If you suddenly lost your job or your family fell on hard times, would you be prepared?
NeighborWorks America recently conducted a survey revealing that:
- 1/3+ have nothing saved
- Some only have enough saved to last 3 months
- Unemployment: 7 1/4 months
What’s stopping the savings?
- High household expenses
- Student loan debt
- Flat wage growth
How much to save?
- 15% of gross income
- Enough to prepare for job loss, illness, retirement
The key is to spend less and save more.
Sue Kushner, mother of 2, says you can’t rely on a man for income anymore, “things happen.” Kushner also explains that she saves about 10-12% by doing in-home maintenance herself.
Financial Fitness Tips:
- Choose maximum contribution
- Get cash? Sock it away!
- Put money in savings FIRST!
According to feedthepig.org, there are other things you can do to “Build a nest egg” for your family:
- Analyze and budget
- Live within your means
- needs get 50%, wants get 30%, and savings gets 20% of money
- Review Budget
Non-traditional fundraising is becoming more popular as well. GoFundMe is a crowdfunding site that helps people raise money for almost anything from honeymoons to stem-cell research. However, some people believe that it is sometimes being used for materialistic reasons.
“Reboot the Suit”, a campaign to bring back Neil Armstrong’s space suit, raised $719k in 5 days on GoFundMe. This was enough to preserve Neil Armstrong and Alan Shepard’s space suits.
