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Having an Emergency Fund for Rising Inflation in Texas

Bills in Texas are on the rise. An out-of-control inflation rate has resulted in insurance, gas, and food being more expensive than ever. Because of this, dealing with emergency expenses can be exceedingly challenging.

Many often find themselves having to forgo medical treatment, vet treatment, and even home repairs to put food on the table. Unfortunately, this is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Thankfully, many people are now starting to wake up to the importance of establishing an emergency fund. Money that they can tap into whenever an emergency arises. It can be challenging, but building an emergency fund with limited resources is possible.

The Importance of an Emergency Fund

Simple Fast Loans is a strong advocate for people establishing emergency funds. Every day, Simple Fast Loans often deals with those in Texas who are struggling to cover the following:

  • Food costs
  • Home repair bills
  • Car repair bills
  • Appliance repair or replacement
  • Medical expenses, particularly for pharmaceutical products.
  • Vet bills
  • Emergency childcare costs
  • Emergency travel costs

These are the essentials in life that you tend not to budget for (or you have budgeted for, but another expense has decided to rear its ugly head).

When you have established an emergency fund, you will find that you are in a much better position to tackle those unexpected expenses in life. In addition, it causes a far lower amount of stress. While you may not have the exact amount you need sitting in your emergency fund account, even a little can help.

When you establish an emergency fund, you should be able to tackle whatever life throws at you, at least when it is a financial emergency.

Establishing Your Emergency Fund 

Many believe you need huge sums of cash to get an emergency fund off to a great start. You don't. This will be talked about a little bit later. Even putting aside $10-$20 a month can work wonders. Within a year, you could potentially have $250 sitting in the bank, which may be enough to cover most emergency expenses.

But do bear in mind that establishing an emergency fund isn't all that difficult. It is just a bank account.

Opening Your Emergency Fund

An emergency fund is just a separate checking account. You may want to avoid savings accounts here. This is because many savings accounts make it difficult to withdraw your cash. The whole reason why you are stashing that cash away is so that it can be used in an emergency. Some savings accounts may take a couple of days to get money out. Although thankfully, more and more banks are starting to ditch this idea.

Your emergency fund must be kept separate from your primary checking account. The whole reason for having an emergency fund is not to touch it unless you are dealing with an emergency financial situation. Many people have attempted to mix their emergency funds into their normal cash. They pledge that they will not take their balance below a certain amount. This rarely happens.

In most cases, choosing a different bank from your normal one for your emergency fund may be beneficial. However, you will want to ensure that you check the fees for that account. You don't want to be dealing with massive fees for storing a bit of cash in an account.

Budget for Your Emergency Fund

This is where some people run into a few issues. First, when you have an emergency fund, you should always try to ensure that you put money into the emergency fund wherever possible. The idea is that your emergency fund should be continually growing

The problem is that many people are currently living from paycheck to paycheck, and this can make it difficult to budget a certain amount each month. Try and put in as much as you can afford each month. Only have $5 left at the end of the month? It is not ideal, but it is 100% fine. As long as your emergency fund grows, you are in a good position.

Over time, as you start to deal with some of your debts or perhaps become far better at budgeting, you may find that you can put more cash into your emergency fund each month.

Remember, if you need to dip into your emergency fund for any reason, you should try to ensure that you replace that cash as quickly as possible. Of course, you don't need to do it immediately but aim to get that account refilled within a year. If you don't do that, chances are that you will lose interest in having an emergency fund. 

Do Not Touch the Cash in the Account 

The whole reason for having an emergency account is to have cash available in an emergency. It means that you do not have to worry if inflation continues to rise in Texas (and it will); you know that you have a good amount of cash safely stashed in your checking account that will allow you to cover most financial emergencies.

So, before you withdraw any cash from your account, you will need to think long and hard about whether you are dealing with a financial emergency. Simple Fast Loans often recommends that people follow these criteria:

  1. If the expense isn't covered immediately, will this significantly impact your quality of life?
  2. Can you wait until your next paycheck to cover the expense?
  3. Is there another way that you could cover the cost of the emergency expense?

If the answer to the questions above is yes-no-no, you are probably dealing with an emergency expense.

As mentioned previously, you will want to ensure that any funds that you do spend, you will need to replace quickly.

This is another benefit to having your emergency fund at a separate bank from your regular checking account. You are much less likely to touch the account if you are not exposed to it regularly. 

How Much Do You Need in an Emergency Fund?

In an ideal world, you would have vast sums of cash for an emergency. Although let's be honest, this is not a perfect world. After all, people are being pushed to the brink with out-of-control inflation and very few means of support.

At the minimum, your emergency fund should consist of cash you can reasonably afford. As mentioned, this doesn't have to be a huge sum of money each month. If you can afford just $10 per month, it will have to be $10 per month. Every bit helps grow your fund.

Your overall goal is to try and get as much cash in that emergency fund as possible. Some people aim for 6-12 months of their monthly salary, but this may be out of the reach of many people. In most cases, having a few thousand dollars saved will be enough to deal with most emergency expenses.

If you want a rough idea of how much cash you need in your account, think about any past emergency expenses you have had. This should give you a bit of a guideline on how much money you need to have in your bank. But, once again, it is essential to remember that you do not need to have all that cash stored in your bank account at once.

How a Personal Loan Can Assist

As mentioned previously, you must start building up that emergency fund as soon as possible. While budgeting yourself a little each month can help, it is not the only option. Some people consider the idea of rapidly building up their finances by taking out a personal loan from Simple Fast Loans.

One of the main benefits of taking out a personal loan from Simple Fast Loans is giving your emergency account a rapid cash boost. This means that you will have an emergency fund that you can fall back on each month. Just ensure that you only use that account for emergency expenses.

Here at Simple Fast Loans, you could start building up your emergency account today. Simple Fast Loans has ensured that the process of inquiring about a loan is as fast as possible. As a result, many loans can be funded within a day or so.

Of course, to obtain a personal loan from Simple Fast Loans, you will need to undergo a credit check. However, don't fret. A credit check with Simple Fast Loans will be nowhere near as strenuous as the sorts of checks that banks and the like will be putting you through. This means that you may even be able to borrow cash from Simple Fast Loans, even if your credit isn't in the best possible position.

Simple Fast Loans can offer you a chance to borrow no matter where you are in Texas. The inquiry process is all completed online too, which will help ensure that the process is as rapid as possible for you. 

Remember, if you are not spending that cash, you will have enough money in your emergency account to cover repayments on your loan if you fall short in one month. 

Get a Personal Loan in Texas Today 

You need an emergency fund. Inflation is going to continue to grow at a rapid pace in Texas, and if you don't start to put cash aside now, you may find that you do not have the money available if you do end up dealing with a financial emergency.

While it is always advised that you try to budget cash from your monthly income for an emergency fund, Simple Fast Loans understands that some people may find it difficult to get larger sums of money into their accounts quickly like that. As a result, many people opt for a personal loan to boost their emergency fund accounts.

If you are interested in a personal loan in Texas, you can start the inquiry process on our website. If you get started today, you could have access to that cash that you need in a few hours. This could give you financial peace of mind in times that are undoubtedly some of the most financially tested over the last few decades.

 

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