Rather than l paying credit card debt, it’s important setting up your finances to protect the need to depend on credit cards in the future. It means that the first financial step is you should need to start an emergency savings fund.
The best way to credit card debt builds and becomes unmanageable is from unexpected expenses. There are many emergencies where a person has to spend money such as sometimes you need to repair your car unexpectedly, or a broken plumbing line needs to be repaired in the home. In these unexpectedly risen situations, you have to spend money and then the budget got disturbed.
These kinds of emergency expenses amount sometimes huge and as they are unpredictable, most people don’t have the funds saved to deal with them. That’s why people are e stressed and they need to start an emergency savings fund, as credit cards won’t be necessary to get through future crises.
Below are some tips to start an emergency fund to protect future credit card debt:
Save Consistently
You must have a continuous deposit into your emergency fund. It doesn’t need to be a huge amount at the beginning. The important thing is to save some amount for the future. When we ask people to pay off their credit card debt, the best advice is to start taking the money they were spending to the credit card companies and start putting it into savings.
As long as you don’t have to pay into debt, you will have a monthly amount that you can use to start saving and building up your saving every month.
Make it Automatic
The best way to make sure your monthly savings deposit is continuous is to make it automatic. If you opt for direct deposit of your paychecks, confirm a percentage that can be deposited directly into a second account.
Also, you can set up an automatic transfer every month so that a fixed percentage of your income is transferred from your checking directly to savings. The idea is to transfer that money to the right place before you even check it’s there, so you won’t be thinking to spend it and you will be able to save.
Don’t Put off Saving
If you’re still paying off credit cards or other debt, it’s needed to wait to save until you’ve paid out your debt. Fix and keep aside some small amount, even while you’re still paying debt payments. Make saving consistent, automatic, and try to turn it into a habit that you’re need not have to break. Once you start paying off debts, then you can increase the amount you’re keeping aside for your emergency fund.
Create a Budget
Most people feel like there is no need to budget but to be financially healthy it is said to set aside money for savings. This can be done by creating a budget, there’s always an option to set aside extra cash for emergency expenses.
By tracking expenses for a month, you’ll check where the money is spent, and immediately check some obvious places to cut back. Remember, if you’re just starting, the focus must be to save something, any amount you can save. By this, you can increase your savings contribution with time as you get better at budgeting and paying off debts.
Figure Out How Much You Need
you’ll need to set a few target amounts. At First, your initial savings target must be manageable. The best idea is to look at your insurance deductibles. If your homeowners’ or renter’s insurance has a $2000 deductible, then it will be a good initial goal. Once you are prepared and have this much money in savings, you’re ready for any kinds of emergencies that insurance covers.
Then after this, observe your monthly income. The biggest emergency that troubles people without a savings fund is the loss of monthly income. What if you lost your job or got injured and were unable to go to work? What you will do?
The best advice is to save up to 3 to 9 months’ income in your emergency savings fund so that it can save in situations like job loss or other loss of income.
Keep Debts Paid Off
If you don’t have credit card bills to pay, then it’s going to be more convenient to get by on your emergency fund during the time of unemployment or any other lost income. If you’re going to spend your savings to keep the creditors at bay, it will feel like all that time and effort spent on saving didn’t make too much. Make sure your finances are made easier to manage as you can to be ready for emergency expenses.
Put Extra Funds into Savings
If extra money comes your way it can be a tax refund, yard sale, gift, etc. Try that you don’t spend it, but try to save it. Too many people treat extra, unexpected income as money to spend. But if you save these kinds of money, though it was Maybe small, then you’ll have an easier time building to your savings goals.
Don’t spend the Emergency Fund
When is it appropriate to dive into your emergency fund? We say a bona fide emergency is a situation that protects your ability to earn an income, or it is also necessary to your life, like medical expenses. Remember, emergencies will be unexpected.
One smart move here is to put your emergency savings in an account that is accessible, but not too frequently. A credit union that doesn’t have too many branches so can be a good place. Try to avoid putting your emergency fund into an account that you could access with a simple online transfer or from a UPI transaction. But on the other side, don’t lock it down into a 5-year CD or kind of FD and other accounts you can’t access if you need it urgently.
Keep Saving
Even after you accomplish your goal and have 3 to 9 months’ income in your savings, keep saving. After that, you can start setting savings goals. You can make plans for a family vacation, your next car, or any other thing you want to buy. You can also invest in a down payment for a home or a college fund for your kids. once you’ve your emergency savings, then you can use the saving habit you’ve developed to work for all of the things you want without relying on credit card debt to avail them.
Bottom line
It does not matter what your financial situation, building a sufficient emergency savings fund is important to your financial health. It will help you become a good saver, also avoid future credit card debt, and help in achieving true financial freedom in life.
