I left my job about two months ago, and I applied for unemployment immediately. I got a new job today, but I STILL haven’t gotten my unemployment decision. Additionally, my food stamp application was delayed due to personal circumstances. In short, had I not had money saved for an emergency, I would have been mega-screwed.

I know some people are not in a position where they have the luxury of storing away significant amounts of cash but, if you are, I beg of you to do so if you aren’t already. I can’t imagine what position I’d be in right now if not for my budgeting.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

PS. I posted this here instead of in c/finance because the sidebar there specifies that it’s supposed to be for finance-related news.

  •  HumbleFlamingo   ( @HumbleFlamingo@beehaw.org ) English
    3•10 months ago

    You can also do short term investment like T-Bills or CDs too. Just make sure they’re maturing regularly. For example you could split your emergency fund into 8 chunks, and buy an 8 week T-Bill every week for 8 weeks. If you ever need the money stop reinvesting them and you’ll get 1/8th back per week for 8 weeks.

    T-Bills are a bit over 5% now.