In this part of the world, not many people understand the importance of having an emergency fund. The average person lives from hand to mouth. They don't really know what it means to prepare for stormy days. Maybe they know but they decide to feign ignorance.
I once had a patient relative whose son was suffering from sickle cell. The patient relative did not have any emergency savings in case the child has a crises, neither they have a reliable source of income. Unfortunately, we lost the boy because the parents were not able to afford medical care in time. Before they could go borrow money from family or friends, the child packed.
Life is unpredictable. The storms of life hits at any time and when it does hit, the impact can be life threatening most times, thus, the importance of emergency preparedness.
Many people have their diverse places to get emergency funds. A place to borrow from, or receive from in a platter of gold. Many people are not opportune to have such luxury while some decide to chase independence.
This post is an entry for India United prompt, what's your plan for an emergency fund. In this entry, I would write how I planned things out in cases of an emergency.
I learnt about having emergency funds through the hard way. Though I have not had any impromptu health challenges that are life threatening or something related, however, I have had a lot of emergency situations that required urgent attention.
My emergency preparedness is greatly dependent on the situation I'm preparating for. The preparation I would make in anticipation of a health issue is quite different from that which I would make for other issues.
Nonetheless, the major thing that I try so much to not lack when preparing for an emergency, is money. One of the ways I prepare for emergencies is to have an emergency account where I save a certain percentage of my income.
The money from my emergency fund is strictly for emergency situations. I only use the finances when I have exhausted all other options.
I don't really like depending on people (not even my family) for anything because one thing I have come to understand in life is that people can disappoint me at anytime. I may need help for a serious emergency but then, nobody will be there to help me. I would be disappointed and would need time to stand back on my feet. This is why I do it myself.
Thank you for reading.
All images are mine