Personal Finance Buzz

Identify times where you should have an emergency fund and how much you should have saved. Here are 5 instances where you should have money saved up.

How do you finance unexpected personal expenses, such as car repairs, medical visits, home maintenance repairs, etc? Most people finance these expenses with a credit card. The most effective way to finance these expenses is through a personal emergency fund.

It's a commonly accepted rule of personal finance that one should save 3 to 6 month's worth of expenses in an emergency fund. Reserved for true emergencies, the conventional wisdom dictates that you stash your cash in a high rate savings account or maybe a short-term high yield CD.

According to a Money Magazine poll, 37% of Americans have over 6 months of expenses in their emergency funds - do you?

Instead of putting money in an emergency fund, many people use credit cards for emergencies. Using credit cards for emergencies, no matter their size, can lead to bigger problems down the road.

Having an emergency fund for unexpected expenses can decrease your stress levels.

Surprise expenses tend to pop up from time to time. Relying on credit cards may be the easy way out to cover these unexpected costs but it's better to be prepared with an emergency fund.