I left my job about two months ago, and I applied for unemployment immediately. I got a new job today, but I STILL haven’t gotten my unemployment decision. Additionally, my food stamp application was delayed due to personal circumstances. In short, had I not had money saved for an emergency, I would have been mega-screwed.

I know some people are not in a position where they have the luxury of storing away significant amounts of cash but, if you are, I beg of you to do so if you aren’t already. I can’t imagine what position I’d be in right now if not for my budgeting.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

PS. I posted this here instead of in c/finance because the sidebar there specifies that it’s supposed to be for finance-related news.

    • MangoKangaroo@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
      8·
      10 months ago

      For quite a while I’d always told myself, “I’ll just forego the usual advice, since I could just draw from unemployment if I ever found myself without a job.” I’d had the usual advice drilled into me but, until recently, had completely ignored it. I’m pretty damn glad I pivoted when I did, because holy hell it’s a nightmare to actually start getting benefits, even in my state.

      As to why I posted this: if my experience can convince even one other person who was as naive as I was to save a little more, then I’d consider that worth any ass kicking that I get from others. More than anything, I wanted this to be a, “it could happen to you” style of post.