<prompt> Human: Just thinking about the post yesterday with the guy whos house burned down and he lost everything. I do hope he got everything sorted out with the Red Cross but it got me to thinking about dealing with emergencies from a financial perspective. Obviously an emergency fund is a must. I feel like thats the one thing everyone on PF can agree on. Should we have a plan beyond that? Like where were going to spend the night in an utter disaster or what financial contingencies should be immediately activated? Or what items we would need to immediately purchase and how we will purchase them? Or am I overthinking this entirely?  <response>: I have experience with this. When I was 24, I was in my apartment when I noticed a bunch of smoke in the back alley behind my bedroom. Thinking I was being paranoid, I threw on a sweatshirt, grabbed my cell phone, wallet and keys, and went outside. As it turned out, a serious fire in the building two doors down from my apartment had just started, burning that building and the one next to it to the ground, and damaging my building to the point of it being considered unfit for human habitation.I was not allowed to back in for several weeks while the fire investigation was conducted, so I was left with my phone, wallet, keys, sweatshirt, jeans, and one pair of underwear i.e. what was on me. As it turned out, much of my belongings was salvageable I wound up losing 50 of my things, including all of my furniture, but my clothing and electronics were able to be saved, but for two weeks, I had nothing.I had renters insurance on the phone before the fire was even put out, and they offered to transfer 1,000 into my bank account immediately so that I could pay for a change of clothing and a nights hotel stay. If I hadnt had access to my wallet, they would have arranged the hotel on my behalf, and they would have been able to work with my bank different arm of the same company to get me a new debit card and a new credit card by the next morning this occurred on a Saturday, so the next morning would have been a Sunday.Insurance is an absolute necessity. Insurance companies deal with these types of tragedies every day, and in my experience, as long as you work with a reputable company, they will make your life much easier than it would be otherwise.Oh, a side note, the person who lived in one of the apartments that burned to the ground did not have renters insurance. He had to stay with the Red Cross, and it was only through a program that neighborhood businesses ran where they donated 2 of their gross sales for two days to victims of the fire that this gentleman was able to get back on his feet. I lived in a wonderful and tight-knit neighborhood, but I was glad that I didnt need to rely on this fundraiser. 