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An emergency fund will help you prepare for life’s unpleasant financial surprises. Depending on the size of your emergency fund, you can supplement your income if something happens to the ability of someone in your household to work. Additionally, an emergency fund can help you pay for car repairs, or help you take care of other issues that might crop up. A large enough emergency fund can serve as a safety net for your finances. While it may not provide complete protection, and emergency fund can provide some relief, and help you avoid financial ruin.

Your $1,000 Emergency Fund

If this is your first time setting up an emergency fund, your goal should be trying to save just $1,000 and set that aside in a savings account. You can read more about it here: Set Up a $1,000 Mini Emergency Fund.

Before you try to save a fully-funded emergency fund (see below), there might be other financial tasks that you want to take care of before hand, for example:

How Much Emergency Fund?

Many people wonder how much they should have in emergency savings. The answer, of course, depends on your personal situation, and how concerned you are for the future.

An old rule of thumb suggested that you save three to six months of expenses as a fully-funded emergency fund in order to protect yourself. The feeling was that you could live on the money for a few months while looking for a job, and that such a sum could also easily cover emergency repairs.

However, now some are saying that six to nine months of expenses — or even 12 months of expenses — is a better option. After the last big recession, it has become apparent that some jobs may not be replaced in only three months. What you decide is up to you.

To figure out how much you want to set aside in your emergency fund, add up your monthly expenses. Make sure you include your housing and utility payments, and your debt payments. Use your past two or three months’ expenses as a guide for estimating what you spend on groceries.

Bank statements and personal finance software can help you estimate your monthly expenses (e.g., try Personal Capital). Then, multiply that number by how many months you want in your emergency fund.

For example, if your expenses are $5,000 a month, you would need $30,000 for a six month emergency fund.

Building Up Your Emergency Fund

Of course, saving up so much money can be intimidating. However, you do not have to have all the money for your emergency fund at once. You can start small…as mentioned above, start with just $1,000 first.

Open a high yield savings account with as much money as you can spare for the savings effort. Then go through your expenses and decide how much you can set aside each month until your emergency fund goals are met. Even if you do not have the full amount of money at once, some savings are better than none, and you can work up to your goal. You can use automated savings to help with your goal.

Remember that your emergency fund should be relatively liquid and accessible — here are some ideas on where to keep your emergency fund. While you could get higher returns in other products, the fact remains that high yield savings accounts are easier to tap than an investment account when an emergency looms.

Bottom Line

No matter how much solid financial planning we put in, life cannot be reduced down to complete predictability. Indeed, there are always unexpected expenses, large and small, that can crop up. And, you never know when something catastrophic, like a major illness or a job loss, will happen. The reality of unexpected financial situations should be enough to help you realize that you need an emergency fund.