There are many insignificant things to spend money on every day, which is leaving many Americans with little to show for their years of being employed. That is, when it comes right down to it, if a little financial problem comes their way, they would be unable to cope financially without having to go deeper into debt.
The Department of Homeland Security has advised Americans to be ready to survive in the case of an emergency of any kind for at least three days. According to Donna Freedman at MoneyCentral, this means having the gear and supplies needed to be able to take care of basic needs, such as eating, staying warm, going to the bathroom, etc.
Many people have recently experienced power outages for several days in the northeast. Certainly, many of them wish they had spent some of their money on getting supplies when times were better, and warmer. Being prepared should take a greater priority than it often does and saving money should be a high priority on every adult American’s financial agenda.
In addition to basic supplies, however, people should also save money and put it into an Emergency Fund. This needs to be ready for those times when a sizable amount of money may be needed for a special emergency. This could be anything when money is needed unexpectedly, such as a hospitalization, an accident, being laid off from your job, need to make an emergency trip for a funeral, etc.
Most people do make enough money to be able to save money somehow. Perhaps a good place to start is to set up a budgeting system and start to eliminate debt as fast as possible. Otherwise, when an emergency comes, it could destroy you financially, and you could remain in deep debt afterwards for years.
Creating financial security for you and the family short term is just as important as being ready for physical emergencies. It is just as important to have some money in a savings account of some kind for emergencies as it will be to have a retirement account for when you get older and want to leave the workforce.
Proper preparation probably means that you will need to create a better system of money management and learn how to budget your money. Seek to get out of debt, and begin to seriously save money and build for the possibilities that lie in the future – whether they are as favorable as we wish they could be, or otherwise.