Every Tuesday, one honest money idea. Plain language. No jargon. No filler.

Let's get into it.

But if someone asked you right now: how many months could you survive if your income stopped tomorrow — what would you say?

Most people earning well in Dubai have never calculated that number.

And most people who do calculate it find it is much lower than it should be.

I learned this the uncomfortable way.

For years I kept a large cash buffer. Over 24 months of savings sitting in a bank account. It felt like safety. It felt like breathing room.

Then the Lebanese banking collapse happened in 2019.

A significant portion of that money was gone. Around $1.3M I had it saved there for emergency and runway.

And what hit me harder than the loss itself was this: that money had been sitting idle for years. Not invested. Not working. Just sitting there giving me the feeling of security without the structure of it.

I had confused having cash with being financially safe.

They are not the same thing.

Here is the number I am talking about.

Take everything you have in accessible cash and savings right now.

Divide it by what you spend every month.

The result is your runway. The number of months you could survive if income stopped tomorrow.

That is it. One calculation. 30 seconds.

Most people in Dubai earning well have between 2 and 4 months of real runway.

Not because they are careless.

Because their lifestyle absorbed every raise before the buffer had a chance to grow. Because the money sat in the wrong place. Because nobody ever told them this was the number that mattered.

Your income is not your safety net.

Your runway is.

Calculate your number today.

Take your accessible savings. Divide by your monthly spending.

Write the number down.

Do not estimate. Use the real figures.

If you completed the Money Clarity Audit, your numbers are already there. Go back to question 9 and question 10.

Whatever your number is, it is not a judgment. It is a starting point.

You cannot fix a number you have never looked at.

Most people in this city know exactly what they earn.

Almost nobody knows how long they could last without it.

Those are two very different things to know.

Until next week,

— Serge