# Where to keep it: access, currency, several banks > Money you can reach on a bad day, in the right currency and not all in one place. - Course: [Personal Finance: Budget, Safety Cushion, Debt and Investing](https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance.md) - Module: What if the income stops? - Lesson 6/32, ~19 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance/where-to-keep-it ## The bad-day test **Alex Tutor:** Back with Sam's family: their cushion has started to grow, so today's question is where it should live. Sam has a story from last winter. **Sam:** Last winter the power was out, the phone was at 3%, and my bank's app wouldn't load. All our money was in that one bank. We paid for groceries with a neighbour's cash. **Alex Tutor:** That is the test a cushion has to pass. On a bad day, can you reach the money within hours, in the currency you pay with, even if one bank or the power lets you down? **Sofia:** So three questions: access, currency, and how many places. **Alex Tutor:** Yes. Economists call the first one **liquidity**: how fast and how cheaply savings turn into money you can spend. For a cushion it matters more than the interest rate. > **Exercise:** Match each place for savings with its main trade-off for a cushion. ## Access first, rate second **Alex Tutor:** Now back to Dana. She tutors for Klasna from Kyiv as a sole proprietor, a FOP, paid per lesson, so her income swings: steady from October to May, thin every summer. It's her only income. Today you'll help her decide where her cushion should sit. **Dana:** Here is where my money sits today. The term deposit pays the best rate, so I thought of it as my cushion. **Dataset (CSV):** [Dana's money on 1 October 2026](https://productovi.com/datasets/personal-finance/where-to-keep-it/dana-money-october.csv) Dollars converted at 44.8 UAH, close to the official rate at the end of September 2026. - `place`: Where the money is - `amount`: Amount in its currency - `currency`: Currency - `amount_uah`: Amount in UAH - `access`: When it can be used - `note`: Comment **Alex Tutor:** The deposit can't be closed before 15 March. If students vanish in November, that 40,000 might as well be on the moon. Until March it's savings, not a cushion. **Alex Tutor:** Deposits that allow early withdrawal usually pay less, and closing early often costs the interest. A cushion trades some rate for access. The card account is out too: that is this month's spending money. **Sofia:** Then what does Dana actually have for a bad day, if the card and the deposit are out? > **Exercise:** Use Dana's table. How much can she use for an **emergency today**, in UAH? Leave out the card account, which is this month's spending money. ## Which currency? **Dana:** And the 500 dollars? My parents always said the only real savings are in dollars. **Alex Tutor:** Rent, groceries and the social contribution are paid in hryvnias, so the core of a cushion sits in hryvnias. A dollar part helps if the hryvnia weakens sharply or if you have to move abroad. **Alex Tutor:** But its hryvnia value moves both ways, and every exchange costs the gap between the buy and sell rates. A part of the cushion, not the whole of it. **Sofia:** At 44.8, the 500 dollars is 22,400 UAH today. > **Exercise:** Why should the **core** of a Ukrainian household's cushion usually be in hryvnias? ## Two banks and some cash **Hanna:** At Klasna we keep the company's money in two banks, so salaries go out even if one bank has a bad week. A household can do the same on a smaller scale. **Alex Tutor:** As of September 2026, during martial law and for three months after it, the Deposit Guarantee Fund covers deposits of individuals and FOPs in full. Under current law the cover is then capped at 600,000 UAH per person in each bank. **Alex Tutor:** A guarantee protects the value, not the timing. If a bank fails, getting the money back takes time. A second bank and a little cash keep the cushion reachable this week. Martial law has been extended many times, so check the current rules. **Sofia:** So the guarantee is about the amount, and the second bank is about this week. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** a deposit guarantee protects the amount of a cushion, but it is a second bank and a little cash that keep the money reachable on a bad day. **Sam:** How much cash, though? I don't want our savings under the mattress. **Alex Tutor:** Enough for a few days of food, medicine and transport, about a week. The rest sits in accounts in two banks. Cash earns nothing and can be lost. **Dana:** So: two banks, a week of cash in a drawer, a dollar part on the side. And the deposit simply waits for March. **Alex Tutor:** Exactly. Nothing here needs a new product, only a different layout of the money you already have. > **Exercise:** Which moves help Dana's cushion pass the bad-day test? Select all that apply. ## Your turn: Dana's layout **Dana:** So what goes where? I don't want to break the deposit, and I don't want to lose the rate on everything. **Alex Tutor:** You don't have to break it. Decide what counts as the cushion today, where each part sits and what changes in March. **Sofia:** And keep the card account out of it: that money is for October. **Alex Tutor:** Right. Write it as a short plan Dana could follow this week. And a rule for every lesson about banks: check the current terms and your own situation; this is education, not personal advice. > **Exercise:** Write Dana a short placement plan in 3–5 sentences: what counts as her cushion today and where each part sits (accounts, banks, cash, currency), and what changes when the deposit matures on 15 March 2027. Use her table: card 9,400 (this month's spending); savings account 31,000 in bank A; term deposit 40,000 in bank B, locked; 500 USD in cash (22,400 UAH). > **Key ideas** > > - A cushion must pass the **bad-day test**: reachable within hours, in the currency of your costs, even if one bank, app or the power fails. > - **Liquidity** comes before the rate. A deposit that can't be closed early is savings, not a cushion, until it matures. Dana can reach 31,000 + 22,400 = 53,400 UAH today. > - The core sits in hryvnias, because essentials are paid in hryvnias. A dollar or euro part hedges a weaker hryvnia or a move abroad, but its value moves both ways. > - Two banks plus about a week of cash. As of September 2026, deposits are guaranteed in full during martial law and three months after; under current law, up to 600,000 UAH per person per bank after that. A guarantee protects the amount, not the timing. > - Check current terms and your own situation: this is education, not personal advice. **Alex Tutor:** Next: how to fill the cushion without feeling it, by saving first and automatically. - Previous lesson: [Emergency fund: how many months of essentials](https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance/how-big-a-cushion.md) - Next lesson: [Building it without pain: pay yourself first](https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance/pay-yourself-first.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.