’t want to hear my answer, but I believe we all should have a year’s worth of income in savings.

That amount could tide you over if you lost your job, were laid off, or had to take a medical leave of absence. In the past I might have recommended 6 months, but you may have a harder time finding a replacement job in these economic times.

So how do you save 12 months worth of income? For most people it means cutting back. Try going over your bank statements to see where the money is leaking away. Are you spending $20 a day on fast food? $100 a month on cable services? $50 on parking? I’m sure you can think of other expenses that you could temporarily go without.

On the other hand, if you’ve cut your spending to the bone and still can’t save money, then look for extra income. Try getting a part time job, or selling unwanted items for cash. If you make the extra sacrifice now, you could have a sizeable savings account in a few years – one that could save you in an emergency.

You Need An Emergency Savings

Whether you have been laid off, furloughed or salary reduced, you need an emergency savings to fall back on more than ever.

What’s your emergency savings account look like? Suze Orman suggests that you have eight months of income in your emergency savings. Dave Ramsey and Jean Chatzky both say 3 to 6 months. Hello Wallet suggest that you think of emergency saving in three ways – minor emergencies, major emergencies and job loss. Bottom line, you need an emergency savings account.

As with any goal, start with a plan – then automate it. When we started our emergency savings, our goal was to save $1,000. That would get us through the unexpected small expense. We started by saving $20 per week to reach that $1,000 goal in one year. Maybe that’s not possible in these challenging times, can you find $5 per week. While you are home, it’s a good time to review your bills, to find savings. Take a look at your credit card / bank statements, are there automatic changes you are paying for and not using? Can you replace an expense with something free? Can you reduce an expense to save money?

Once you accomplish your goal, I would like you to about your next savings goal. Sometimes unexpected emergencies cost more than you expect, especially if you are a homeowner. I have always thought that the major repair emergency fund should be in the $5,000 range. So then we started on this goal. $100 a week gets you to $5,000 in a year. We divided this between both our paychecks. My husband gets paid weekly so he contributes $50 each week. I get paid every other week, so I put in $100. We then have achieved this goal of $5,000 in a year.

Remember, this is not a save for one year and done type of thing. You may need to use this money, so you need to replace what you use. You can never have too much money saved for the what if’s of life.

Your Emergency Savings Account

Financial Literacy Month #29

This is a general rule about spending – 50/30/20 rule. 50 percent of your take home income should go towards your needs (such as food, housing, childcare, minimum debt repayment etc.), 30% towards your wants (dining out, travel, clothing, subscriptions, memberships) and the remaining 20% to your savings / debt repayment (emergency funds, retirement, additional payments towards debt). Nerd Wallet can tell you the amount for each category 50/30/20 Budget Calculator – NerdWallet. #JillRussoFoster #FinancialLiteracyMonth

Financial Literacy Month #6

Do you have an emergency fund? You never know what could happen in life. Experts say you should have 6 months to a year worth of income on hand for life’s what ifs. Yes, that can be overwhelming to go from minimal savings to this goal. Start by finding ways to save $5 a day to start. Automate your savings goals so that they happen. #JillRussoFoster #FinancialLiteracyMonth