Call your financial advisor incase of an emergency?
While we are no DINKS we are finally the opposite, Dual Income Two Kids about an financial broker. I graduated from the MBA Online degree program back in 2008 and Mrs. MBA graduated with her MBA masters in 2007. I was working while I went to school and we were fortunate enough to be in a situation where she could just focus on school. This worked out well. She finished first and started out substitute teaching until I finished and then we moved closer to her family, so that when we raised our children her mother would watch the kids. Long story short when we moved out here we found out she was pregnant with our first child. Then she stayed home for the first year with our first child and then before you know it we were expecting another.
This September she started back into the substitute teacher field looking for full time employment as a teacher. We were thinking that this would be sufficient income seeing how there were quite a few school districts around us. This proved not to be the case. Well Mrs. MBA got a job and she starts next week. We felt like we had put a lot of things on hold hoping and wondering when she would be able to gain full time employment. Having a single income household is stressful in itself, but then add 2 children and you have more responsibilities than just your own mouth to provide for.
The next chapter begins next week, while she is nervous with the anticipation of starting a job, our future looks bright. We have made do with what we were given and racked up some credit card debt, but we are looking forward to getting our financial picture in check. Anyone else been in a similar situation, how did you make do? It could have been a job loss and suddenly you were down to one income. Fortunate for us, we had been used to living off one income so this second income will be a tremendous relief.
Taking the time to make sure that you have funds set aside for emergency purposes is critical. For us we were hit with this situation right off the bat so we really never had any time to build up an emergency fund. Unfortunately like many, our credit cards served as an emergency fund. The MBA courses never really teach you how to manage your own money; it seems they teach you everything but your own personal finance. I know how to value a company but not really myself! A good rule of thumb according to Kiplinger is to set aside three to six months of living expenses to get through the tough times.
Do you have that much money stashed away?