A leaky roof, a car accident, a health crisis - these are only a few of the curveballs life can throw at you. And they can affect you financially if you’re not prepared.

Here are 5 ways you can ease the pain of unplanned expenses:

• Save - Put aside some extra money to help you cover a major expense during retirement. You can also talk to your bank and make sure you’re covered by a line of credit in case you need money fast (but be careful: that could end up adding debt that you might not be able to pay off easily).
• Be a smart saver - Put away money before you get a chance to spend it by having it automatically transferred into a special rainy day savings account (you won’t even notice it’s gone!). Also, think about the best savings vehicle for your emergency fund: for example, a tax-free savings account will allow you to earn interest on our savings without paying tax on interest or investment earnings.
• Do your paperwork - Make sure you have Power of Attorney (POA) for property and health in place and obtain legal advice to make sure it’s properly drafted.
• Make a plan - Reflect your emergency savings in your overall budget - if you don’t have any money to cover an unexpected expense, then can cut back in some areas to build your emergency fund.
• Consider insurance - When you retire, you may not have the private health coverage that you had when you were employed. Consider private health insurance to make sure you can handle the costs of healthcare in retirement.