A Blog About My Life’s Lessons

I’ve been flying around the world the last few weeks, so I’m just now getting a chance to finally write a blog post.  Last week during my travels I was reminded of a need to increase my emergency fund because crazy and unexpected things can and do happen. 

I was chatting with a co-worker during my latest trip.  He said he was pretty tired because he had a late night.  He then went on to tell me that he and his wife were awakened to tires peeling out of their driveway at 3:30am.  He looked out their window and realized that his car had just been stolen. This of course is very rare in their small little neighborhood located in Cedar Park, TX.  They quickly called the police and who arrived at their house in minutes.  They were chatting with the cops in the front yard, when my buddy noticed a car driving by that looked just like his (the brilliant thief decided to do a quick drive by the house to see if anyone had noticed the car was gone). 

The cop quickly jumped in his car to chase down the thief.  The robber (a neighbor kid from 2 blocks over) panicked and crashed and totaled the car.  It just so happened that his car was a late model Honda that was paid in full and was not planning on replacing anytime soon.  So, he is now in a situation where he has to come up with some money to purchase a replacement vehicle.

Putting myself in his shoes, this event would have definitely put my finances in an emergency situation.  I have an old 1998 Dodge Avenger that I own out right.  I have only liability insurance on it because it is worth just $3k. If I had to replace this vehicle for some reason in the near future would put some serious strain on my finances.  I would either have to sell some stock  (that I had slated for something else) or takeout a new car loan.  On my quest to be debt free, I definitely don’t want to do the latter.  So, my co-workers story has definitely taught me a lesson about the value of an emergency fund and will serve as a reminder to boost our emergency fund. contributions.

 Has anyone had an unplanned event screw up their financial plan?