Be Ready for Anything, Just Like Marvel Studios’ Black Widow

Build a Protective Budget
When you find yourself in a financial emergency, you’ll never be more glad that your budgeting strategies helped you build up savings. You’ll find that it is much more satisfying to use a budget to save money than to have to adjust your budget to pay back debt—which could be the case if you’re financially unprepared for an unexpected bill. 

But how to do it? Crafting a budget that helps you meet your financial goals should be a positive experience, and there are many ways to stay on track, so commit to a budgeting style that works for you. Budgeting can be as straightforward as setting your savings goals, tracking your expenditures and then regularly reviewing your progress to stay on track. 

Create a Safety Net
A financial safety net has several elements, most essential of which is an emergency fund. Building a reserve of cash should be among your top savings priorities, and you should strive to squirrel away between three and six months of living expenses. Keep this money liquid and in its own account separate from other savings. Creating an emergency fund takes time, but be patient and save regularly—your future self will thank you.

A strong safety net also includes insurance appropriate to your life and situation. At a minimum, you need health coverage, home insurance (whether you rent or own) and, if you have dependents, life insurance. Each of these can be your first line of defense before dipping into your hard-earned emergency fund. 

Pay Yourself First
Commit to your strategy and actually put the money away. The easiest way to make sure that funds you’ve earmarked for savings actually end up in a savings account is to use automatic transfers to do the job for you. 

By automating your transfers, you’ll build a habit of saving with minimal effort needed. You’ll also be less tempted to spend money that is automatically moved into your savings accounts, as you won’t have to think about it each week or month.

Let Your Bank Help You
Spoiler alert, financial institutions actually want you to save money, so take advantage of all the free money management tools they offer. Online tools might include spending trackers, auto-generated budgets based on your spending, tax preparation tools, credit score access, savings calculators and more—all of which can help you build a strong financial foundation, which ultimately can protect you in an emergency.

Don’t Give Up Your Savings Easily
A healthy emergency fund is the foundation for all of your other financial goals. So use it wisely. This money is not for splurges or monthly bills, but rather only for real emergencies: a loss of income, medical bills or essential repairs to your home or vehicle.

To help clarify whether you should spend money from your emergency fund, ask yourself: Is this what I saved for? How much of the emergency fund will I be spending? Is there any other way to pay for this? Then determine how long it will take you to rebuild the savings. Those questions should steer you away from bad decisions that could leave you unprotected in a real emergency. 

Stay Flexible
Setting a budget and sticking to it is a good way to build savings and prepare for the unexpected, but your strategy also needs to be revisited over time. Review your budget at least annually or any time you have a life change, whether it’s getting married, having a child, receiving a financial windfall, losing a job, getting a promotion—basically anything that affects the bottom line and your financial goals.

After all, even if your life doesn’t resemble an Avenger like Natasha Romanoff’s, it’s (nearly) inevitable that you’ll take a tumble from time to time. But with flexibility, preparation and a solid safety net, you can bounce right back.