I left my job about two months ago, and I applied for unemployment immediately. I got a new job today, but I STILL haven’t gotten my unemployment decision. Additionally, my food stamp application was delayed due to personal circumstances. In short, had I not had money saved for an emergency, I would have been mega-screwed.

I know some people are not in a position where they have the luxury of storing away significant amounts of cash but, if you are, I beg of you to do so if you aren’t already. I can’t imagine what position I’d be in right now if not for my budgeting.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

PS. I posted this here instead of in c/finance because the sidebar there specifies that it’s supposed to be for finance-related news.

  • MahatmaGandhalf@kbin.social
    2·
    1 year ago

    LOL yea sure I can’t even fucking pay for food right now but I’ll just casually save up thousands of dollars.

    I know you said “if you can” but bro most people literally fucking can’t.

    • LinkOpensChest.wav@beehaw.orgEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Same here, my friend. I have a feeling that anyone who can is already doing so, or at least have a second car or something they can sell if times get hard. Most of us don’t have shit to fall back on.

  • Plume (She/Her)@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I would love to. But when you’re stuck in perpetual minimum wage and your rent alone is costing you at least half of that… yeah. I am not arguing by the way, you’re absolutely right, it’s just that, for a lot of people, myself included, dare I say, the vast majority of people people, this is not something that is possible.

  • StringTheory@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    If you run into a financial ditch and don’t have emergency funds, contact the electric, water, medical, phone, credit card, etc. billing departments right away. Don’t wait until after you’ve already missed a payment or two! Jump right to it and set up payment plans. I helped a friend through a financial crash and was impressed how much leeway billing departments will give you if you reach out before you miss a payment.

  • argv_minus_one@beehaw.orgEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    Buddy, in this economy, most people’s only feasible financial-emergency strategy is to jump off a bridge.

    • Crozekiel@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      Yea let me just go to the fuckin money tree and harvest 6 months of income to put in savings… Where the fuck is that supposed to come from? Wtf is this wall street journal privledged ass fucking advice?

      • russjr08@outpost.zeuslink.netEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        If only we actually lived in the Animal Crossing universe.

        (For those unfamiliar, in the game Animal Crossing you can actually “create” money trees that you can harvest from every so often, and how much you get is dependent on how much you initially “invest”)