Take the Stress Out of Emergencies With a Sudden Emergency Fund
The idea of having an emergency fund is not new. Practically every financial blogger, adviser and guru will tell you that emergency savings are something everyone needs. What they don’t all agree on is how much emergency savings you should have. Recommendations range from a set amount like $500 or $1000 to projections based on your current monthly income and expenses, such as 6 or 12 months of living expenses. Who is right? I think that depends on your own situation as well as your tolerance for risk and possibly your inventiveness, motivation and drive.
One thing I am sure of though is that you don’t need just one emergency fund. You should have a long range emergency fund to protect against job loss, but just as importantly you should have a smaller sudden emergency fund for the emergencies that occur more frequently and have lower associated expenses.
How Big Should A Sudden Emergency Savings Fund Be?
Let me first say that there are really two types of emergency funds. The one I will be discussing today is a short term sudden emergency fund. This is one you would use for sudden emergencies such as a car breaking down, unexpected small medical expenses or any sudden unexpected expense. This type of fund should be a top priority for everyone and should remain fully funded at all times. What I mean by that is if you have to use these funds you should replace them as quickly as possible. Murphy is always ready to strike and in my experience when he does so once he often does so again fairly quickly.
This sudden emergency fund should be a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $1000. How do you
decide which amount to use? Well part of that is up to your own tolerance for risk, but
in general I would say those who are in the most trouble financially need to have the
most in this type of savings. If you are just able to make your monthly payments you are
in greater need of a larger sudden emergency fund. If you don’t have the funds necessary
to cover a sudden emergency you are the most likely to tap a credit card and go
further into debt when disaster strikes.
Those who are already able to save 10% or
more of their income have a bit of breathing room because they could use their monthly
savings for an emergency and they can also tap into those savings to replenish their
sudden emergency fund when it becomes depleted.
Just so you know, the second type of emergency fund is meant for longer term protection. This is a savings fund to protect against job loss that can occur for whatever reason be it layoffs, a firing or even if you want to strike out on your own. Nick at Step Away From the Mall calls budgeting for emergencies his eighth rule of budgeting (you’ll have to head over there to find out what the other rules are).
How Do I Create A Sudden Emergency Savings Fund?
No matter what your financial picture right now you want to focus 100% on getting the sudden emergency savings set up as quickly as possible. There is no telling when you will need this money and the sooner you get prepared the better off you will be when an emergency does strike.
If you are in the group that has discretionary funds to save already, you should find it relatively easy to set up a small sudden emergency fund of $500. Yes it will be somewhat disheartening to derail your savings plan, but the first time you have to tap into the emergency savings you will be glad you sacrificed somewhat to put this savings fund in place. You have the extra money to put aside, so just do it.
Those of you who are living paycheck to paycheck or have expenses in excess of your income are going to have a harder time of it, but truly you are the ones who need this emergency savings the most. If you fall into this category, the first thing you should do is to attempt to balance your budget or even better create a budget surplus. If you can do this, it will be easy to set up your emergency fund and you will continue to reap the benefits going forward as you will have discretionary funds to pay down debt, save for retirement and improve your financial situation in general.
If you see no way to find the $500 to get this emergency savings in place you might need to get creative.
Snowflaking is one method that might get you to $500 in time. What about selling some of your stuff? You can use eBay, Craigslist or even an old fashioned yard sale to sell off some stuff and make the $500 you need. Donate plasma or sell your hair (yes you can). You could even get a part time job to fund the account.
Where Do I Keep My Sudden Emergency Savings Fund?
Because this is money you will need quick access to the best place to keep it is in a separate account at your local bank or credit union. Some might recommend using an online savings account, but that risks delays in having access to your money and honestly in this environment the extra 0.3% annual interest you would get on the $500-1000 is negligible. Some might even say you could keep the money at home for even quicker access. I wouldn’t recommend it though. Not because of thieves who might break into your home, but more because you would be tempted to “rob” the fund yourself.
Which leads me to one final point. Do not under any circumstances use this money for anything other than a true emergency. Forgetting to pack lunch for work is NOT an emergency. Running late and having nothing planned for dinner is NOT an emergency. Shoes, video games, clothing, electronics or any other consumer items are NOT emergencies. I think you get the point.
What Next?
Now that you have a plan in place put it into action. Some of you will be able to fully fund this account in 1 month, which is great! Others might take 3, 6 or even 9 months to fully fund their emergency savings account and there is nothing wrong with that. The process will be instructional for you and it will teach you something very important; how to save. Once you fully fund the emergency savings add whatever amount you have been saving each month to your budget. You are officially a saver and on your way to bigger and greater things such as a long term emergency fund and even your own investments. Financial security isn’t something that comes overnight, rather it is a long slow progression of actions.
I personally have a sudden emergency savings account that is equal to about $650. We used part of it last month for an emergency trip to the doctor for my daughter. The very first thing I did this month when my wife and I got paid was to replace the savings we had used.
What about you? Do you already have a sudden emergency savings fund? What prompted you to set it up? Have you ever needed those funds and if so did you replace them promptly? What other tips might you have to help people new to emergency savings get their accounts funded as quickly as possible?
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We keep about $1,000 in cash. We keep it in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight like it’s a medical first aid kit. Cash in our safe. Our safe isn’t something that we go into a lot (it’s behind and under stuff in a really inconvenient corner) and we’re pretty disciplined, so we’re not tempted. The only time we cracked it was when we were evacuated for the storm in August so we grabbed a bunch of cash just in case.
You must have been relieved to have that cash on hand when you were evacuated. During the flooding here in Bangkok in Oct/Nov I kept about $1000 in the house as well, just in case we would have to make a quick getaway. It was nice to know we had it on hand just in case.
I think the biggest area many people will struggle with is determining what is a true emergency. Some people will find all kinds of excuses to raid their emergency fund. If you fall into that category, you may want to put the funds in a less accessible place than just your bank account. Make it easy enough to get at in an emergency, but not so convenient that you would be tempted to use it frequently. Personally I’m not too strict with my own emergency fund. I just try to make sure I have at least $1000 in my bank account at all times.
We have a small emergency fund now. It is about 1,000. We decided that this amount is reasnable for us. Actually our pets decided this for us. Last time we took our cat to the vet we paid $800. So, having at least 1,000 will help us to cover our vet bills.
There are very few sudden emergencies that end up costing more than $1000 IMO. And if you have the larger emergency fund in case of job loss you are more than covered.
surely, one emergency that might conceivably happen is that ATMs for some reason go offline. This has happened in the past in some countries. For me, the fact that the first $1000 of medical expenses per year must be paid for by me is one factor. Living in Thailand I want to have enough to get myself (and preferably my wife also) out of the country rapidly in an emergency, That means at least $6000. I have cheap insurances for medivac and emergency evacuation, but I have to pay the medivac costs back afterwards. This is money that must be easily accessible but in a special place all the same.
Well, I have about 2,000 in general savings with a separate, online bank. I was working on getting that one up to about $15,000 (end goal) but then stopped to focus on paying off my credit card debt. This was meant to be my “if I lost my income” cushion to tide me over for a few months. I can stretch it because I’m super frugal.
But now that I’ve read this, I think I need to work on a separate one for smaller emergencies and tuck that away with my same bank for easy access (good advice!). I should be done paying off ALL my credit card debt in roughly 5 months (only 5 easy payments of $1300!!). After that I will divert ALL that money to my savings until I reach my cushion.
To be honest, I’m such a worrier and having only 2K in savings REALLY bothers me, but I know that paying off my cc debt is the best way to go right now. They are eating me alive!!
Paying off the debt is definitely the most important goal at this point. You only have 5 months to go and a small cushion, so I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you. And at the rate you’re paying down the debt you should be able to build up an emergency fund pretty darn quick! Congratulations on a job well done extinguishing that credit card debt!