With so many Americans reporting that they are burdened by excessive debt and worried about making ends meet, I have a simple plan for you today.
Set a goal to save $1000, and put it in an Emergency Savings Account. Here’s the key. Do this before you start paying off debt. It is more important to have some cash in the bank set aside for unexpected expenses than to make an extra payment to reduce debt if you don’t have any financial margin. Here’s the reason.
If you don’t have money in the bank, you will pay down your credit card and then fall back on it for emergencies. That cycle will go on and on and on. It is expensive to live that way. Remember this, the pain of the discipline to save $1,000 is far less than the pain of living without $1,000 in an Emergency Savings Account.
Now listen carefully: Don’t start tomorrow. Start today. Set a goal to save some small amount of money every day until you reach this goal. Then, listen carefully, if you have an expense that requires you to use any of that money in your Emergency Savings Account, save some more money and replace it. Always keep a MINIMUM of $1,000 in your emergency account. Then you can start to pay off debt.
I know this is not easy…but it is important, and the Lord gave us a number of admonishments to be savers. Two times in the Proverbs he says the ant is tiny but a good saver. I think of ants as pests, but the Lord told us to observe how they show up at your picnic and take the little crumbs back to their homes. Nobody is making them do it. They are just prolific savers. So start today, even if you have to put a few little crumbs away in your account to get started.
