…d. Sorry, that title is supposed to be “Emergency Fund”. Now that I reread that headline, it is a little misleading.
In addition to the advice in my last post, here’s something think about: 63% of Americans Can’t Afford $500 Car Repair or $1,000 Emergency Room Visit.
I used to think that paying off debt was more important than establishing savings. After seeing people using emergency funds to smooth out rough spots in life, I’m convinced that having a small emergency fund is a top priority.
One of the easiest ways to get savings started is to automate it. Set a recurring transfer at your bank to put 10% of every paycheck into savings. 10% is usually small enough to stomach, but you’ll have deposited 3 months of paychecks in 2 1/2 years. After that, you just need to make sure it stays topped off.
An emergency fund is a kind of self-care. You can rest a bit easier and you can have money set aside for when disaster strikes. It’s a lot easier to live life in the moment when you have that little bit of piece of mind.
If you still need some emergency fun, check out the best media corrections of 2016.
Photo Credit: (CC-BY) Kevin Dooley