Set a goal for yourself. All families should have a cash cushion of at least three months’ worth of expenses. In other words, estimate just how much cash you dish out each month on essentials, times that amount by three, and that’s your minimum goal for emergency savings. If you typically spend $3,000 a month, you want to have at least $9,000 put away in a reserve account not to be touched unless you absolutely need to.
Should you attempt to save more? Of course. How much more depends on what you feel you will need to be able to “sleep at night.” I know of people who put away two years’ worth of expenses in a separate account. Anything more than that is probably excessive, but better it be too much than too little.
Each time your paycheck is deposited, your checking account is set up to automatically sweep money into a separate savings account you have set up for your rainy-day fund. I suggest you start by moving 5 percent of every paycheck to your emergency account until your goal that you set for yourself is met.
Once you have made the commitment to funding a rainy-day account, the next decision you have to make is where to park it. I used to emphasize the importance of locating a place that would give you a reasonable return on your money. But these days, with interest rates at rock-bottom levels and the stability of many financial institutions still in question, I worry more about security.
The reason many people do not have any emergency money in the bank is that they experience what they believe is an emergency each month. What’s a real emergency? It isn’t just having to buy a new dress for that special party. Or finding an fabulous set of wheels for your car at a once-in-a-lifetime price. Or deciding you’ve got to get a new dishwasher because the old one is acting up.
A real emergency is something that endangers your survival, not just your longing to be comfortable. So unless your family is about to go hungry or be thrown out into the street, you shouldn’t be dipping into your emergency fund.
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