As most smart savers know, creating and maintaining an emergency fund should be a priority before branching into investment and speculation.
Even though I live in Arizona where the sun shines 350 days a year, into everyone’s life a little rain must fall. It happens to all of us at some point in our lives. An emergency fund (rainy day fund) will help protect you from those times when things don’t always go according to plan. It would be a shame to have to tap that 401k, take out a loan, or sell some of your investments at a loss because you needed access to some quick cash.
So, to highlight the importance of having that buffer to protect yourself, I thought I would create a post of links to others who’ve written about emergency funds. Through these links you should be able to find out anything you wanted to know (and more) about emergency funds.
- How and Why to Start an Emergency Fund
- How Putting Together an Emergency Fund Works
- 5 steps to building an emergency fund
- Building an emergency fund
- An Emergency Fund Is More Than Just Money
- Figuring the size of your emergency fund
- 21 Strategies for Creating an Emergency Fund
- The $0 emergency fund
- Laddering Your Emergency Fund
- Emergency Savings Calculator
Just a few tips from someone whose had to tap his emergency fund a couple of times in the past.
- A 3-month emergency fund is not enough of a buffer. A 6-12 month emergency fund will serve you much better and give you more peace of mind if the unexpected becomes expected.
- Cash is king. You don’t want to incur more debt when you’re unsure of your future or don’t have the income to pay it back.
- Getting the best return without loss on your emergency fund savings is important, but easy access to your funds is equally important.
If I’ve missed anything please share in the comment section.
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