In honor of Mike D.'s birthday tomorrow (not the Beastie Boys Mike D pictured above, but my dad Mike D not pictured above) I have decided to disclose the advent of the emergency fund, as I know it. Years ago when I was a little kid I was going through my dad's wallet. I was like any other little kid who was absolutely enchanted by the concept of their father's wallet. I was looking at his credit cards, his pictures of our family, and then I found the strangest thing. In what looked like a top secret little compartment there looked to be a big lump. I, of course, dug inside the compartment to dig out a $100 bill. I couldn't believe it. I was around 7 years old, and a $100 seemed like a fortune. I asked Mike D, who at that point was only called dad, why he had a $100 bill hidden in his wallet. He went on to tell me a great story about how my grandpa got stiffed with a bill at a business dinner years ago and didn't have enough money to pay the bill. He continued to tell me how embarrassed and awkward the whole situation was for my grandpa. My grandpa then started carrying a $100 bill around for emergencies, and instructed my dad to do the same thing. This was before everywhere in the world excepted debit and credit cards, but it was the first thing that I ever knew about having an emergency fund.

So here is to you Mike D. Thanks for teaching me how to fold up a $100 bill into the size of a postage stamp and jam it into my wallet. Happy Birthday.