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Many of us don’t prepare for emergencies. We live with the notion that what is now is what will be—if not better. This is something I touched on yesterday on the subject of Joblessness, but it pertains to financial planning as well.
While some people may have money saved for retirement (and fewer that have actually saved enough!), the numbers are staggering when it comes to being prepared for family or job emergencies.
In Fact, It’s Worse Than That
Up until this last recession, most people were living in the negative. Between a house that they couldn’t afford and credit card bills up to their eyeballs, people planned that things would never change—and were startled when they did.
When I got a new job a year back and moved locations, the new job allowed us to buy more of a house. Little did I know that I’d be unemployed again in a few months for much less than the new salary. Fortunately, the severance package from my previous employer and the sale of the house allowed me some cushion between jobs, but I am doing extra work at my new job to try to maintain our standard of living.
And What About the Other Emergencies?
There are more emergencies than job loss that have to be accounted for. Furnaces fail, floods happen, and we need to realize that life does not promise that everything will continue to get better.
We need to have extra funds and supplies—especially for those that live in areas that could go out of power in the winter or have worse things happen.
We should plan for the worst, rather than plan for the best. If we plan for the worst but expect the best, we will be more at peace and be able to weather more storms than if we plan for the best and have all the stress when the best doesn’t happen—which is more often than not.
