Don’t fret. You’re not alone.

For the past two months, my net worth has been an unchanging snore fest due to strings of high cost, unexpected expenses. It’s as if life’s dealing me a series of seven-two off suit.

Sometimes you can be right on track, do all the right things, but still fall short of your goals.

It’s okay, it happens.

Which brings us to a few things to consider if you’re not where you want to be:

  1. Examine the goal. Is it realistic and doable for you?
  2. Emergency fund. Is the amount you’ve set aside enough to take care of emergencies in your particular situation?
  3. Unexpected expenses. Although difficult to plan for, you can examine irregular expenses from the past years to get an idea of how much to budget for.

You should note that the emergency fund is different than the unexpected expense fund. Granted, emergencies are usually irregular and hard to predict too, but unexpected expenses are generally things such as minor car & home repair, break down of appliances, etc. — all vastly different from life emergencies such as serious illness and lost of job.

Remember, keep on trucking, don’t let car engines blowing up keep you away from your eventual goals!