Imagine this: You spend an entire year trying to pay off your credit card debt, just to have your car break down. You don’t have the cash to cover it, so the $2000 repair goes right back on the credit card. You right back where you started, or possibly even worse.
One of the biggest personal finance pitfalls is a lack of solid emergency fund. Emergency funds are critical because they can be the difference between an inconvenient bad day and a financial catastrophe that can take years to escape.
Let’s start some facts to get us on the same page.
- A recent study showed that over 60% of Americans do not have enough cash saved to pay for unexpected emergencies such as a $1000 ER visit or a $500 car repair.1
That means that the majority of us are living so close to the edge of the cliff that even the slightest nudge can tip us over.
- The average American household has over $15K in credit card debt, over $26K in auto loans, and over $47K in student loans. The average household is paying over $6K per year in interest on their household debt.2
Let me rephrase that last sentence, the average household is paying financial institutions $6,658 just in interest per year. If we don’t financially prepare for emergencies, we end up working harder to pay more in interest to financial institutions. No thanks!
Paying off debt without emergency savings is like running a long distance race in flip flops, you may be able to get to the finish line, but your chances of falling and hurting yourself are pretty high.
Most experts recommend 3-6 months of living expenses in cash savings. The only problem with that recommendation is that can be more than most people have ever saved, so it can be overwhelming. If that’s true for you, start small. Start with a goal of at least $1000 so that if you have an emergency while paying off debt, you don’t run to credit cards and add to the debt pile. However, if you have a house, car and children, $1000 may not go very far in an emergency. Set a goal that’s appropriate for your situation and build upon that.
We’ll discuss specific saving strategies in detail in later posts, but for emergency funds, some people like to use larger sums they receive to put it away quickly. Birthday money, income tax refunds, bonuses are just a few examples of how people can stash away savings quickly.
One of the most important aspects of building savings is your perspective. Many people view saving money as a chore and painful. There’s a common belief that saving money gives us less to spend when we should view saving as giving you more financial control and independence. Change your perspective and view saving as splurging on yourself and investing in your financial goals. Focus on how much better you’ll feel when you reach your savings goal and have confidence that you can tackle debt even harder.