Emergencies such as medical care can make us get into bad debts. Bad debts only work to drag us back financially. The only way to take care of these unseen tragedies that require financial attention is by having an emergency account. You will decide what percentage of your income will be transferred into it.
I have an emergency account, I put around £25 a week into it. Luckily in the UK we have the National Health Service (at the moment) so do not have to pay out for medical emergencies. I would need to use it if my heating system broke down or for some other expensive repair. Some people choose to remortgage if they have no money for something urgent and expensive but I would not like to do that especially now that my mortgage is coming to an end.
We don't have an emergency account as of yet but I do have a piggy bank for emergency funds. I normally deduct a certain percentage in our monthly income which goes into our savings and emergency funds. Having emergency funds is really helpful since we don't know when unexpected expenses will arise, and it's really important to be ready
@Rossy Yes, keeping some part of our income for unforeseen circumstances, which is not even limited to health issues, is a great way to be confident about future occurrences. People lose precious items daily such as phones, computers, and other important items that keep life going. Saving money for such situations will always bring future benefits where one won't be in a tight corner when matters arise. keeping money in emergency accounts can also help in taking investment decisions like when one big boom pops up, you can withdraw from the account and invest with hope on high returns on investment. So, it is rational to have such accounts in existence.
We used to have the emergency funds, but since I quit my job and became a stay at home mom, we are just earning enough or less than enough for every month's expenses, so we can't afford to put aside any money in our emergency account anymore. I am glad that I can still ask for help from my parents if I really need to.
Our emergency account is kept in an empty biscuit can. Not coins but money bills as a way of savings. That's where we drop the excess money from a particular budget like a trip to the swimming pool or a theme park. When an emergency occurs then we at least have some cash. I am praying that we will not use that emergency money.
After you receive the paycheck, the first thing you need to do is clear your utility bills, pay credit card bills and pay loan repayments, if you have any. Only after clearing your bills and loan, you can think about saving. You cannot cut your necessities and begin saving, you cannot also save until you clear your lon. How miuch you can save depends on how much surplus money you have. I would love to have set an emergency funds, but at this moment, my priorities are different.
I always take out some money from my salary. And put it on the savings. The higher savings, easier it is for me to save money. And then things can be lot easier in that context to manage too. So in all those conditions It's not hard to manage with the emergency accounts. I think we should keep minimum 20% money for the savings account.
An emergency fund is essentially money that's been set aside to cover any of life's unexpected events. This money will allow you to love for a few months should you happen to loose your job or if something unexpected comes up that will cost a fair chunk of money to cover. Think of as an insurance policy. This money can then be accessed quickly and easily if some unfortunate event occur.
In life it's better to be proactive than reactive. This is very important lesson that I learnt at my young age because operating within the confines of being proactive is more convenient than working under being reactive. So having said that, when it comes to having an emergency account or what I prefer to call mine is my slush fund account, I don't joke with it. I have it as an arrangement with my account officer that once my monthly salary drops, 10 percent of it goes into this account. This makes it very easy for not to get carried away and not save on that account if I happen to be the one going to deposit the money into it. That you call it emergency account doesn't mean it's still not your money, no not really it's definitely yours and you can have access to it anytime of your liking. But the purpose for it is for any unexpected and unforseen expenditures that crop out without notice, this is when you enjoy the benefits of having such account as people would be wondering if you were already expecting such and planned for it.
You spoke about an important theme. Well, I am building my emergence reserve. Good financial educators have recommended to save about 30% of wage monthly until to assure about 6 times the current wage.