Want to have enough money saved for any emergency (without working a million extra shifts)?

What you will learn...

1. What is an emergency fund?

2. How much should your emergency fund be?

3. How to create the habit of saving, when you feel like it is impossible.

As a nurse, we often feel lost when someone starts talking about anything related to finances. You start your new job, feel like you are finally making money and somehow it’s all gone by the end of the two weeks before payday.

So how can we feel confident with how we spend, save and interact with money? Pay ourselves FIRST, instead of saving what is left over.

But what does it mean to pay yourself first?

It means saving a certain percentage or amount of savings first before you pay bills or spend your money. This can be a difficult habit to start, however, as you create the habit it gets easier. It is easiest to set up automatic transfers every paycheck so you never have to think about it.

How much should we save?

A good rule of thumb is to have a goal of 3-6 months for your monthly expenses. An emergency fund is there to give you peace of mind, to cover expenses if you were ever out of work. It also acts as a security blanket, when things go wrong. This may include car repairs, loss of income, medical expenses, major home repairs and more.

Life is much easier when we can afford to monetarily deal with an emergency and can focus on the actual emergency instead of “how am I going to pay for this”?

To calculate your individual emergency fund, add up your monthly expenses and multiply by 3-6 months to get your goal. To start off, say your minimum expenses were 2000/ month, your first goal would be one month emergency fund, then two all the way up to 6 months. This would be a goal of 12,000 in an emergency fund!

How to start when you feel overwhelmed?

Saving can feel impossible when you are living paycheck to paycheck, but my best advice is to automate it and start small! Each payday automate an amount of money to go into your savings account and increase it as you feel more comfortable!

Tips:

1. An emergency fund gives you peace of mind and can be calculated by using your minimum expenses x (number of months).

2. Using the nurse wallet app to create a habit of saving will help you reach your savings goals.

3. Start small and automate your savings on payday!