Cash stash
Few days ago, a close friend lost his brother due to an illness. He was young, just a little over 30 years old. It was sudden and sad.
As my friend was sharing about the incident, we eventually talked about their struggle in finding cash during the time.
His parents’ money was in a time deposit. His other siblings had only enough cash on hand. He did not mention if he had an emergency fund. What he said was, he was thankful for his credit card.
He was able to rely on his credit.
This instance further validated my belief that a credit card is a must-have in the present times. It also highlighted what I think is their best use – emergency.
While credit cards do offer advantages, it’s also important to know that your next splurge is just a swipe away. So it must come down to discipline.
Credit cards are good and all. But it also made me think. We cannot rule out inaccessibility. Credit and debit cards/ATMs solve inaccessibility to cash during emergencies.
But what happens when these options are absent due to unavailability and offline connectivity? Where do we run to?
Our stash of cold cash.
I have my emergency funds parked in banks, both traditional and digital, which I think is a good practice.
An even better practice? Keep enough cash on hand. How much is enough? Be the judge. This solves the emergency of inaccessibility during emergencies.
But same with credit, discipline is a must. Money lying around is money spent. Stash some.