Preparing for the Great Unknown

Success and stability are fragile things, like Jenga. All it takes is removing one of the many bricks in the tower to bring it all crashing down.

That one brick can be something different for each person, family, or business. The most common unforeseen disaster people face is job loss. Also high on the list is sudden and/or severe physical or mental illness. The death of a loved one, a parent in failing health who suddenly needs full-time care. A major storm that damages your home or business.

All of these things can bring your carefully built financial tower down if you don't have some sort of plan in place. Think of it as emergency management.

The most stressful thing about many of these situations is the financial burden it causes. Accountingweb had a really great excerpt last month from Gail Perry's Quicken All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies about emergency funds. It gives brief info on how much you should have in your fund, where to find it, some rough guidelines for when to use it and when not to.

Here are a couple of other good articles on emergency funds:

Building an Emergency Fund at Bankrate.com

The $0 Emergency Fund at MSNMoney.com offers a different take