3 reasons to be financially prepared for an emergency NOW!

Auto. Home. Life. My three favorite insurances? No. And if you have a favorite insurance, WHY? But seriously, today I want to talk more about emergency funds. And no this isn’t an article about how you should automate a savings account until you can cover six months worth of bills (but you should definitely do that). I want to talk about the “WHY” when it comes to emergency funds. Here are three reasons you should have a bulked up emergency fund (these reasons may sound familiar)…

Auto: Cars are great, except when they decide to quit. Sometimes they start making a noise, and it gets louder and louder until you either get it fixed or it dies on you. And that’s really on you. That noise should have been a clue. But other times they seem to be doing fine and then all of the sudden they won’t start. This happened to me recently. Out of nowhere, my battery died. And it wasn’t because I left a light on or anything like that. It was just my battery’s time to go. And the last time I replaced a battery, it cost about a hundred bucks. Not this time. Not in this economy. Try double that. And trust me, there are far worse car issues you could have than a dead battery.

Home: Appliances aren’t cheap. Neither is replacing pipes or dealing with termites. These things can and will happen. Fortunately, I haven’t had to deal with any of these things since I bought a house four years ago. Although a tree did fall on my roof, my brand new HVAC unit died, and so did my riding mower. So, trust me, things can add up. Being a homeowner can be a pain from time to time, so make sure you’re prepared!

Life: Hopefully you eat only healthy food and exercise daily. But even if that’s the case (and we all know it’s not for most of us), things still happen and healthcare isn’t cheap. Depending on what you’re dealing with, even a six month emergency fund might not do it, so be as ready as you can. As this old Nationwide commercial put it: Life comes at you fast (wow we came full circle back to insurance).