Do You Squirrel Away Money for Emergencies?

I’m not alone in promoting the merits of squirreling away money. There are many articles and even an app. https://squirrel.me/

I haven’t used it so I can’t comment on the app but I can comment on the philosophy behind it.

My client now says savings money and squirreling it away gives you peace of mind. It took him 15 years to realize it, but he’s a firm believer in it now.

Lots of times your receivables are high but money is slow coming in. When you finally get your money, you just want to go out and spend it, enjoy it and maybe pay off some debt. Did you ever promise to use the same $10,000 three different ways? I’ll use it to pay down debt. I’ll use it to pay taxes. I’ll use to go on vacation. Well it’s not $30,000, it’s 10,000. You have to spread the happiness around and the last thing you want to do is put it in savings to pay for taxes. Your response is, “I’ll enjoy this money and I promise to double up and save more next time.” To which I respond, “Right.”

I’m here for solutions. The solution. Make up a slip of paper that says where the lump sum of money is going to go, and then when it comes in, stick to it.

Squirrel away money in savings so when your air conditioner suddenly breaks down, you can use your savings instead of increasing your debt.

Some financial people say saving money is idle cash not earning money. In this day and age of low money market interest rates, this is not true. But that person probably never ran a small business and doesn’t realize how hard it is to get loans and manage cash flows.

Do you what is right for you. Save if that gives you peace of mind.