If I lost my job today can I
celebrate within the first three months without any debt?
Written by:
Christopher Torralba ( beggar )
Work is a huge blessing from God, everything that we have
normally came from our job through the salaries that we receive.
so that's why having a job should be take care of as long
you may have it but the problem is this,
What will you do if you lost
your job today without any savings to back you up ?
Have you try to ask yourself what if today I lost my job? as
in today!
how can I produce for my daily expenses such as food, water,
electricity and other daily expenses
not including if you have your children for their daily
needs such as milk , diapers or if they are grown up how about their education?
I am currently working as a seafarer on tanker vessels and I
am shocked that I am working around seven
years as an OFW but I never felt about saving in my emergency such as
when I lost my job right away, since the first time I receive money from my
parents I found some happiness in saving money through the years that past by
and now I ask myself,
how can I survive for my daily lifestyle if my cost of
living is 20, 30, or 50 thousand pesos
per month and some of them are very generous that they actually have 100,000
thousand pesos or more for their cost of living.
so I ask myself it is good to be true if ever I lost my job
today I cannot survive for the amount of money that I have while I am applying
for a new job at sea because there is transition that needs to take its place so due to urgent desire to plan for it the most basic things
that I access is my common sense which is I need to save for any case of
emergency!
But what kind of savings? and how much?
that is the time that I made my research through internet
and social media and I am lucky that It is simply they are suggesting to build
your emergency fund,
What? say it again? yes! " EMERGENCY FUND "
So what is Emergency Fund?
Emergency Fund is a savings that you can save it in any safe
place such as bank and having an immediate access but not easy access so you
might not temp to take your emergency fund when there are some stuff that
allures your mind when they are trying to temp you such as sale madness in huge
shopping malls.
How much emergency fund do I need to save?
Base on my mentors through live seminars and in social media
they are the financial advocate one
they suggest emergency fund amount is about a year or a half
if your are working in land base you may prepare around 6 months but my mentor
said if you are an OFW much better to prepare at least a 1 year or 12 months in
exact.
Why 6 to 12 months?
In this amount if you are an OFW and suddenly you lost your
job in a moment that you never expect or the company gave you a generous
vacation such as 8- 10 months, you can apply for a new job but applying for a
new job takes time and money, don't forget
that you need to eat, drink and live everyday so if you don't have any emergency fund or back up fund to
back you up what is the first thing that comes in your mind? well I just simply
barrow money from lenders such as 5/6 or
have a loan in SSS ( social security system ) or any means to have an access
for my daily needs specially if you are a family man
but why you need to borrow money from these lenders and
likewise they will take advantage of its profit? much better why you don't plan for your own emergency fund
while you are earning right now and stay away for a moment from the stuff that not
necessary and specially if they are non earning asset I did not say don't buy the stuff that you need or what you
want but this is my question what is important
to you right now? the stuff that
will not help you in financial crisis or building your emergency fund for you
to have a confidence through the time of bad weather?
building emergency fund is not easy but it can be doable! if
you know what is the meaning discipline in the Webster dictionary.
Here are some suggestions that you may appreciate to follow:
1. At the end of the month or if it's your payday set aside
immediately for your emergency fund so
the question is how much? well it depends on you if you like to build it as
soon as possible you can set aside a large amount but if you can't due too some
urgent priorities you can save small amount
but consistently.
2. You can remove right away some unnecessary expenses such
as soft drinks, cigarettes, excessive junk food or buying stuff that you don't
need at all in this way your monthly expenses for these stuff will be converted
to your emergency fund that can help you in financial crisis that anyone can
encounter any moment of time.
3. When you start building your back up fund you may put it
in the bank much better in passbook rather than an ATM card to avoid easy
access, but it can be withdraw any moment of financial emergency.
4. One of the main purpose of this emergency fund is to
provide for your daily needs if you lost your job at any moment of time or most financial
advocate said it is your income replacement
while you are applying for a new job or it can be used for the most urgent one.
Building our emergency fund is just easy as writing a blog
but the truth is it's not easy for the people that doesn't know their
priorities in their lives.
If you will not build your emergency fund while you have a
good earning's one day crisis will come that you didn't felt its already
overtaken you, later you will felt you don't have money to spend anymore due to
negligence of handling for it and you will be shock you are already in huge
debt.
I just want to share
a short story from the bible regarding savings and conservation and I hope you
will not asleep while you are reading it, even in biblical times God teaches us
to save and conserve for us to learn how
to value our resources, many Christians known it word by word but the truth is not all them are applying these
great story.
Joseph and the Famine
13 There was no food, however, in the
whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away
because of the famine.14 Joseph
collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for
the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. 15 When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan
was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why
should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”
16 “Then bring your livestock,” said
Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money
is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to
Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep
and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year
with food in exchange for all their livestock.
18 When that year was over, they came to
him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that
since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is
nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our
land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our
land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and
not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt
for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine
was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, 21 and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,[a] from one end of Egypt to the
other. 22 However, he did not buy the land of the
priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had
food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not
sell their land.
23 Joseph said to the people, “Now that I
have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so
you can plant the ground.24 But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it
to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as
food for yourselves and your households and your children.”
25 “You have saved our lives,” they said.
“May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”
26 So Joseph established it as a law
concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth of the produce
belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become
Pharaoh’s.
27 Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in
the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful
and increased greatly in number.
Genesis 47:13-27 New International Version
(NIV)
Sharing what is
useful and important really makes sense in my behalf so I hope you learned
something from what did I learned from other people.
May God bless you in
handling your finances.
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