4 Effective Steps to Overcome Your Financial Issues Amid the Pandemic
The road to financial freedom is a long journey, especially for someone like me who doesn’t come from a wealthy family. Financial freedom is definitely an achievable milestone but it surely takes a lot of hard work, patience, perseverance, and determination to obtain it. It’s definitely something you cannot get overnight unless you are lucky enough to win a lottery! In my case, being the breadwinner of our family makes it even more challenging. Don’t get me wrong! I love supporting my family and I find it very rewarding but I will be lying if I say that it is a very easy task to fulfill.
I need to carefully budget my finances from our monthly bills down to our daily expenses. I also have to make sure that I am saving enough portion of my salary to prepare myself for any unexpected financial shortcomings. Unfortunately, I was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. My workloads were forced to be cut almost in half and my monthly revenue drastically decreased. To summarize my entire pandemic experience, it was financially draining.
According to surveys, this pandemic will ultimately result in long-term financial impact, especially for sole breadwinners, single parents, and working moms and I couldn’t agree more. Almost half of my savings were wiped out during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak. While most of us are slowly getting back on track, some are still carrying the burden brought by the Covid 19. Today, allow me to share four effective things you can do to overcome your financial issues amid the pandemic.
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Manage Your Debts and Negotiate
There is no effective way to overcome your financial problems other than keeping the right budget. Get an overview of your finances, list down all your monthly bills, debts, amortizations, and daily and regular expenses, and compare the total to your monthly income. Analyze and calculate your finances to determine whether or not your monthly salary is enough to cover all the expenses. If not, you might consider negotiating. While bills for power consumption, water, and Internet usage are not negotiable, banks and lending companies are more amenable to providing various repayment terms to help you overcome your current financial problem.
For house rents, you can always negotiate with your landlord and ask if it is possible to make some arrangements or extensions. Interestingly, most credit card companies and banks offered financial assistance to their customers by waiving the interest and late payment fees so they can still maintain a good credit score amid the financial crisis. The same thing goes with your lending companies. You can negotiate with them to either apply for a loan modification or possibly refinance your current mortgage.
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Take Advantage of Payday Loans
Speaking of loans, you can also take advantage of payday loans. Normally, a personal loan involves a large amount of money that you can pay off in installments that might take several years to complete. While these loans can help you with your finances for a long mile, the long-term payment can also be a burden at the same time. Payday loans, on the other hand, are short-term and relatively fast which makes them an ideal solution to overcome financial shortcomings during the pandemic. You can aptly define this form of loan as a quick remedy to some unexpected or emergency expenses.
In connection to our first step, if it feels like you will be on a tight budget and negotiation with banks is not a viable solution, you might want to consider applying for a payday loan. Interestingly, there is a great number of lending companies offering online payday loans for fast and easy transactions. Approval of your request is notably fast as long as you meet all the requirements. Once your request is granted by the lender, you can possibly receive the money for more or less 24 hours! Security, however, is your topmost concern when it comes to payday loan applications. It is important to know that you are dealing with a trusted lender, otherwise, you might get scammed. I recommend that you look for a third-party online company that connects borrowers to verified lenders for safe and secured transactions.
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Cut-down Unnecessary Expenses
Now that everyone is embracing the new normal lifestyle and is now adapting to the new Work-from-Home setup, handling the budget is surprisingly more challenging. The culprit here is the rapid rise of online shopping sites! Apparently, people who now work at home find extra time to surf the web and increase their online engagements, especially when shopping at various digital shops. It is undeniable that the digital economy boomed during the peak of the pandemic. During those critical times when lockdowns are so rampant and the only safest way to shop for goods is through online shops, it becomes a norm.
Online marketplace, retailers, and even small online businesses are taking advantage of this situation by offering monthly promos and sales. Who doesn’t want to get great deals and discounts? While this might sound appealing, this could also ruin your budget. These are absolutely tempting and they could result in overspending. I highly suggest that you cut down unnecessary expenses and put your excess money back into your savings. If you are planning for a room or house renovation or if you are aiming to buy a new set of appliances (even though the old ones are still functioning perfectly), you might want to skip those plans while you are on a tight budget. Remember, do not live beyond your means!
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Look for Extra Ways to Earn Money
This step is optional but will surely help you get rid of those financial burdens easily. You might consider looking for an additional outlet that gives you chance to earn extra money. Establishing a small online business is quite a hit during the pandemic. Online Live Selling has become a thing that allows small business owners to sell their goods more conveniently and less expensively. You can also take advantage of the eCommerce sites and use their platforms to sell your products to a wider audience.
You can also take advantage of investment market companies like the AAIG Sydney to help you manage and grow your finances through investing. Investing can offer several benefits and can help you achieve financial stability through various strategies. It’s important to note that while there are potential advantages to investing, there are also risks involved. It’s crucial to conduct thorough research, consider your risk tolerance, and, if needed, seek advice from financial professionals before making investment decisions.
You can also take part in some part-time freelance online jobs and earn money while you are at home. Vlogs are also a rising platform that allows users to get an extra source of revenue through advertisements and sponsorships. Generally, there are many online platforms today that you can utilize and help you earn extra money.
I am grateful that everything is slowly getting back to normal and let’s just hope that everything will fall back into place. Whether there is a pandemic or not, the steps above are always applicable whenever you encounter financial problems.
