PREPARE YOURSELF FOR BECOMING DEBT FREE
Ask yourself these questions …
- How long could you survive if you lost your job today or a family member was struck down with a life-threatening illness?
Do you have the financial resources to deal with a routine, but unexpected, auto repair?
Could your budget handle the aftermath of forgetting to enter a couple debits into your bank register?
Any one of these scenarios could spell financial disaster — even for someone already on the path to becoming debt free. We all live in fear of these things happening to us as individuals and to our extended families. But are you prepared?
If you’re on a debt-reduction program, you might not have thought about the wealth part of the puzzle — accumulating cash and other resources for the future. Think about this for a minute … if you have $500 in savings, then you’ve only got $500 protecting you from the cold, cruel outside world. Scary, huh?
Look at your monthly expense budget and multiply it times three. That’s how much money you’d need to live for three months if your source of income suddenly ran dry. We’re not talking about available credit levels on credit cards or lines of credit to come up with the three month total — it needs to be cash savings accumulating interest in case of an emergency.
Beyond food and shelter expenses, think about your car’s license plates expiring during an emergency, registering the kids for school during a layoff, or recurring prescriptions that need filling during a spouse’s reduction in income. Do you have a three-month emergency fund in savings? No? Then start saving TODAY and find a program designed to not only make you debt free, but build wealth too.