It may sound counterintuitive, but one of your first steps after bankruptcy should be rebuilding your savings, which were likely wiped out by filing, says lawyer David Leibowitz of Waukegan, Ill.
"Paying yourself first gives you a financial foundation to protect you against unexpected events in your life," says Leibowitz. "It's much better to have a rainy day fund than to have to depend on friends, family, relatives or even worse, payday loans."
According to Leibowitz, 5 percent of your net income can go a long way to rebuilding savings. And if you set up a recurring, automatic withdrawal from your checking to your savings account, you won't even have to think about it.
