Financial Backup Plan for Home Emergencies

Posted on: May 5, 2025 | 3 mins | Written by: HDFC ERGO Team

Financial Backup Plan for Home Emergencies

Efficient financial planning includes preparing to handle emergencies without straining your current economic condition. Emergency funds are special monetary reserves stacked aside to manage unforeseen circumstances. It may include, but is not restricted to income loss, household repairs, medical expenses, etc.

Most financial institutions usually do not maintain any provision for an emergency backup. Therefore, having a financial backup plan for home emergencies is always considered a wise step. This includes having a home insurance or property insurance plan along with a fire insurance plan to safeguard your abode.

Importance of emergency fund

To ensure a smooth run, it is best to stay prepared for unforeseen difficulties up to a certain extent. The importance of having a financial backup plan includes the following:

1. Avoiding debt traps:

With reliable financial backup planning, you can continue to stay afloat without falling for debts or loans.

2. Safeguarding future savings and assets:

Every individual plans to achieve certain long-term financial goals. Emergency funds help people to reach their targets by fulfilling their immediate requirements without hampering the future prospects.

Building an emergency fund

You cannot create an emergency fund in a single day or week. It requires careful planning. Ideally, the value of an emergency fund must be 3 to 6 months of your current monthly income. You should keep aside a fixed portion of your earnings in a separate bank account to gradually build the emergency corpus to handle emergencies:

1. Target establishment:

Maintaining a monthly savings target, inculcates a healthy savings practice, aiding the building of an emergency corpus.

2. Determination:

Wisely calculate the value of emergency corpus required to handle the total living expenses for the next 6 months.

3. Monthly expenses:

Chalk out the monthly expenses in detail and keep aside a portion to build an emergency fund.

4. Evaluate and adjust:

Monitor the corpus at regular intervals and make the necessary additions and alterations as required.

Types of emergency funds

Emergency funds can be basically classified into 2 variants:

1. Short-term:

These are ideal for handling immediate financial requirements. They usually offer comparatively lower interest rates but offer easy liquidity and accessibility.

2. Long-term:

These are usually reserved for handling large-scale emergencies. For this, you must invest in financial instruments offering high interest rates at the cost of a few days' requirement for liquidation.

Benefits of emergency funds

Some of the most highlighted benefits of emergency funds include:

1. Promotes savings habits:

Building an emergency corpus aids people to have funds at hand, thereby restricting unnecessary expenses, inculcating the habit of regular savings.

2. Peace of mind:

Once you maintain a reliable financial security, you can retain your peace of mind, even during crises. You can continue to handle such challenges by yourself without falling for debt traps.