When to Dip into the Emergency Stash?

We are coming out of the pandemic and the once plump emergency stash is looking like a prune- how do we manage the stash from here?

Financial Tip Friday is brought to you in partnership with The 1st National Bank of Dennison.

Emergency funds are meant to actually be used for emergencies. Most of the time they cannot be seen coming.

The time your tooth cracked on a popcorn kernal & needed dental work-

✔ Emergency Fund

The time you forgot a fancy Valentine’s Day gift and bought something over budget-

👎Non–Emergency

How to know when to spend your Emergency Fund!?

If you think your checking account won’t cover the essential bills & expenses (house payments, utilities, food) then you should use your Emergency Fund.

Buying that new iPhone or getting your nails re-done (things & services) that don’t classify as essential, (even streaming apps & subscriptions, actually go into the “want” group. They should not be paid for with emergency funds but your regular checking account. If there’s not enough left for your own subscriptions- cancel for a month!

There are occasions where the car has made a sound for a few weeks but the louder you turn the car speakers up on the inside- the weird noise is drowned out- until it must be fixed. Emergency fund may be used to fix cars, especially if they are needed to get to work and there are no SARTA busses running nearby.

It’s helpful to keep your Emergency Fund in a different account than your everyday checking, or even savings! It should be specifically for emergencies that come up and no, Shamrock Shakes do not fall into that category!

For help with savings, spending, and investing, speak to a local banker to help set up a solid foundation!

Mrs TAZ

It would be wonderful if all high schools would teach the options for handling money and opportunities and paths offered by banking. Here’s a crash course list of what one may find at The 1st National Bank of Dennison.

Let’s begin with the 1874 Origin Story.