Is an Emergency Fund a Moral Issue?

September 16, 2008 · Filed Under · 4 Comments 

I think it is.

I have to quickly get this off my chest. The financial fashion today in America is to spend every flipping cent you make + 15% and get into crazy debt. Yet live like a Rockefeller.  It used to be if you ran your personal finances like this you were considered an idiot. Now it is accepted practice and it is those that depend on you to make ends meet that suffer the consequences of your bad financial decisions. The idea of having or building an emergency fund is so incredibly out of fashion these days. Drives me crazy.

I honestly think that the emergency fund is fundamentally a moral issue. If you think about your kids, your spouse, the people counting on you in your life, it really does come down to a moral issue.  I am talking about a 3 month emergency fund that will allow you to pay bills if you get laid off or have some big unexpected expenses.  It is amazing how much less you worry about things if you have that emergency or a rainy day fund built up. Now, if you are starving right now, I am of course not talking about you. But if you are doing OK, throw some extra money into your savings or retirement account every month and start working on it. If you have kids counting on you to do the right thing, it’s just what you gotta do!

Thoughts?

Please Pass This Post Along and Comment Below!
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Furl
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • YahooMyWeb

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Comments

4 Responses to “Is an Emergency Fund a Moral Issue?”

  1. Mrs. Micah on September 16th, 2008 1:38 pm

    I agree. If there are other people depending on you, then the ethical thing to do is have funds on hand.

  2. Julie on September 16th, 2008 1:59 pm

    I agree, and I think we should count ourselves as people depending – because it’s moral to treat oneself with respect. A good place to keep an emergency fund is a High-Yield Savings Account. I work with ShoreBank who gives 3.5% interest and is known for positive environmental and social lending.

  3. Jennifer on September 17th, 2008 10:39 am

    We are working to rebuild our emergency fund after transitioning to a new job, which meant missing a months income and sporadic income for a few months after that. Had we not had an emergency fund, we would have been forced to default on several obligations. To me, not being able to pay something I agreed to is dishonest, so yes, I do think having an emergency fund is a moral issue.

  4. Marci on September 17th, 2008 7:07 pm

    We totally agree. Right now we are working on getting all debt paid off, less than $5000 to go, and then we are going to build that emergency fund. I will say though that even having only $1000 in savings right now makes life a little less stressful!

Leave a Reply




Bad Behavior has blocked 1000 access attempts in the last 7 days.