Cash reserves for emergencies: You should always have enough cash at home

Created: 06/03/2022, 15:08

By: Jason Blaschke

For emergencies, you should not only have important everyday products, but also some cash at home.

There is a recommendation for the exact amount.

Bonn – The war in Ukraine, which has been going on for weeks, is also having a massive impact on consumers in Germany.

In supermarkets and discounters such as Kaufland or Lidl, the simplest everyday foods such as milk or dairy products have been costing significantly more for weeks.

And from the experts' point of view, there is no end to the price spiral for food, on the contrary: In view of the still high energy prices, new waves of price increases are becoming more and more likely, as

reports.

Inflation and bottlenecks are increasing: Experts are warning - and calling for action

"Consumers have only received part of the price increases at the moment," said Eckhard Heuser from the Dairy Industry Association in an interview with

on the development of milk prices in Germany in the near future.

With regard to butter, major changes can already be observed in retail today.

Heuser is certain: "The rest is yet to come, by July 1, 2022 at the latest." Similar forecasts are also coming from other industry associations.

Solveig Schneider from the Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI) no longer rules out bottlenecks for individual products in the confectionery range.

In an interview with

, she demanded that politicians should primarily protect medium-sized companies from further costly and bureaucratic burdens.

Schneider: "Otherwise, in the medium term, there is a threat of the loss of the medium-sized economic structure in Germany, which has proven to be robust up to now."

Cash reserves for emergencies: the government makes a recommendation – without precise information

The examples show how massive an impact pandemics or even wars can have on the economy – especially when, as is the case at the moment, several problems come together at the same time.

This is another reason why it is always advisable to be prepared for an emergency.

The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) has a checklist for a 10-day emergency supply that every citizen should have at home in order to be supplied in crisis situations.

The emergency supply includes everyday food such as water or rice, but also medicines and cash.

While there is a BKA checklist for groceries, there is comparatively little information for the emergency cash reserve.

The BKA guide only mentions a “sufficient amount of cash” – exact amounts are missing.

, the Upper Austrian civil defense

provides orientation .

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Austrian authorities provide precise cash reserves per household

The Austrian authority recommends "500 euros per household in small notes".

It is important not to leave your emergency cash lying around in the apartment.

And thieves have long been familiar with hiding places such as under mattresses or books.

therefore recommend that it is safest to keep the money in a safe

.

If you don't have a safe at home, you should look for a good hiding place that is as robust as possible.

Because water or moisture in general can damage paper money reserves.

The importance of cash reserves for emergencies was shown at the end of May by the EC card disruption in retail, which also massively affected large brands such as Edeka and Aldi - and in some cases still are.

According to

, the EC card disruption could occasionally last for days because some older terminals probably have to be replaced first.

Due to a nationwide disruption of card payment systems, customers were recently only able to pay with cash (symbol image) or had to leave their purchases in the store.

© Sven Hoppe/dpa

Cash stash in wartime?

Many Facebook users have a clear opinion

Many users write on Facebook that they basically have an emergency financial reserve at home.

"I always and absolutely exclusively pay in cash at the checkout," writes one user.

Another user adds that she has no financial reserves at all for such a measure.

"I can't invest any cash from my small pension." Other Facebook users explain the problem even more clearly:

A user comments: "After two years of Corona and because of the horrific increase in energy prices, there are actually people who don't even have 500 euros available." Another user adds: "The emergency occurs to me when I mean everyone pay running costs.

Then there are the overpriced groceries – there is nothing left!” The debate on emergency cash supplies once again clearly shows how stressful the situation is for many consumers.