[originaltext]M: Do you think people today do a good job of planning for financ

M: Do you think people today do a good job of planning for financial emergencies?
W: Well, I think most people want to have a secure future. Um, however, the information th. ey need, urn, to achieve financial security isn’t at their fingertips. Um, OK, for example, well, they need to establish their goals, for instance, how much money do you need to live on, what would be a basic amount that you need to live on? They have to take these things like whether they want to pay for their children to go to college, which college they’re going to go to, um, and many people in the baby boomer group are faced with having to care for a parent, which is an added expense and has to be, urn, considered in any future financial decision.
M: Then how much money do you think people need to save for themselves?
W: Well, the thing is, you should have 3--6 months of monthly salary saved, so whatever your monthly salary is you should have enough to pay your expenses for 3—6 months without any income.
M: And then in addition to that, most of us need to plan for college, retirement, taking care of parents, etc. e
W: Uh-huh. And the kinds of things that rise up unexpectedly, for example, like the water heater blowing up or the car not starting in the morning.
M: So, what’s the biggest mistake people make?
W: Well, they tend to live from paycheck to paycheck. And when something unexpectedly occurs, if they don’t have someone to help, they just go deeper and deeper into debt, you fall further and further behind in your payments. Or, it gets so bad that you lose everything, like what has happened to many people who are forced into homelessness and are there because their debts became overwhelming.
M: So, if you could give people one piece of advice to make their financial future more secure, what would you suggest?
W: Younger people often spend every last cent that they earn. They live from paycheck to paycheck. After they pay their bills, they complain that there’s nothing left over to save. The best advice I can give is to say "Pay yourself first. ’ When you get your paycheck, save some portion of it, even $10 a week. That’s giving up a movie, and one stop at a fast food restaurant. Let’s say you start with $ 3000, and you add $10 a week to that at a pretty reasonable rate of 13% a year. In 60 years you’ll have 5.6 million dollars. That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?