3 in 10 Americans Say This Is the Biggest Threat to Their Financial Security

Being financially secure can mean different things to different people. In your book, financial security could mean being able to pay your bills without worry. For someone else, it might mean being able to go months at a time without a paycheck while keeping up with expenses.

But either way, the feeling of financial security is a good one. And if it's missing, a lack of savings could be why.

A good 29% of Americans say a lack of emergency savings is the biggest threat to their financial security, according to the latest New York Life Wealth Watch survey. And if you're in a similar boat, then it's important to do what you can to change your outlook.

How much savings do you need to feel financially secure?

There's no single savings balance that's guaranteed to make you feel good about your finances. For some people, having $5,000 in the bank is enough to feel financially secure. For others, it might take $50,000.

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But you should know that as a general rule, it's a good idea to have an emergency fund with enough money to cover at least three months of essential expenses. The reason for this threshold is that if you were to lose your job, it might take a full three months to find another. So if you load up on enough cash to pay for three months of bills, it'll spare you from landing in credit card debt the moment you're unemployed.

Of course, emergency funds aren't just designed to replace a lost paycheck during a period of unemployment. Yours could also come to the rescue when your car needs repairs or something breaks in your home and your regular paycheck can't cover the bill.

But either way, you need cash reserves in the bank at all times. And having a nice chunk of money could help you feel much better about your financial situation.

How to build up an emergency fund

Building an emergency fund isn't exactly a walk in the park. Many people spend down their paychecks month after month, and if that's a cycle you're in, then some serious changes may be in order to carve out money for your emergency savings.

Take a look at your bank and credit card statements from the past three months. Are there expenses you're paying for that can be cut or eliminated? If so, some lifestyle adjustments could be your ticket to building savings.

You might even have to resign yourself to going to the extreme of moving to a less expensive rental or unloading a car you can do without to free up money for savings. Granted, this won't always be possible. If the cost of a move will negate most of your savings on rent and you require a car to get to work, then you'll need to take a different approach to freeing up cash to put in the bank. But either way, something might have to give.

If you can't manage to cut your spending enough, taking on a second job could be your ticket to building your emergency fund. The gig economy is centered on flexibility, so even if you work long hours at your main job, you might manage to find something that allows you to earn money from home on the weekends.

Going without emergency savings might make you feel bad about your finances. And that has the potential to negatively impact your mental health. So it pays to do what you can to build some cash reserves -- even if you have to make some tough sacrifices to get there.