5 Financial Decision for Ordinary People Like Us on these Extraordinary Days

Are you living day by day in this crazy, uncertain, surreal times?

I am reading the writing on the wall and I am already thinking ahead.  I told my husband, Dave that we need to assess our situation. I asked him these questions:

• What do we do if this situation goes on for months?
• Do we foresee any adverse effect on our income?
• If yes, what’s our plan?
• How many months can we go on if we lose one of our jobs?

Dave hates  these conversations. When I start rattling numbers, he gets a headache.

These are extraordinary days and while there are too many unknowns, too many variables, I still believe there are things we can plan for.

Do we stress and suppress that feeling of panic? Or worse, are we still thinking toilet paper, canned goods and that bottle of alcohol?

WHAT FINANCIAL MOVES SHOULD WE DO?

• DO AN  INVENTORY OF YOUR FINANCES.  I did a mental math of our finances and assessed the impact of a missed  paycheck (or two). With relief, I knew that my prudence and some penny pinching will pay off. We’ll be alright. We have an emergency fund to tide us through.

• IT’S TIME TO THINK OF A PLAN B or C or E.  We discussed more major options. What do we do if we lose our jobs? If things really go bad, do we stay in California? Move to Michigan or the Philippines , where our money will go a loooong way,  temporarily until situation gets back to normal (whatever normal means at that time)

• EDIT. I told my husband, to check our subscriptions and cancel the unnecessary. We also canceled one car insurance. If we will be home for at least two months, we can just use one car.  

• USE CREDIT TO BUY LEEWAY. CASH IS KING and a good credit score is gold. Learn to use credit wisely. I immediately applied for a new credit card that offered  0% APR rates for 18 months. In uncertain times,  I want to hold on to my cash. The best time to apply for a credit card is now-before you lose your job.  If things really get tight, our credit cards will buy us time.

When will this end?  Nobody knows.

Things will be tough for a long time, but one thing I know- there are still things I can control.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary prudence on our part. We cannot sit and watch.

The bible says “Wise people see danger and protects himself, but the foolish go on and suffer for it.”