It’s important to have money in a savings account at all times in case emergency expenses arise. But recent data from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies shows that many women are ill-equipped to handle a period of financial turbulence.
The median emergency fund total for women is $2,400. But that’s really only an adequate emergency fund for someone with extremely low monthly living costs — for example, someone living with their parents and not paying rent.
As a general rule, a solid emergency fund is one with enough money to cover a minimum of three months of essential expenses. The logic is that in the event of a layoff, it might take three months (at least) to find another job, so it’s important to have savings to fall back on.
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Most people who pay rent on top of additional bills can’t cover them all with just $800 a month. As such, generally speaking, $2,400 is not an adequate amount of money to have on hand for unplanned expenses or a period of unemployment. So if your emergency fund needs serious work, here are a few tactics to employ.
1. Rethink your expenses
You may need to live a more pared-down lifestyle for a bit of time to give your emergency savings a lift. Do a thorough assessment of your bills and see which ones you can shed with the understanding that this isn’t forever.
The idea of not being able to dine out with friends three times a week like you do now may be upsetting. But you might only have to cut that expense out for the next few months to get your emergency fund to a better place.
You might also have options for shrinking your current essential expenses. If you rent an apartment, see if your landlord will allow you to share it with a roommate. And again, you don’t have to sign up to do so indefinitely. Perhaps three months of split rent could get your emergency fund to where it needs to be.
2. Fight for a raise
A big reason why women may be generally lacking in the emergency fund department is that they’re statistically paid less than men. A good way to boost your emergency fund is to snag a raise and put your extra pay in the bank.
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Start researching to see what the typical salary is for a job like yours. You can use sites like Glassdoor as a resource. If you can prove the average salary for your role is $75,000 and you’re only making $62,000, that gives you a pretty good leg to stand on.
3. Pick up a side hustle
You may, unfortunately, have to do your part to make up for the gender pay gap. If fighting for a raise doesn’t work out in your favor, you may want to seek out a better paying job. But while you do, also consider a side hustle.
Once again, this is something that can be temporary until you’re better set with cash reserves. But if you’re able to do something like care for pets in your spare time, babysit, tutor, or deliver food, you may find that your savings can grow to a much better place.
Plus, you never know what skills you might build when working a side hustle. And those could give you the confidence you need to go out and find a job that will pay you what you’re worth.
It’s not shocking to see that women don’t have a lot of emergency savings to fall back on. But it’s important to do your part to boost your cash reserves before your next financial crisis arrives.
Being ill-prepared for emergencies is a good way to land in debt. That has the potential to upend your finances for years on end, and you really do deserve better.
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