3 Tips for Collecting Emergency Funds

One of the lessons of the pandemic is: increasing public awareness of the importance of managing their finances. What used to be very ignorant with the invitation to save, invest, and make financial planning, finally many people began to realize, and just regretted why they didn't save and invest earlier. Finally, they start to learn how to save and invest, so they won't regret it again in the future.

 

Among the many financial terms we learn, an emergency fund is one of the most important. As the name suggests, an emergency fund is a savings or a number of funds that everyone must prepare to deal with certain situations.

 

Then a question arises, how much emergency fund should a person have?

 

You could say, the nominal amount of each person's emergency fund is different, according to their individual needs. For those who are still living alone, aka single, the emergency fund they must have is at least 3-6 times the average monthly expenditure. For example, Andi spends 3 million rupiahs every month, so the minimum amount of emergency funds he must collect is 9 million rupiahs. As for those who are married and have many dependents, the amount of emergency funds that must be prepared is 6-12 times the average monthly expenditure.

 

For example, Ali is the head of a family, and every month he spends 10 million, so the emergency fund that must be prepared is 60-120 million rupiah, depending on how big the risk is.

 

How to raise an emergency fund?

 

Emergency Fund is one of the financial goals that must come first, before making other financial goals. Therefore, if you do not have an emergency fund, then collect it now. How to? Let's talk about some of the tips:

 

Saving at the beginning of every month

 

Why does it have to be at the beginning of the month? Because we usually get paid at the beginning of the month. So, once we get money, set it aside first for savings, before spending anything else. What if you get paid at the end of the month? Yes, save it at the end of the month. Anyway, once we get income, try to immediately set aside some for savings.

 

This is quite important because many people save only from the remaining money at the end of the month. Because they save their money at the end, in the end they don't save because they run out at the end of the month.

 

Read More: Minimalist Lifestyle Makes Life More Economical

 

Determine the amount of money that must be saved

 

How much percentage of money should be saved? The answer: depending on ability. The bigger the better. According to OJK, the ideal percentage of salary saved is 10%-20% of the total salary. However, this is returned to each person. If you have a lot of monthly needs, then please start saving from 5% of your total income. And try to be consistent.

 

Remember, needs are not wants. Many of our friends who because their salaries have increased, finally feel 'need' more spending. In fact, in fact, his monthly needs did not increase, only his desires increased.

 

And if you can save 25% or 50% of your total income, that's even better. Emergency funds will be collected faster.

 

Save money, don't be stingy

 

If we do not currently have an emergency fund, it is advisable to save as much as possible. Postpone buying things that are not too important, until our emergency funds are collected. But remember, saving does not mean stingy. If we save, we spend our money according to our needs, nothing less, nothing more.

 

If we are stingy, we are not fulfilling our own rights. Don't just want to save to raise an emergency fund, so that you refrain from buying nutritious food. Later those who are sick and spend money for treatment. Especially at times like this.

 

At first, I wanted to make a profit, but I ended up stumped. Naudzubillah