The Number One Reason Most People Are Broke Or Have No Emergency Fund

June 14, 2021 by Todd Kunsman

I’m sure if you are reading this, you’ve come across other articles that talk about the importance of building your savings or having some sort of an emergency fund.  Whether that be for an unexpected medical bill, something breaks down in your car, etc.  I’m not personally a fan of the “emergency fund” term, as you should be building up your savings to use for investments, retirement, etc. But whatever it may be, most Americans are in pretty bad shape if some expensive issue comes up.

Because of a lack of prep, many times people are forced to rack up credit card debt to pay for the expense or get tons of late notices with extra fees thus essentially getting stuck with more and more bills, costing you a chance to stack that money away.

How to Make Better Financial Decisions

By Barbara O’Neill  WiseBread

A key financial decision people struggle to make is how to allocate savings for multiple financial goals. Do you save for several goals at the same time or fund them one-by-one in a series of steps? Basically, there are two ways to approach financial goal-setting:

Concurrently: Saving for two or more financial goals at the same time.

Sequentially: Saving for one financial goal at a time in a series of steps.

Each method has its pros and cons. Here's how to decide which method is best for you.

How To Flip Your Money: 6 Ways To Make Supplemental Income This Way

James Holbach  Thu, July 13, 2023 at 12:00 PM EDT

Financial independence is a dream for most of us — something we will likely spend most of our working lives trying to achieve. The best way to get there is to make your money work for you, by getting a return on it or by turning it into a income stream on the side.

One way to do this is by “flipping” your money.

Now, money flipping may sound questionable, but there’s nothing illegal or shady involved. It really just means investing in an asset with the intent of holding it for a fairly short time before selling it or cashing out for a return. There are a lot of ways to do it, too. Here are five below.

The No-Sweat Way to Protect Yourself From Financial Disaster

By: Laura Goldstein  Jun 29, 2015

hat nagging feeling that a bit of bad luck—a medical emergency or a layoff—could derail your finances is widely shared. A new survey from the American Psychological Association found that 54% of people rated paying for unexpected expenses a very or somewhat significant source of stress.

 And people across the income spectrum tend to be underprepared. A Pew Charitable Trusts analysis finds middle-income households typically have the equivalent of 20 days of income to tap, and even high earners have just 52 days. Building a bigger rainy-day fund may feel like a daunting task, given all your expenses and savings goals, but you can start by breaking it down into manageable chunks.

How To Never Worry About Money Again

The No-Sweat Way to Protect Yourself From Financial Disaster

By laura goldstein

Building a bigger rainy-day fund may feel daunting. Start by breaking it down into manageable chunks.

That nagging feeling that a bit of bad luck—a medical emergency or a layoff—could derail your finances is widely shared. A new survey from the American Psychological Association found that 54% of people rated paying for unexpected expenses a very or somewhat significant source of stress. And people across the income spectrum tend to be underprepared. A Pew Charitable Trusts analysis finds middle-income households typically have the equivalent of 20 days of income to tap, and even high earners have just 52 days. Building a bigger rainy-day fund may feel like a daunting task, given all your expenses and savings goals, but you can start by breaking it down into manageable chunks.

Five Freedoms

Jonathan Clements  

FOR THREE YEARS, I lived on Roosevelt Island, in the middle of New York City’s East River. It’s a wonderful place—a quiet, friendly, low-crime oasis in the middle of one of the world’s largest, most frenetic cities.  During my time there, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park opened on the island’s southern tip. The park is named after a 1941 FDR speech, where he articulated “four essential human freedoms”: freedom of speech, of worship, from fear and from want.

FDR’s speech was inspiring. Managing money is altogether more prosaic. Still, I’d argue that our pursuit of money is also about a hunger for freedom—with five dimensions:

Stop! Don't Make These 6 Dumb Mistakes With Your Financial Windfall

By Kentin Waits  

Maybe your lottery numbers finally came in. Maybe a favorite aunt remembered you in her will. Heck, maybe one day while you were shootin' at some food, up through the ground came bubblin' crude — oil that is! Texas tea! (See also: 50 Smart Things to Do With Your Tax Refund)

Whatever the source, you're the lucky beneficiary of a financial windfall. Revel in it and protect your new-found wealth by avoiding these six dumb moves.

1. Act Impulsively

Receiving money unexpectedly is exciting, and it can send even normally down-to-earth folks straight into the stratosphere. In those dizzying weeks and months following a financial windfall, we're really not ourselves, so making big decisions during that time is usually a terrible idea.

I’m a Financial Planning Expert: 6 Worst Purchases To Make in an Economic Downturn

Heather Taylor   Wed, July 12, 2023

More than half of Americans are pausing upcoming purchases due to economic uncertainty.

In the Planning & Progress 2023 Study from Northwestern Mutual, 60% of Americans surveyed said they are postponing plans and purchases. Thirty-six percent are postponing daily purchases including dining out, buying new clothes and buying tickets for events. Twenty-nine percent said they’re waiting to invest in large purchases or projects. Even major life decisions are on hiatus with 29% of Gen Z postponing changing their jobs.