There are many courses on financial planning which address different economies, geographies and population sizes. However, there are new things we can learn, or at least, there are old lessons we can appreciate about finances during a global pandemic.
- Having some savings can save you: Almost the whole world has been mandated to stay at home by their governments at one time or the other since the outbreak of the pandemic. The issue is that not all governments could afford to provide some form of stimulus package for its citizens.This means that concerned citizens have nothing to fall back on except their savings. What is more, the pandemic is creating a high rate of job loss and affected persons can survive only on savings where stimulus packages are non-existent.
- Investments should not replace emergency funds: Imagine the frustration of tying up all your money in investments and having no emergency funds to survive? What is the point of saving for tomorrow when you can barely eat today? While investing is a brilliant choice in the journey to financial freedom, every penny should not be locked up in investments. Anything can happen- in this case, it’s a global pandemic
- Your income can do more than you think: Amongst other things, the stay-at-home order has helped to reveal priority purchases. Reduction in salaries and job losses have forced people to live longer on their income than they normally would.
- Having an alternative source of income is underrated: As recently as January 2020, a global pandemic was completely unprecedented, even by the most developed nations of the world. As the numbers of infected persons and fatalities climb throughout the world, so is the number of unemployed persons. Having a supporting source of income can be the single reason why many people survive the global job loss. The industries mostly hit by the pandemic- hospitality, transportation, tourism, aviation, real estate represent a significant percent of the working population. The possibility of these industries getting back to full operations in the coming months is low and these workers’ only hope of getting an income is to do something different from what they are used to doing.
- Staying at home can save you a lot of money: Despite what is going on, there is a fraction of the working population whose income have been unaffected by the crisis. These people either work from home or go out for work only. Their new lifestyle has saved them money that they would have otherwise spent elsewhere such as at parties or clubs.
