Now is the best time to start an emergency savings cash fund even if you suck at money.
We have talked about the importance and benefits of emergency bank accounts here.
Cash Vs. Credit
It needs to be a cash fund. I know it can be tempting to just get a new credit card and call that your emergency fund.
But suppose your emergency turns out to be an expensive one. In that case, you may be signing yourself up for crippling minimum payments.
With cash, you don’t have to worry about debt down the road.
And taking out a credit line without using it does nothing for your credit score. However, using more than 30% of your credit limit will crash your score.
So even though it may be a slow process, start an emergency savings cash fund instead of relying on credit.
Why start an Emergency Cash Savings Fund?
To be honest, even if it’s $5, the most challenging thing is getting it started. So get that part over with, and the rest will be easy.
Self-Care and an Emergency Cash Savings fund
A central point of stress for most Americans is money. And financial stress has been shown to negatively affect your mental and physical health.
So saving money is a form of self-care. Putting money back will improve your life every day, not just on a day an emergency happens.
Control
You will fill more in control. Then, as you keep saving, developing that habit, you will see that you can control your money. You can do this!
In fact, you will find you can start exerting more control over other areas of your life. This is because stress is known to kill our capacity to make rational decisions by draining our reserves of mental strength. <insert link>
Math
The earlier you start, the more you can save.
Personally, we have to save minor amounts at pretty irregular intervals. That means our savings grows slowly. That’s ok.
The critical point is that we are on the board and building a habit.
Interest
Once you have funds in a savings account, you will be earning interest. The interest you earn is measured in Annual Percentage Yield or APY.
This is a type of passive income, and that’s good!
And different banks will have other procedures for paying interest.
But the great thing is your interest earned will grow as your savings account grows, provided the money stays in the account. This is excellent motivation to prevent us from dipping into our emergency accounts during non-emergencies.
And once you save enough in a low-interest savings account, you can invest that capital in a more prosperous place.
Conclusion
The most important reason to start a savings account now is to quit procrastinating. Today is the day to get it done. Take the first step to control! Even if that step is just a few dollars. Slowly growing your savings is better than nothing.
