Financial Emergency Preparedness

When disaster strikes you always hear about what you should do prior to any emergency or natural disaster. Such as make sure you have plenty of fresh batteries or make sure your cell phone is charged in case of loss of power, having an emergency kit and plan. But you very rarely hear or even consider financial preparedness prior to any emergency.  There are many agencies ready to render assistance after a major disaster or emergency situation but they take time to set up.  So in the meantime it’s all up to you to take the necessary steps to have some temporary finances in place until you are able to get back on your feet. 

The first thing you must do is secure your important documents. I would highly recommend scanning your documents and keeping them on USB drive if not then secure your documents in a safe that you can access. Some documents you want to consider securing are your birth certificate, social security cards, insurance policy, tax statements and photos of all family members. You will need this in order to gain long term access to your finances. You must have a copy of your emergency contact list which should have your bank, health and home insurance providers’ information.

I would highly recommend setting up an emergency savings account strictly for emergencies this way you do not have to use your primary savings account to cover any expenses as a result of an emergency. However in cases of a major natural disaster you want to have cash on hand. So consider having cash secured in a safe at your residence in cases when ATM access or credit card access may not be working. This safe is another area where you could secure other important documents like homeowners/renters insurance, health and life insurance policies as well.

I hope this information is helpful as always please leave a comment

Mark Carbajal