My advice to every single one of my clients is that they need to build up at least 6-12 months of savings as a Nest Egg to use in case of an emergency. How I classify emergency is unforeseen events, like been out of work due to an accident or illness, been made redundant, a major appliance in your house explodes.
Your Nest Egg should never be used for Christmas, birthday or things like putting your car through the NCT. Christmas doesn’t just happen, it might creep up on us but we know it coming and it occurs on the same day each year!
The reason for a Nest Egg is not to make you rich but it to provide a buffer for you. With a good Nest Egg you can take away a lot of the financial stress and hassle that occurs when you need money quickly. Borrowing money and pay interest to your bank or credit union is not a wise way to live.
Some key things are that you must have reasonable access to your Nest Egg. Make sure there are no penalties for accessing your money when you need it. Bank, Credit Union & Financial Advisors have hundreds of different saving products. All these products come with fancy graphs and literature that promise all sorts of great returns.
I personally am not a fan of most of these products because they can have high charges attached to them, substantial penalties for early withdrawal and are taxed heavy if and when you do make a profit.
One product I do like that fit the purpose of a Nest Egg well is the Saving Bond from An Post. This is a government guarantee product that grows tax free and doesn’t have any penalty charges if you need to get access to it. It also has a reasonable interest rate and overall it is a good solid saving product. Pop in to any post office and you can get more information.