The Thirteenth Month Fund

I have a new BFF. Her name is not Siri, Alexa or Cortana. No, no. Her name is Rachel Schneider (@RachelSchneider) and she is the co-author of The Financial Diaries: How Americans Cope in a World of Uncertainty, as well as SVP at the Center for Financial Services Innovation.

Writing for the Economic Security Project, Ms. Schneider penned an article titled “The Thirteenth Month Fund” that has me nodding up and down more times than Carter has pills (to quote my father).

With economic disparity growing more severe with each passing year, it’s high time we bring about change in a broader range. Please excuse my poor-to-quite-poor attempt at economic poetry. Pun intended.

Seriously, this Thirteenth Month Fund is a great idea, especially for low-income families with children (remember last week that to THRIVE! in Toronto you need a mere annual income of about $48,000).

Ms. Schneider starts by asking a very basic question: “What if everyone in the country had access to emergency funds when they need them most?”

In case anyone in Ottawa is reading this today, Ms. Schneider sums up her message pretty well here:

“The mental toll of not having a cushion of any kind is real. Increased stress leads to poor physical health and worse outcomes for children, potentially including long-lasting, negative impacts on brain development. Financial shocks often measure in the hundreds of dollars, yet they can derail financially fragile households, draining savings and increasing debt.”