Trouble Starting An Emergency Fund? Try A Change Jar!

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The emergency fund is one of the fundamental tools needed for financial freedom. Without an emergency fund, any unexpected expense results in a financial crisis that could require some extreme measures to recover from. I know this from personal experience all too well. Once you have an emergency fund, keeping it going is easier because a person understands it’s true value. The problem is the initial startup of getting it going. It’s hard to change your spending habits to set aside money for those things that just pop up in life. It’s also hard to see money just sitting there […] Read more »

Emergency Fund: Time To “Man Up”

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I dreamt about finances on Friday night, which was odd for me because my dreams typically revolve around a very different subject matter. I’m almost positive the source of my dream was my increasingly frequent thoughts about the status of our emergency fund, and the fact I mentioned them in my roundup post last Friday. In my dream Vonnie and I were talking to a financial planner who was telling us the same thing I stated in my post on Friday. Each budget period we should set aside a fixed amount of money into our emergency fund and not touch […] Read more »

Are You One of the “Financially Fragile” Americans?

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financially fragile

I read in a Wall Street Journal article that almost half of all Americans would have to sell some of their possessions if they needed to come up with $2,000 cash within 30 days.  The author called these people “financially fragile”. Wow!  That’s disturbing statistic. It’s especially surprising when you realize that a normal emergency expense like a major car repair or a child’s broken arm (which happened to my son a few weeks ago) can pretty easily set you back a couple of grand. Why Are So Many of Us Financially Fragile? So what’s the deal?  Why is it […] Read more »

The Joneses Are Buying an iPhone5. What Should I Do?

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One of the coolest gadgets ever made is about to release the latest version — the iPhone5! All you hear around the water cooler is how your friends and co-workers have already pre-ordered it and are actually losing sleep in anticipation of its release. Your drab, but functional iPhone4 seems like the first phone ever made and the pressure to upgrade is pulling at your purse strings. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the iPhone! It has revolutionized how we interact and surf the web, interact with our friends and family, and in my opinion is quite possibly the best invention […] Read more »

Credit Card Emergency Funds – An Alarming Trend in Society

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The following is a guest post by Jacob from My Personal Finance Journey, a personal finance blog offering actionable personal finance advice with the goal of achieving long-term success. In particular, Jacob focuses on long term investing and asset allocation strategy analysis, deciding how to prioritize new funds as they come in to various spending requirement areas, and how to develop a lifestyle of frugality. Several months ago through the magic of LinkedIn, Brad and I were able to find out that we actually lived in the same city in Virginia. This was quite an awesome find, being as that the personal […] Read more »

With a Falling Market Should I Bail on my Investments?

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The markets fell, for the most part, during the third quarter continuing the challenge for many people to remain invested. Some investors moved out of the market already and will eventually have to decide when to invest again. That is the challenge for short-term investors and for those who attempt to time the market. The advantage of long term investing is the stress and strain of rapidly fluctuating markets is something you can ignore. Here are a few important questions you should consider. First, do you have adequate savings and emergency funds? (At least 6 months of your net take […] Read more »

My Resolutons – Track My Progress!

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Hello everyone and happy Friday! Last year I made lots of resolutions but failed to track them throughout the year. This year I am not making the same mistake. That’s why I created a page you can go to whenever you are curious as to how I am doing on the resolutions I set to accomplish. (and to hold me accountable) Hopefully, this will not only help keep me accountable, but will also motivate and inspire some of you to fulfill your own resolutions in 2011! I will be updating this page weekly, monthly, and sometimes randomly depending on the […] Read more »

O Emergency Fund, Emergency Fund! Where For Art Thou Emergency Fund?

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Have you ever had a true emergency fund before? They say, once you go emergency fund you never go back. Having my beloved emergency fund in my life has been amazing, and I became a better person for meeting her. Ever since the first day I laid eyes on my one true emergency fund, I new I was a changed man. The way she comforted me and made me feel all safe and fuzzy inside. I got butterflies whenever I would think of her. I just knew she was the one! Can you tell I’m struggling? My emergency fund was […] Read more »

When You’re Tired Of Being Broke, You’ll Start Saving

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If you were to ask people why they do not have any savings, you would likely here a multitude of excuses. You say reasons, I say excuses, and here’s why. If saving money was important to you, and not just a feel good line to help cover up your lack of priorities, you could save an emergency fund! Sure there might be things that pop up and make it harder, but those things happen to everybody. In Financial Peace University, Dave Ramsey uses an example to support the idea that if saving money was an emotional priority, you would in […] Read more »

Fully Funded Emergency Fund – Do It Your Way!

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Go Get You An Umbrella! You’ve reached baby step 3!  You now have NO DEBT except for your house, and are ready to beef up your savings.  Congratulations! You are climbing a mountain and are two-thirds of the way up.  Can you see the top?  Pretty soon you will be at an overlook that you at one time thought was impossible.  Keep moving forward! There may be times when you feel as if you are moving too slow, but just keep moving!  Now isn’t the time to stop!  Now you should be more motivated and here’s why.  When you were […] Read more »

HELP! I Had To Use My Emergency Fund!

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Even The Best Plan Has Snags Having a baby emergency fund is an essential part of starting a healthy financial plan.  It gives you some wiggle room in order to handle what life throws at you (mainly the little things), while paying off your debt with gazelle intensity.  If you have no debt, then you should have 3/6 months of savings in your fully funded emergency fund.  Life happens at the most inconvenient time, but if you have an emergency fund, it’s not so stressful.  Needless to say, when that time comes you will need to know what to do […] Read more »