<prompt> Human: Im a pretty avid listener of a couple podcasts, including This American Life. I dont watch many TV shows and drive a lot, so its only natural.This weeks episode has a 18 minute segment on folks with delinquent debt most often sub-prime auto loans who are taken to court, lose, and start to get their wages garnished. The rather amazing investigative reporting long-form piece done by Paul Kiel and Annie Waldman from Pro Publica is a great read as well, but the podcast segment basically is as follows:1. Income level is not a sufficient insulation from emergency financial needs when under duress. Examples from this episode included loss of spouse and loss of job, resulting most often in falling behind on car payments - repod - taken to court - missed court dates - lost case - wages garnished2. Wealth takes generations to build up. The legacy of Jim Crow runs deep in neighborhoods where black first-time homeowners with little wealth or social safety nets are given sub-prime loans if you needed 3,000 by tomorrow for an emergency, how many people do you know who could oblige that request? The answer to that question is dependent on far more than just what you do for work.3. Anybody can fall prey to poor financial planning and unfortunate circumstance. In the small town of Jennings, MO, even the mayor was getting her wages garnished at the time of that this story was being researched.tl;dr get yourself an emergency fund. And get educated!  <response>: Thank you for sharing. I advocate building an emergency fund however an emergency fund alone wont save anyone from predatory lending practices, underpayment, institutional discrimination and little to no financial education.I agree with you but Id say get educated first and then get an emergency fund.Oftentimes an emergency fund turns into a down-payment for an item thats nothing more than a want. Until one fully understands when to use an emergency fund and has at the very least a vague financial roadmap it usually gets eaten up. 