Having an emergency fund is important. You need to make it one of your main financial goals. But where can you find the money for your emergency fund?
How to Have Emergency Money
1. Make a budget for it
The first way you can do is to create an emergency fund budget. Of course, to know how much money you can set aside to start an emergency fund, you need to make a budget for all your needs.
By having a budget, your expenses will be more planned and you will no longer use money carelessly. Then, you can prioritize the use of money. Non-priority expenses such as entertainment and self-reward can be reduced in portion, so you have money to save as an emergency fund. You can also lower your electricity bills, water bills, etc. As long as you stick to the budget, you will have money to put in your emergency savings.
If all this time you have been reluctant to do budgeting because you feel that it is complicated, it is not the case when you use the Jago Pocket. Various needs can be separated into Saving Pockets or Spending Pockets, depending on the purpose. And, you can have a lot of Saving and Spending Pockets. Everything can be monitored in one application without you having to record expenses manually.
2. Save most of your additional income
Sources of additional income can vary. If you work in a company, you can get extra income from THR and bonuses. You can also earn extra income by doing side jobs.
To build an emergency fund more quickly, you can save most of your extra money.
Also read: 6 Smart Things to Do When You Receive a Bonus
3. Make saving money automatic
Because emergency money is very important and only used for emergencies, Jagomin suggests that you separate it so it doesn't get mixed up with money for other needs, let alone used for daily expenses.
You can create 1 separate Saving Pocket for your emergency fund. Following the point in number 1, the budget for an emergency fund needs to be there first. However, savings can only be filled with money when you put money into it. So, you need to do more than just budgeting, Jagoans.
You can do this by making saving automatic. If you save your emergency money in Jago’s Saving Pocket, there is the Autosave feature that you can activate. If the feature is already active, you don't need to bother moving money anymore. The money will automatically go to the Saving Pocket.
4. Involve family members
One more way you can try is to involve family members. It is super fun, especially for Jagoans who are already married. Considering that an emergency fund must be prepared not only for yourself but for all family members, then you need to have an emergency fund in a larger amount than if you are not married.
For that, you can invite all family members, including children, to start an emergency fund. You can also use this way to educate children about the importance of saving. So, children can start setting aside some pocket money for savings.
To build an emergency fund with your family, you can take advantage of the Shared Pocket, which is also in the Jago application. The Shared Pocket has the same function as the Saving Pocket, only that it can be managed together.
For spouse and children who already have ID cards, you can invite them to become members of the Pocket. For children who don't have ID cards yet, you can encourage them to save in a piggy bank. At the end of each month, all family members get together and calculate how much money has been saved.
Together we can be jago at having emergency money by applying the above ways. The Jago application can be downloaded here for those who don't have it yet.
