Emergency Fund Tips — 3 Ways to Help Grow Your Savings скачать в хорошем качестве

Emergency Fund Tips — 3 Ways to Help Grow Your Savings

Do you have an emergency fund in place or even know where to start when working towards one? Here are a few quick tips for building your emergency fund just in case. *********************************************************************** One money milestone that everyone should strive for is to have an emergency fund. While experts don’t exactly agree on how much you should keep on hand for emergencies, three to six months worth of expenses seems to be a popular figure. One of the most-cited examples of where these funds can come to the rescue is if you were to lose your job. Other possible scenarios include being faced with major medical bills or really any other unexpected expenses that would otherwise wipe you out. Because of how important having an emergency fund can be, I wanted to share three quick tips for starting and growing your fund. Utilize Automated Transfers The first tip is to set up automatic transfers to a savings account that can house your emergency fund. This can be done by having your employer route a portion of your direct deposit to savings or having your bank set up autotransfers between your accounts. Alternatively you could utilize a third party app like Clarity Money to set money aside for you as well. While you could always transfer money manually in order to start building your emergency fund, the advantage of automation is that you’re less likely to notice the money is even gone. This will allow you to save up more easily and without tempting yourself to spend that money elsewhere. Contribute Your "Found Funds" Beyond your regular transfers, I’d also recommend adding a portion of your “found funds” toward your savings as well. When I say found money, I mean payments and windfalls you weren’t necessarily expecting such as bonuses, presents, or tax refunds. Now, I’m not trying to be a buzzkill and suggest you set all of these funds aside, but I’d say you should at least contribute 20% — more if you can. It may not be as fun as some of the other things you could do with the cash, but it could come in handy someday. Explore Online Savings Options Although regular savings accounts can be a great option to start, it may be worth looking into alternatives such as online accounts to help you earn on your money. Depending on a number of factors, the interest rate you receive from your savings account could be as low as .01%. Instead, online banks Discover, Ally, and others offers accounts with APY’s upwards of 1.20%. What’s great about this option is that will allow you to passively accrue funds while still providing liquidity should you need to access your money.