Money Obedience

Money is part of life, but it is really not the most essential part of life, is it? Let me make the point by talking about financial emergencies and preparing for emergencies, a favorite topic among personal finance bloggers.

It is a favorite topic because it is so very important. Life is full of unforeseen events. If you are somewhat prepared for surprises, you will probably weather almost any storm in pretty good shape. I don’t want to get into the details of how much money you should set aside for financial surprises and emergencies, since that would be a topic for at least one other post. Instead, I want to state that it is not that difficult to set aside some money for financial emergencies. All you need to do is put a little money into a savings account every month and before you know it, you will have a sizeable sum of money socked away for emergencies. Easy, right? – Well, some of us have difficulties doing that. Not that I would blame anybody who does not have an emergency fund, since life’s expenses and desires can indeed get in the way. Still, the idea of putting money away for emergencies is pretty simple and it can be put into practice fairly easily, too, right?

We cannot say the same about other emergencies and surprises in life. What about illness? What about the terminal illness of a loved one? There is nothing we can do to prepare for personal emergencies like these. Even when we are prepared for the death of a loved one (for example, in the case when doctors may have told us a few months prior), we are still not prepared. There is nothing that prepares us for the finality of death. No emergency pile of happiness will make up for the sadness we feel in life sometimes. And this kind of sadness hardly ever centers around or involves money, does it?

So, considering the real emergencies and surprises in life, doesn’t it look so much easier to prepare for financial surprises and emergencies? Somehow we can almost always get a handle on our money situation. So, if you’re lucky enough to have food, clothing, and shelter pretty much set, then why not focus on setting up an emergency fund? Why leave yourself open to financial surprises and emergencies? Life deals us plenty of surprises and emergencies for which we cannot prepare adequately no matter how much advanced notice we get. Let’s make sure that we at least somewhat control those easy-enough-to-deal-with financial surprises and emergencies.