Saving for a Rainy Day Having a Emergency Fund is Essential for Businesses KELLY NEMITZ, The Hair Specialists, Hudson, OH
here is little doubt that the past few Tmonths have increased our levels of anxiety, stress and fear more than any other time in our careers. I mean, how often have we had to plan for an immediate, openended full shut down of our businesses, laying off employees, communicating with clients, and just financially trying to figure it out. A flood subsides. A storm is cleaned up. Who would have ever thought this is something we would ever have to deal with? Not to mention, combined with balancing, the stresses of home and family. So. What did you learn? What would you have done differently? Did you have a savings account to get you by? Did you have debt payments and no cash to make those payments? Do you wish the financial aspect of all of this could have been minimized? In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic may 18
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prove to be a wake-up call for many. I personally did not understand proper financial management until well after I launched my business. I grew up not knowing much about budgeting. It was just something my family did not do. Credit cards were treated as a normal, necessary, and regular way to get by month to month. On my 18th birthday, as expected, I applied for as many as I could. And boy, the opportunities were everywhere and so easy to open the mail because the companies knew my birthday and sent these wonderful offers! Three new credit cards came almost immediately in the mail!!
Everyone has credit card debt, a car payment, mortgage on their house and everyone lives paycheck to paycheck. Right? Every month I would stress about money, hoping I made enough to cover my bills. I was no longer in control. I would focus on paying the minimums on everything. I was so tired of always being broke! I had a good job, but nothing to show for it. I was running in circles financially trying to maintain. Great solutions like transferring balances to a new credit card just made everything worse.
Obviously, I totally deserved a shopping trip, and I maxed them all out as fast as my 1992 Chevy S10 could drive to each store. I loved showing off all the new stuff I had, until those much-less-pretty bills and letters started to arrive.
Many years later, I was listening to financial adviser Dave Ramsey on the radio when he asked, “Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Are you living paycheck to paycheck? Do you want to tell your money what to do instead of your money telling you what to do? Do you want to have financial freedom?”
I remember telling myself for years, welcome to “adulting.” This is normal.
I thought to myself, “yes, yes, and heck yes!”
