this was going to be comment on Jen’s post about the role of “emergency accounts” in her financial plan, but it got a little long as i realized i had a lot to say on the matter.
thanks to no-fee accounts offered by both my brick-and-mortar and online-only banks, i have a lot of different accounts set up to help me segregate and manage my limited income:
emergency fund – unexpected everything, major car bills, loss of income (sick, strike). this account used to be non-existent. i spent everything, and more, that i made and spent a lot of time shuffling money between credit cards. then, i somehow got my shit together and realized i needed a cushion to get me through unexpected rough patches. three years ago, i used the contents of it to buy the Golf from hell after i crashed my Geo. i heart this account so much. it currently has more in it than it ever has and just knowing it’s there to keep me from financial ruin is worth every penny.
car/gas fund – a fixed amount goes in every month, gas bills get paid out of it and the difference builds for regular maintenance (which, thanks to having a brand new car, should be very inexpensive for the next few years). the long-term goal is to increase the monthly amount over time so that when it’s time to trade in my car, there will be enough to help subsidize the purchase price of a new one.
yearlies fund – i added up all my once-a-year bills then divided the amount by twelve. that amount, plus a little more, goes in this account each month to cover things like car insurance, tenant insurance, flickr account fee, medical deductible, BCAA membership, domain hosting, etc. you know, those budget-busting bills you usually forget about until they’re way too close to the due date. hell, i even save for my twice-a-year haircuts and dental cleanings in this account!
cat fund – after a discussion about pet insurance vs. savings account on twitter, i decided to go the savings account route, especially after adopting two cats and research showed that there are huge disparities between premiums and coverage between pet insurers. unfortunately, i had to dip into the emergency fund to pay for Rose’s paw x-rays because i hadn’t yet made a deposit into this account. oops. maybe i made the wrong decision…?
frivolous/targeted fund – this is my “fun” account. the plan has been to put a set amount into this account so that when an opportunity arises that i can’t work into my monthly budget (and most don’t these days), i would have a small pool of money to use for it. say, a small trip or a sewing machine or cats — all of which i did this year, thanks to this account! unfortunately, whenever there’s an unexpected withdrawal from the emergency fund, this account gets shunned until it’s topped back up again.
i also have smaller ones for charity giving, christmas gifts and transitional savings (short term savings to cover monthly bills charged on credit cards to obtain rewards); but, the five above are my big ones. if i didn’t have them, i’d be in dire shape financially. i wouldn’t know what was coming or how to handle it when it did. i lived there for a long time and i will never, EVER go back. i may be crazy spreadsheet lady; but, i’d rather be that then stupid credit card girl.
i like talking about my money strategies. we should do it more often.
Humm finanical management seems to be the hot topic these days. I really like some of your ideas! Me thinks I’m going to be implementing some of these.
Neat, this is pretty much EXACTLY how we have ours set up. Down to the account names. Except our “emergency account.” It’s called “OH SHYTE” (because ING wouldn’t let us use “OH SHIT” as a name).
But we do the same thing for the car fund (let it grow slowly, planning on using the surplus for a new car purchase someday) and we have a “fun” account we use for extras and saving for vacations, etc.
I was initially worried that channeling what seemed like SO MUCH money (as a percentage of income) into these accounts would really cramp the rest of our budget, but eliminating the need to deal with all those “surprises” out of our monthly disposable income means our day-to-day account is downright paltry, and we hardly notice.