Let’s talk backups and savings; how are you doing regarding your emergency fund and/or savings? Recently I realized that I had made the most stupid mistake ever: A few years back I bought my Macbook and iMac in the same year (and my iPad but that’s not as important). I guess it was a good year business-wise, and I needed upgrades to do even better. But what do you think recently happened? They both broke down… in the same week. So when my iMac was at Apple for tech support, my Macbook gave up on me and did not start anymore! That would mean, that if they could not fix them, I could no longer work and had to get new ones (which would be at least $4000 because I can’t get the most basic ones for work!). And guys, I can not work without a computer. Luckily for me, I automated most daily tasks and most of the time I’m prepared to go off grid, but it was the fact that they broke down in the same week that scared me.
Do you make the same mistake?
So do you make this mistake too? Do you get new stuff when you have money and forget to save money to replace these items? I did not, or, to be honest, I kinda know I need to, and it’s always in the back of my head to finally start backing up or save some money for my emergency fund, but I put it off all the time (because traveling!)! And then it’s too late. Same with that Timemachine backup or uploading your phone photos to your computer. You wait and you wait, you know you need to do it… and then your computer crashes or your phone gets stolen.
Or how about knowing you need to get another client to be less dependent on that one big client, but put it off because you hate cold pitching… and there you go, just when you almost put it on your to-do list, that client ditches you… panic!
I can easily come up with thousands of reasons why you need to create an emergency fund right now. The most common?
You can lose your job or a big client
You can get pregnant
Unexpected taxes
Medical reasons
Car or house fixes
Or iek, last minute house moving (daaaym, it’s expensive AF!)
The list goes on and on… but how about the things that are not really part of this list, the less emergency but oh-so-necessary-things like your next holiday (or long term traveling), a new computer or drone, finally that new haircut, a gym membership, or just to have it in the bank, and to feel a bit less stressed thinking that something bad will happen soon, if so, you’re ready and there’s no need to stress.
So you need an emergency fund right now to:
- To feel less stress
- To be ready when something bad happens
- To prevent you from making bad decisions