Southland News

April is Financial Literacy Month, so we're going to take you through the basics of five financial principles:

1. Earning
2. Saving and investing
3. Protecting
4. Spending
5. Borrowing

Follow along each week to learn some key information about each topic!

Principle 3: Protecting

You've worked hard to earn, save and invest your money. Let's learn how you can protect those funds!

One of the biggest threats to your earnings are unexpected circumstances. Unexpected things like a medical condition, car crash or a scammer can make a huge dent in your assets. 

So how do you protect those assets?

We're going to dive into three methods:

• Having an emergency savings
• Utilizing insurance
• Preventing identity theft

Emergency savings

Building an emergency savings is vital to protecting your earnings. Not having money that you can easily access in case of an unplanned expense can set you back, and if it turns into debt then the impact can be far-reaching. 

It's recommended that you have 3-6 months' worth of your living expenses saved in your emergency fund. This includes costs like rent or a mortgage, utilities, health bills, grocery, gas and other things you need on a regular basis. 

Depending on your expenses and how much you are able to save each month, it may take a while to build up your emergency savings, but it's vital that you stay consistent and keep it as a priority in your financial plan.

Consider opening a separate savings account that is only for your emergency funds. This way you can easily track how close to your emergency savings goal you are. If you are a Southland Member you can even set up scheduled transfers each month to your emergency savings account using Digital Banking. 

Insurance

Insurance is another way to prepare and give yourself peace of mind that your assets will be protected in times of unexpected hardship. Although insurance is an expense, if an accident is to happen, you will pay a lot less in the long-term if you are covered by an insurance policy.

There are several types of insurance coverage, including the following:

• Auto 
• Home or renters
• Life
• Disability
• Health
• Long-term care
• Pet
• Travel
• Umbrella

Not all of these types of insurance are a necessity for everyone. Depending on your lifestyle and your assets, you may not need certain insurance coverages, so it's important to do your research and find what's best for you. 

Experts do recommend that all adults at least have life, health and disability insurance, especially if you have dependents that rely on your earnings to survive. 

Identity theft prevention

Identity theft is when someone steals your personal information and uses it without your information. Identity theft continues to grow year after year, and has become the number one source of fraud, so it's important to learn how to protect yourself against it. 

Here are some things you can start doing today to protect your personal information:

• Use a password on all of your devices
• Use unique passwords on your accounts
• Take advantage of two-factor authentication
• Don't give out personal information over the phone
• Don't carry excess cards and important documents around
• Shred documents with personal information before throwing them away
• Install anti-virus software on your devices
• Don't click mystery links or downloads

Taking these small steps to protect yourself from identity theft will prevent financial losses and damage to your credit. Identity theft can take months or years to resolve, so it's well worth it to take steps now to prevent it. To learn more about keeping your accounts secure, check out our security center. 

Don't let your hard work go to waste

After working so hard to earn an income it would be a shame to see those funds disappear. Use these methods to protect your funds long-term so you can hit your financial goals!