Building an emergency fund: Financial coach offers 3 tips to get started

11/15/2024 00:39
Building an emergency fund: Financial coach offers 3 tips to get started

An emergency can easily derail a person’s financial situation. On a recent episode of the Money Glow Up podcast, financial coach Tanya Taylor offered some tips for building an emergency savings fund to be financially prepared for unexpected life events.

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When building an emergency fund, it’s recommended to stash enough money to cover at least three to six months of necessary expenses. This ensures you can cover the essentials should an unexpected life event happen, like being laid off or put on short- or long-term disability.

However, it's not a bad idea to save for more than six months of expenses, according to financial coach Tanya Taylor. On a recent episode of the Money Glow Up podcast, Taylor recounted how a severe car accident and unexpected medical expenses for her and her daughter quickly depleted her emergency fund.

Having a year’s worth of necessary finances saved up was crucial to her recovery, Taylor said.

“When I had my car accident, I did have almost a year of emergency [funds], and it got used up so fast because there were other unexpected things that came up for me,” Taylor told Tiffany Aliche on Yahoo Finance’s Money Glow Up podcast (see video above or listen below).

After running through her funds that were meant to last her a year, Taylor had to rebuild her emergency fund — and she has some great tips for those struggling to get started.

For many who live paycheck to paycheck, the prospect of building an emergency fund can feel nearly impossible. Deciding why you're saving the money is a good motivator when beginning this process, Taylor said.

“Start with your why — why are you building your emergency fund?” she said. “Because if you don’t have a why, it’s sort of just like, 'OK, why am I doing this?'”

Read more: The 4 best (and worst) places to keep your emergency fund

Taylor recommended creating a budget to start. It’s easier to locate additional funds you can put toward your emergency fund when you know where your monthly income is going, she said.

“A budget is not meant to be restrictive," Taylor said. "A budget is supposed to guide you.”

A teller counts banknotes at a foreign exchange office in Ankara, Türkiye, on March 12, 2024. As inflation is soaring in Türkiye, the central bank's decision to halt monetary tightening is called into question while policymakers ask for patience, saying prices will drop this year. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua via Getty Images) TO GO WITH News Analysis: Türkiye's stubborn inflation fuels calls for further rate hikes

A teller counts banknotes at a foreign exchange office in Ankara, Turkey, on March 12, 2024. (Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua via Getty Images) · Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images

This may feel discouraging at first. But by starting small, you can still work toward building a safety net for unexpected expenses and situations.

“For some people, when they do that budget, it might be $20 a week, but then they continue to find ways to increase that amount, so it becomes maybe $100 a paycheck,” Taylor continued. “Then you keep building that up over time.”

Set a goal for the emergency fund based on necessary expenses (things that you absolutely cannot live without, like housing, food, etc.) and begin making a plan.

Opening an account — ideally a high-yield savings account — for your emergency fund can help you save.

High-yield savings accounts offer more generous interest rates than traditional savings accounts, which can help make every ounce of savings stretch as much as possible.

Read more: How to open a high-yield savings account: Step-by-step instructions

Once there is a designated account to store your emergency fund, it’s best to automate deposits and separate your emergency savings from the money used for everyday expenses.

“Inconvenient money gets saved,” podcast host Aliche often says, and ensuring the money in your emergency fund isn’t easily accessible will prevent it from being used on other non-emergency purchases.

Making a budget is one thing, but it needs to be revisited regularly to be most effective.

"Once you have that [budgeting] app or you have that spreadsheet, you have to take the time to put all the information in and go back and look at it," Taylor said. "Don’t just sort of leave it to chance."

Consistently reviewing your budget is likely to help you find ways to cut unnecessary expenses or save some extra money — all of which will add up.

Though it may seem like a lot of work, it never hurts to be prepared. In Taylor’s case, she learned it's likely impossible to be overprepared financially.

"I just think about myself and think about how prepared I was financially," Taylor said. "But when this accident hit, it was sort of like ... I really had to go back to the drawing board."

Every Thursday, Tiffany Aliche — aka The Budgetnista — shares inspiring money stories to help people achieve financial independence and live richer lives on Money Glow Up. You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service.

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