Getting the most out of your emergency fund is hard these days. The average savings rate isn’t keeping pace with inflation, which means your money is losing value the longer it sits in a basic account. All that lost earning potential can make you break one of the most important rules of emergency funds: don’t invest.

As a general rule, you should never invest your emergency fund. Investments can tie up money that’s supposed to be available at the drop of a hat. These delays can complicate an already difficult financial situation if you can’t access your cash for urgent repairs or expenses.

But as the saying goes, all rules are meant to be broken. There might be times when investing some of your emergency fund can strengthen your financial health. How much you have sitting in your savings is an important distinction that can help you decide whether investments are right for you.

How Much Should You Save in Your Emergency Fund?

Financial advisors recommend saving three to six months of living expenses in your emergency fund.

If you aren’t quite there yet, your emergency fund may fall short of what you need. In an emergency, online loans can help pick up the slack.

Online loans provide quick and convenient applications, so you don’t waste any time wondering if you qualify. If approved, a financial institution like MoneyKey can deposit your funds directly into the account of your choice. This way, your online loan is just as accessible as savings would be, making them a fast-acting solution in an emergency.

Why You Shouldn’t Invest Your Emergency Fund

If you rely on online loans, or you’re still working towards saving up three to six months of expenses, investing your emergency fund is a bad idea. It could delay how quickly you get your hands on your cash, and your fund could even lose value.

1. Timing

Your savings should be easy to access at any time. After all, an emergency can crash-land in your life without any warning — morning, noon, or night.

Most basic savings accounts allow you to transfer your savings whenever you want online, with very short processing times.

Investments are different. Depending on how you invested your money, you might have locked your money into a specific term. Withdrawing before its maturity date is possible, but it can take time to cut through the bureaucratic red tape.

2. Penalties

Paperwork isn’t the only headache of withdrawing from your investments early. You may also face steepcash penalties. You’ll also have to factor in how this withdrawal affects taxes.

3. Lost Value

You can’t predict when you’ll deal with an emergency or the eventual expense that comes with it. That means you can’t strategically time your withdrawal to maximize their value. Your funds may not even retain their original value if you’re forced to withdraw when your stocks take a nosedive.

When Can You Invest Your Emergency Savings?

Let’s say you’ve finally reached your goal of six months. Congratulations! Only roughly27% of American households can boast this achievement.

At this point, do you put a stop to your emergency savings? No, but how you save them should change.

Top up this account any time you use it, but don’t over contribute beyond three or six months. Rather than exceeding your goal in a basic account, you should funnel the excess into investments.

This way, you have the best of both worlds. One, you’ll keep the liquidity of a fully stocked emergency fund with a basic account. And two, you’ll start to maximize your earnings potential through tax-advantaged investments that promise a higher return rate.

The world of work has been changing lately. While technological developments and paradigm shifts in business models have changed the landscape of work globally, workers both globally and nationally have found their worth and their voice. Despite the rise of AI and automation, the worker is worth more than ever, and some businesses are struggling as a result. What is it that employees look for in a role today, and how might a business adopt them to improve their own employee turnover?

Flexibility

One of the most important factors to workers today is flexibility. This has been borne out by the runaway popularity of remote and hybrid working schemes, which were introduced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. With businesses demonstrating that remote work is possible without impacting productivity, more workers today expect accommodations for remote work as a standard part of their contract.

Stability

Stability is another major factor that employees bear in mind when considering a role. It can appear in two distinct ways: a comfortable wage, and guaranteed job security. Offering a competitive wage means employees can worry less about their living standards or future, allowing them to settle into their role. A robust development pipeline and internal career trajectory can also show employees that staying would be to their benefit.

Benefits

Salary alone is not enough to entice applicants to a job today, though. It is also necessary for a role to offer a number of competitive perks and benefits in order to sweeten the deal. These can range from small perks to major additions. On the smaller side, healthcare workers might get a Nandos NHS discount as a small token; on the more essential side, workers might get offered private healthcare coverage for themselves and their family.

Trust

Trust as a factor touches on the company culture within and office or department, and the management style of both middle and executive managers. If an employee feels micromanaged by their line manager or any superior, they are less likely to feel trusted in their role, and more likely to look for somewhere that is a better fit. A conversational management style and a transparent structure for departments can go a long way to demonstrating trust.

Shared Values

This last factor is one that has gained prescience in recent years, as employees seek to match their personal values with their career trajectory. Social justice and good causes can form interstitial parts of an employee’s identity, and in an age where information is more readily available than ever, workers are able to see the impacts a business has outside of its secondary role as ‘job-giver’.

With a principled workforce unwilling to tacitly lend credence to damaging acts or activities – key focuses at present being the climate crisis and rising racial tensions -, individual job-seekers are seeking roles where their values are shared by their prospective employer. This is both to pressure organisations into adopting those values, and to ensure that their own are not being compromised in their professional lives.

Posters are an effective way to communicate a message, promote an event or a product. They are widely used in various industries such as advertising, education, entertainment, and politics. A well-designed poster can grab people’s attention and convey a message effectively. In this blog, we will discuss how to design and create a poster from scratch.

Define the purpose of the poster

The first step in creating a poster is to define its purpose. Ask yourself, what is the message you want to convey through this poster? Is it to promote an event or a product, or to create awareness about a social cause? Once you have defined the purpose, you can move on to the next step.

Gather information and brainstorm ideas

The next step is to gather information related to the purpose of the poster. This can include images, text, and data. Once you have the information, you can brainstorm ideas for the design of the poster. This can include the colour scheme, font style, layout, and images.

Choose the right software

Choosing the right software is important in creating a poster. There are many design software options available, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Each software has its own strengths and weaknesses, so choose the one that is most suitable for your needs and you will be able to design the perfect poster.

Set up the poster size and resolution

Before you start designing the poster, it is important to set up the poster size and resolution. This will ensure that the poster is of the correct size and resolution for printing. The standard poster size is 24 x 36 inches, but this can vary depending on the purpose of the poster. Ensure you know the purpose of the poster and you will be able to choose the correct poster size.

Create a layout and add content

Once you have set up the poster size and resolution, you can start creating a layout for the poster. This can include the placement of text and images, as well as the overall design of the poster. It is important to make sure that the layout is balanced and easy to read.

After creating a layout, you can add content to the poster. This can include text, images, and graphics. Make sure that the content is relevant to the purpose of the poster and is easy to understand.

Choose the right colour scheme and font style

Choosing the right colour scheme and font style is important in creating a poster. The colour scheme should be eye-catching and relevant to the purpose of the poster. The font style should be easy to read and should complement the overall design of the poster.

Review and revise

Once you have completed the design of the poster, it is important to review and revise it. This can include checking for spelling and grammar errors, as well as making sure that the design is balanced and easy to read. You can also get feedback from others to improve the design.

Designing and creating a poster from scratch can be a fun and rewarding experience. By following these steps, you can create a poster that effectively communicates your message and grabs people’s attention. Remember to define the purpose of the poster, gather information, choose the right software, set up the poster size and resolution, create a layout, add content, choose the right colour scheme and font style, and review and revise. With a little creativity and hard work, you can create a poster that stands out and makes an impact.