This was an email I sent out to my Newsletter during July 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic.
For me, I've been working from home since mid March.
At home with my family, trying to make sense of what we can and can't do.
Traveling through different phases of motivation. A mix of being anxious, cheery, lonely, inspired, and a bit of everything else.
Things are so different.
It occurred to me yesterday that I honestly do not remember one minute of the entire month of April.
It's been handy in a way to be forced to stay at home more because there have been fewer opportunities to spend money, which helps the saving accounts.
With that extra bit of money to spare, I've been adding more into the stock market (I use both CommSec Pockets and Raiz for investing regularly).
Even though I tell people it's beneficial to be consistently investing when you have the opportunity, I'm not doing this anymore as I've changed my stance on emergency funds.
Until recently, I thought 3-6 months of living expenses was an appropriate amount to have saved ready for an emergency. Having lived in this pandemic now for over 4 months so far, I feel that 3-6 isn't enough.
I'm now targeting 12 months of living expenses. I want that peace of mind, that ability to ease stress and anxiety about money.
I know that if I lose my job or suddenly have some big, unpredictable expense, I can cover life. I hope it won't come to that, but you never know.
It might be more trendy to invest in a fun-looking app and talk about investments with everyone, but money in the bank (to me at least) is more helpful to keep emotions in check than money invested.
You likely need more in your emergency fund
What I need in times like this is to feel secure and safe. Especially as I provide for my family. Cash in the bank helps with that.
I consider money invested as untouchable. Even though you can get it back, it's really been sent off to work for you. You don't want to have to pull money out at the worst time.
Do you have an emergency fund? Does it give you peace of mind in case of an emergency?
