✦Money · 10 recordsBuild an emergency fund

The hard part is not the arithmetic, it is that the fund competes with everything else every month. This automates the transfer for the day after payday and sets the first milestone deliberately low, because one month saved changes far more than the last two do.

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Goal

Three months of costs, saved Month 9

One month first. That is where the change in how it feels is largest.

Work out the number Week 3

Essential costs, not total spending.

  • Add up what one month of essentials actually costsDo firstDay 5
  • Open a separate account it cannot be spent fromDo firstDay 12
  • Set the transfer for the day after paydayDo firstWeek 3

Get there Month 9

One month, then three.

  • Reach one month of costsMonth 4
  • Reach three months of costsMonth 9

Routines

  • Check the fund has grownweekly
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Automate it or lose it

A fund that depends on a monthly decision loses that decision regularly. Moving the money before it is available to spend is the single change that makes this work without willpower.\n\nOne month first, deliberately. The first month changes far more about how things feel than the last two do.

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Build an emergency fund, answered.

Three months of essential costs is the usual target, but the first milestone here is one month, because that is where the change in how it feels is largest. The last two months are worth having and much less urgent.
Because a fund that depends on a monthly decision loses that decision regularly. Moving the money the day after payday, before it is available to spend, is the single change that makes this work without any willpower.
Get a small buffer first, then clear expensive debt, then finish the fund. Without any buffer the next unexpected bill goes back on the card, which undoes the repayment and is discouraging enough to end the whole effort.
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