Utilizing Your Financial Safety Net

Where do you keep your money that you set aside for annual or semi-annual payments or for emergencies where you need extra cash quickly? You don’t want to draw funds from any of your savings or investment accounts – there may be a penalty for early withdrawal or it might be financially disadvantageous at that time.
Most people just keep what they have in their checking accounts where it earns nothing or next to nothing. Some don’t keep funds for emergencies and just hope for the best or depend on luck.

“Luck always seems to be against the man who depends on it.”

-Unknown

Here’s another question. Do you set anything aside in case you need to pay the deductible on an insurance claim?

A good place to put funds for infrequent payments or for possible emergencies is in a money market account where interest rates are most often higher than savings accounts and are more accessible. Some banks offer even higher rates on Internet money market accounts. You really need to check your bank’s rates on various types of accounts to see which would be best. It’s good to compare banks. There can be a big difference. Money market accounts require a higher balance, but the amount you will need to keep in it will more than meet that.

The good thing about money market accounts is that even though there is a limited number of checks you can write on it in a given time period, it is usually more than enough for most people.

When you plan your budget, you will need to make payments to this account until the balance is sufficient to cover your home and auto annual or bi-annual payments and cover all your deductibles for your home, auto, medical and dental policies. Once this account is fully funded, the interest earned will be able to reduce your monthly budget payments that go to replace that which was used for insurance payments or for emergencies.

With this account in place, you will be able to take the highest deductible allowed thereby reducing your monthly insurance payment. If you pay your auto insurance quarterly or twice a year, you now will be able to make an annual payment, saving on the service charges.

Money market accounts may not earn the kind of return as a mutual fund or other types of investments but it is definitely better than most savings and checking account interest rates. Money market accounts have the advantage of easy access for your infrequent financial needs.

With a little self-discipline, you can give yourself some efficient financial security by enabling your money to work for you in several ways.