10/07/2021
👌🏼
Tough times are great teachers too. They teach us many things.
The ongoing pandemic has not only endangered millions of lives across the world, it has also dealt a huge blow to the global economy, and to our personal finances, as well.
Let me share a few critical money lessons the crisis has taught us.
1. No contingency plan is complete without an adequate emergency fund. The importance of an emergency fund has become very apparent in times like these when many among us are losing our income. Ensure your emergency fund is worth at least 6 months of your expenses, or you may want to increase its size to weather a longer time of crisis.
2. It has become obvious that not only can we survive without spending and doing as much, we can also save money and spend on what’s necessary, not just what is nice to have. Also, if we spend recklessly, we'll definitely find ourselves in a tight financial mess.
3. It’s always a good idea to go through your monthly expenses and identify which items are needs and which are just wants. Create a monthly budget to ensure that you’re living within your means and not overspending.
4. When things are going well, it is easy to see debt as a way to get what you want, or maybe help in building your wealth, or to fund a need. The lesson from this crisis is to keep your debts light (or nothing at all), – the lighter the financial load you have to carry, the easier it is to survive.
5. Having a medical emergency that requires hospitalization could get extremely difficult if you don't have adequate insurance coverage. This could drain your life savings, untimely liquidate your other investments, or worst, push you into debt.
6. The best time to save money is when you actually have some. This crisis has shown us that we do not have total control on our income streams - we'll never know when it's going to be taken away from us. So when you can, save for the rainy days ahead.
BONUS: We often take life for granted and enter comfort zone when things are normal. But times like these teach the importance of working harder and creating alternate sources of income.
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