4 thoughts on “Forbes post, “Turns Out, It Appears We Can’t Agree On What An Emergency Fund Is For”

  1. A car repair can very much be a serious emergency to a lower income person. Having reliable transportation is absolutely essential to getting and keeping a job. Many places in this country have little to no public transportation and most people don’t live close enough to work to walk.

  2. Car. One can always replace but then the cost is quite a bit larger, or fixed monthly with interest. The reality is most of us especially in a rural area cannot get to work, grocery shop, get to doctor appointments etc. without the car. And everything that goes wrong with mine costs the magic $400 or more. That includes regular maintenance items like a tire that fails unexpectedly. Even with insurance on tires they won’t always pay, my truck tires are pushing $250 each.

    Next would be common household appliances and fixtures. My AC/ furnace combo just quit unexpectedly and required a new replacement for thousands of dollars. Where I live it is hot and humid and goes down to the teens in winter, the house doesn’t have good alternative heating either. We could have lived without it but we probably would have bought a wood stove for about a thousand once it’s done.The water heater has failed, the range failed, septic needed pumped and pipe repairs. Roof will need to be replaced shortly. Insurance is available to pay for many household items or a home warranty, but that can be pretty inexpensive in itself.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *