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Not long ago I was talking with a friend and our conversation drifted to personal finance. He is of the opinion that there is a fine line or eight week window for many people whereby if they are unexpectedly without income their financial framework collapses. Although I had not thought of it in those particular terms I knew from personal experience just how possible that would be particularly if there is no savings to fall back on.

We all find ourselves at one time or another wondering how this could have happened to us. Simply put at times we all lose sight of the importance of following our financial game plan. There are as many reasons for stumbling as there are people and we are each unique in the fact that we have our own set of expectations and our own action/reaction to circumstances.

A friend of mine supplements her social security income with two part-time jobs. As a single parent she has tried very hard to create a workable budget. In the space of a few weeks her careful planning fell apart. This is what happened.

Car repair cost $250 for radiator.

One job cut back her hours by 3/4.

Second job had seasonal issues which cut her hours by 3/4.

When the car needed repair she paid the $250 bill using the money budgeted for groceries, figuring she would make it up with income from her part-time work.

At about the same time both jobs for one reason or another resulted in an $800 decrease in her part-time income. My friend had counted on the $800 every month to pay credit card debt and utilities. So what we have here is no grocery money (went to radiator repair), no credit card payment money, and no money to pay the utilities this month. In the end it took her almost six months to recover from three unexpected events.

It could have been less painful with a savings account. Usually the financial experts and credit counselors recommend saving at least two months equivalent to begin with and follow that with saving 20% of your gross income every month. If my friend had her $1,600 cushion in the bank (or under her mattress) a portion of the savings could have been used to compensate for the shortfall. If she had spent $1,000 of her savings to pay for credit card debt, utilities and car repair she would have saved late and over limit fees, utility cut-off and struggling to put food on the table for her family. In lieu of a savings account to bail her out of this jam - she could have applied for a cash advance.

What can you do if you find yourself over a barrel and approaching

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