Sometimes we learn great lessons from our kids.
My son recently bought his first car.
Did you know that when you buy a car from an individual, when you go in to the title agency to transfer ownership, this is where the state collects its sales tax? I didn’t remember that, and boy did it throw me when the clerk asked for almost $300 – I nearly choked!
My son, however didn’t seem so thrown. He simply said ‘Well, we have time to go to the bank”, and so we did. He withdrew the money from his savings account, went back and paid the title agency. I apologized to him on the way to the bank and that I felt terrible that we hadn’t planned for this. His response was, “Well, isn’t that what I have an emergency fund for?”
How many ADULTS, let alone 16-year-old kids, do you know, who can respond to a $300 setback like that? No panic, no crisis… Just. Pay it. Could YOU come up with $300 – IN CASH – if you needed to?
An emergency fund transforms an emergency into an inconvenience, a speed bump. If you don’t have one, you need to get one.
-Greg Murray
