Having no emergency fund has almost ruined me

by Celynne
(Canada)

I remember reading books on budgeting and finance and their advice to be sure to have an emergency fund set up that should consist of three to six months of your salary. I would always think that it was impossible to have that much money saved for a "rainy day" so I just ignored that very wise advice.

I am a single parent and have a decent job. I never thought I would need this money as my career is pretty secure. Unfortunately I found out the hard way that things can happen that turn your world upside down and by then it is too late to do anything about it.

My eldest son, a soldier, was blown up by an IED in Afghanistan two years ago. He is stationed in a city that is 12 hours from our home and when he was flown back from the military hospital in Germany he needed to be in hospital for many months.

He is single and has no other family in the city he is stationed in and the only surgeon who can deal with his bomb blast injuries is in the same city, so I have had to be away from my job for two years now and in addition I have been faced with tens of thousands of dollars in expenses traveling back and forth and looking after my son.

I have also had to renovate my home so it is wheelchair accessible and so on. I have been borrowing on the equity on my home (which thank goodness I have) but it means that my home will never be paid off and I will have less security when I retire.

It just shows you that you really never know what is going to happen and you really need to be prepared for an emergency. I never could have saved enough to get me through this serious situation but at least it would have provided a bit of a cushion and helped me to have less stress in my life.