Money Release: Making, Saving, Investing and Debt Management » emergency fund

Money Bible Verses: On Saving and Emergency Fund

Victorino — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:48:50 +0000

Saving money seems to be an easy task. But the reality tells the other way around. The truth is… it is difficult to set aside money. This is because we do not only encounter controllable temptations to spend money, but also we often face uncontrollable circumstances that lead us to use them. These unmanageable circumstances include our routine necessity to buy our daily food, unexpected medical expenses, unanticipated repair expenses, and other expenditures we must not ignore. Thus, it is just wise to save money for these kinds of events we don’t expect to happen anytime in the future. We call this amount an emergency fund. This is a fund we set aside for the exclusive use of our emergency needs in an unpredicted future. There can be confusion whether saving money is wise and biblical, considering that saved money, which don’t earn interest, seems to be unwise. There are also claims that investing is far away better than saving. With these, let us find out what the Bible says about saving money. The following are passages from the Holy Scriptures pertaining to saving bucks and setting aside for an emergency fund:

1 Corinthians 16:2
On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.

Proverbs 6:6-8
Go to the ant, sluggard; consider her ways and be wise; who having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her food in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest.

Proverbs 19:2
Also it is not good for a person to be without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps errs.

Proverbs 21:5
The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.

Proverbs 21:20
The wise man saves for the future but the foolish man spends whatever he gets

Proverbs 27:12
A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, the naive proceed and pay the penalty

Proverbs 30:24-25
Four things are small on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: The ants are not a strong people, but they prepare their food in the summer;

Ecclesiastes 11:2
Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth.

Conclusion:
The Holy Bible which is full of wisdom clearly is a reference of purpose. Every acts and teachings we can find in the Holy Books are under a great purpose. Therefore, we can say that the righteousness of saving and setting aside money depends on its purpose. Yes, investing can be better than saving, but saving under a good purpose can be better than a risky investment. Saving money for an emergency fund is recommended for this uncertain world. Saving money for the future of your children (educational fund) is also wise. But saving money without a clear purpose is dull. Saving money can also teach us self-discipline – a virtue that gives us great results in our lives. It also orients us to patience and prudence – two virtues that keep us away from financial troubles. Hence, let us be disciplined, patient and prudent persons. Let us save money with a great purpose. If you love your family, you won’t give them a gloomy future. Finally, if you honor God, you should always see to it that you always bear fruits for your people to be picked.

Personal Finance Tips #4: Value and Importance

Victorino — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:24:42 +0000

Here is another personal finance tip I want to share to all my readers. In an objective to attain financial stability, we need to take a good look to our personal finances. We need to stand firmly for the achievement of our financial goals. We just not need to plan, set goals and do the steps to achieve those goals. We need to give those things a great importance. We must value what we think, what we feel, and what we do to our personal finance. Every task we made and every goal we target, we must think and feel how much they are important to us. We must put an essence to all things we do. This essence exists when we put value to those things.

Many people, although they have a good financial plan and procedures to achieve their financial goals, still fail. One mail reason is… they don’t perform their very best. They take those plans and steps slightly, and sometimes they take them for granted. This happen because they don’t stand on the things they have laid.

All plans must have a goal. This goal must be an important goal for someone not to take it insignificantly. Hence, in every plan and goal we make, we must always ask ourselves – why are we doing this plan? Why do we want to achieve those goals? How important it is to achieve them? By assuring that a plan and its goal are very important to our lives, we can also assure that we will do our best to execute that plan and achieve its goal.

In setting up our emergency fund, we should also put some value on this fund. Because if we won’t, we might just lose it. This must also apply to all the funds and allowances we build. We must hold them tight, protect them, and nurture them – as if they are very important to us. We can also think of some important things to become the reasons why we are doing these financial activities. These things can be the most important people in our lives. They can be our love ones, our children particularly. The educational fund you are building up can be very important to you, because you love your children. The emergency fund you keep can also be very significant to you because you don’t want your family to face financial troubles in the future.

One major personal financial goal you can desire can be your release from debts. This goal must also become very important to you. This means, you need to become serious in eliminating those amounts you owed. You need to pay them on time. This also means you need to do your best effort to find and earn money to repay those debts.

By putting pure value on everything we do, we can set ourselves on fire and attain success on those things. Remember that what we don’t hold firmly – can fall from our hands. Thus, we must stand on every plan we create, in every steps we make, and in every goal we want to achieve. We must place a great importance on them. We can do that by linking them to important things in our lives, like our love for our family and other loved ones.

How to prepare for a personal financial crisis?

Victorino — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:17:23 +0000

Sun Tzu of the Art of War once said, in time of peace prepare for war and in time of war prepare for peace. He also stated that a victorious commander is one who makes more calculations. Applying this ancient Chinese wisdom in personal finance, we can tell that a crisis can be overcome by wise calculations and advanced preparations. A financial crisis sometimes attacks anyone without a warning. This happens when unexpected events like health failure, sudden loss of a job, and repair needs of our properties give us money troubles. Thus, an advance anticipation and preparation to minimize the troubles should not be ignored and must be given full and constant attention. But how do we prepare ourselves to deal effectively and efficiently with any financial crisis in the near future?

Prepare your pocket
First, because we are talking here financial matters, we need to prepare our pocket, our wallet, our bank accounts, or our financial capacity. In times of financial crisis, we should see to it that we have built an emergency fund which we can get funds to help us pay our emergency expenses. Setting up an emergency fund can be done gradually yet it should be consistent. We can also place that fund in a savings account to earn interests yet still unrestricted. We can also save other things aside from money that can help us in times of financial crisis. These include stored foods and supplies, which we can spend while you still don’t run out of bucks.

Prepare your mind
An alert mind is a great mind. A financial crisis is an occurrence that is irregular. In times like this, we need to have our mind prepared for this tough situation. That’s why we should fill our brains with all the advanced personal financial solutions we can use when financial troubles happen. This can be done by making strategic plans, budgeting and forecasting.

Prepare your emotions
If we need to set up our mind for the anticipate crisis, we also need to prepare our emotions. Our emotional behavior can play an important role in difficult financial situations. We cannot ignore our feelings, especially because this is our human essence. May people who are emotionally weak usually don’t survive a very hard financial condition. Our emotions, when properly manage and control, can give us the strength and courage to face any battle, including our financial battles. Moreover, they are also our tools that supply us inspirations and will-power to do what is right and what is excellent.

Prepare your people
We also need to prepare the people around us who have significant impacts in our lives. These persons may include our families, relatives, close friends and other people who can affect our financial lives. Your children for example, who need your financial support for their education, should be taught and be ready for the effects of the coming crisis. The importance of preparing the people around you for the coming financial storm is to make them people that can help you survive the disaster instead of letting them become additional burden that will add weight to the crisis.

Prepare your hands
Last but not the least, we need to prepare our hands. This means we need to prepare ourselves to do and execute all those planned actions we have prepared for the crisis. Since we may be losing money when crisis comes, we must assure that our hands can actively work and find money to cure the coming financial troubles. Although we have prepared mind, heart or people around us, if our own hands are not prepared, expect that failure will still come to us. Hence, let us set our hands in fire during the cold and rainy days.

How to Build an Emergency Fund

Jay — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:37:02 +0000

In today’s world, in American and elsewhere, most people live “hand-to-mouth” or week to week. That means the average person earns just enough money to meet his or her expenses before the funds run out and the process repeats itself the following week … or month.

It’s no secret that the cost of living has gone up dramatically over the last twenty years or so, but income has edged up much more slowly. As such, the vast majority of people find it difficult – perhaps even impossible to save money or to “put away cash for a rainy day.” And if you can’t build an emergency fund, you become extremely vulnerable to the unexpected.

If something unforeseen happens – an accident that damages your car and causes you physical injury … an unexpected illness followed up by a hospitalization … costly home repairs … or just about anything else you can find yourself in financial distress – swamped with bills you can’t pay.

Call it a bleak picture, and it is, but it doesn’t have to ever get to that point. You can take steps, now, to build an Emergency Fund that will enable you to pay for the unexpected things that come up in everyone’s life. And it alls starts with establishing a budget. Here is what you need to do.

Figure out your monthly net income and your monthly fixed overhead. Subtract one from the other and you know how much money you have left. Let’s say, for the sake of argument that you remain with $100 a week after setting aside funds for your fixed expenses. That’s $400 a month. That’s money you’re going to use for transportation, food and entertainment. DON’T USE ALL OF IT. Set aside $25 a week … or even $50, if possible. Place that money in an interest-earning bank account – and don’t touch it. You are now creating your very own Emergency Fund.

Here’s something else you can do. Take on a second job. It doesn’t have to be for a lot of hours … or even for five days a week. Work weekends or one or two nights each week. The extra income you make can go into your pocket for entertainment (some of it, anyway) and into your bank account to build your Emergency Fund (lots of it, hopefully).

One more thing: most people have lots of spare change in their pockets at the end of a long day. Start saving your loose change … it adds up quickly. When you have a substantial amount, convert it to paper money and deposit it into your ever-growing Emergency Fund checking or savings account.

It grows quickly. And you can never have too much money set aside for unexpected expenses. Start saving today and don’t stop. Turn it into a habit. You’ll be amazed at how quickly it grows into a significant amount of money, cash that will be available to help you in a time of need. Take the first step right now.

What is Debt Consolidation?

Victorino — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:42:29 +0000

What is the meaning of debt consolidation? Will it help borrowers from getting out from debt troubles? People who are buried with multiple loans may consider biting on a debt consolidation program to attain lower monthly payments and longer repayment period. The convenience of having a single loan also adds its attraction. Debt consolidation is the process of replacing two or more loans with a single loan, usually with a lower monthly payment a longer repayment duration. This is also known as a consolidation loan. As its name suggests, several smaller loans are replaced with a lone larger loan. Debt consolidation may be the cure to the financial troubles faced by most borrowers. However, the lower monthly payments that it promises may only benefit a debtor in the short-run and not in the long-run. Remember that this process extends the length of the repayment period. In the short-term this gives a borrower a relief, but in the long-term it only put him farther from financial freedom. People may temporarily resort to debt consolidation when it’s already too late for them to prevent the troubles of having several desperate loans. But when this credit nightmare is not yet happening to anyone of us, we should bear in mind that the best and most effective ways in getting out of debts is personal financial planning and avoiding bad credit habits including spending more than what is budgeted, charging when you can go on cashing, hiding credit problems, ignoring credit reports, repaying only the minimum, not making an emergency funds and other habits a borrower should always avoid.