Read time: 3.0 minutes
Hey {{ name | friend }},
I used some of my emergency fund over the holidays.
I hit a pothole and damaged my tires, and I had to replace all four of them.
7 years ago, this would’ve ruined my holidays — I wouldn’t have been able to fix my car, kept up with my bills and paid for Christmas gifts without going into debt.
But having an emergency fund and safety net changed everything.
I can handle situations like this without stressing about how I’ll pay my rent.
Without a safety net, you’re putting your financial future at risk.
A single unexpected expense could bury you in debt that could take years to repay.
As we start the New Year, let’s take a closer look at the real cost of not having an emergency fund and how you can best (re)build it.
What an emergency really costs
I know how tempting it can be to deal with your finances passively and “go with the flow.”
I’ve been guilty of it too: “I’ll just save whatever is left over”
But this is a recipe for disaster.
Our brains try to protect us from stress by making us feel better about our financial situation. We rely on mental accounting—splitting our money into “buckets” like “fun,” “necessities,” or “emergencies.”
The problem with mental accounting is that we prioritize what feels good to us at the moment, like buying a new iPhone instead of building a 3-6 month emergency fund.
For example, let’s say I had to take on debt and use my credit card to pay for my tires:
Credit card balance to cover the 4 tires: $675
Credit card interest rate: 26%
Monthly minimum payment: 2% or $15 per month
Thanks to the high interest rate, it would take me 172 months or 14 years and 4 months to completely pay off my $675 credit card balance.
… And I’d end paying $2,581.96 in total.
$675 for the 4 tires… and $1906.96 in interest payments alone.
That’s nearly 3x the original expense.
But imagine if you had a bigger financial emergency.
It would cost you 4x, 5x, or even more to pay it off.
The money you spend on interest payments could have gone towards something that would actually benefit your life, instead of disappearing into an endless cycle of debt payments.
Here’s the secret…
But I get it — sometimes saving money can feel impossible.
You might think, “I don’t make enough,” or “I feel too overwhelmed about money”
First off, But you’re not alone — over 50% of Americans feel the same heading into 2025.
But instead of focusing on what’s holding you back, focus on taking control of your money.
So if one of your 2025 New Year’s goals is to SAVE more money whether it’s because you want to
(re) build an emergency fund to gain peace of mind
invest in your future to achieve financial freedom
take that dream vacation you deserve
save enough for a downpayment on a house, car or whatever you want
or eliminate your debt to feel financially secure
You need to start by learning the best saving strategies, tips and resources.
And I’ll share them all with you in my free 5-Day $1,000 Savings Challenge starting tomorrow, on January 6th.
I’ll teach you how to save $1,000 for the 2025 New Year WITHOUT feeling overwhelmed, changing your lifestyle or pinching pennies.
Here’s how the 5-Day challenge will work:
Every day from Jan 6th to Jan 10th, I’ll send you one exclusive video training to your inbox
Each video training lasts about 10-15 minutes
Each video training contains a key lesson, a structured roadmap to follow, and a challenge for you to complete that day
… and today is the last day to reserve your spot for the 5-Day $1,000 Savings Challenge for free. Doors close tonight at 11:59pm EST.
To making smarter money moves,
— Vincent Chan
New Youtube video
Have you ever felt like you were falling behind while everyone else was doing better than you no matter how hard you try? If so, you’re not alone.
In this video, I’m breaking down 6 reasons why you might feel like everyone else has more money than you and how you can use this to your advantage.
My favorite things this week
Triple Dipper at Chilli’s – I haven’t had Chilli’s in a LOOONG time but the Triple Dipper combo recently went viral on TikTok and let me tell you, it was delish. The cheese pull on the mozzarella sticks were wild and the chicken zingers were pretty dang good.
Talk To Me Movie – VIEWER BEWARE – it’s a scary movie. Now, I don’t usually watch scary movies, but this one is really good. It actually has a really interesting plot with deep characters… Like Imagine if you could communicate with the dead by holding onto a mysterious artifact, but each time you do it, the spirits become more aggressive, more manipulative, and more determined to stay in our world – and they’ve taken a particular interest in you…
Drinking Matcha – Sometimes I’m all about drinking coffee in the morning and sometimes I love me some matcha. Many people say matcha tastes like grass, but it’s sooo good with frothed oat milk. Maybe it’s one of those flavors that takes a little getting used to, but give it a try if you’ve never had it.
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