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What if you have a sudden medical expense, your car breaks down or you lose your job?
If you dont have that money set aside, a setback like that can turn into a crisis.
And if you go into debt, it could affect you for years to come.
Kashable has just released itsState of Consumer Finance Report, a survey it conducted of its customers.
The survey revealed that 81% of respondents had no emergency savings.
If this is you, youll want to rectify this and start building an emergency fund.
The survey also showed that 29% said that not having an emergency fund caused them stress.
And 69% of them said that stress negatively impacted their physical and/or mental health.
So even if you dont have a true emergency, not having a fund is still bad for you.
Here are some tips to help you finallybuild that emergency fund in 2025.
Start by listing all your sources of income and tracking your expenses for a month.
Taking a look at your spending can help you see areas where you might be overspending.
But if you understand where your money goes, its easier to make decisions about where to cut back.
Budget, Budget, Budget
The next step is to make a budget.
Cancel subscriptions, eat out less often or shopsales and discounts.
The goal is to free up a little extra cash here and there to put in your emergency fund.
This doesnt have to be painful.
Focus on cutting expenses that wont make your quality of life worse.
Dont sacrifice everything you enjoy, but do redirect money fromless meaningful expensesinto your savings.
Now Build That Emergency Fund
Building your emergency fund is now your top priority.
Youre going to need at least three to six months worth of living expenses.
Use your budget to decide how much you’re free to save each month.
Even small amounts add up over time, so its important to stay committed!
You want to put it in a high-yield savings account so the money youre setting aside grows faster.
But remember that your emergency fund is for just that emergencies.
Which means it needs to be easy to get to.
Dont put it into an investment thats hard to liquidate or transfer funds from.
If you make it just as important asrent or utilities, youre less likely to let it slide.
Instead of spending it, put most of it if not all into savings.
If its hard to reserve the whole amount, consider splitting it.
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