COVID 19: Measuring the impact of the Pandemic in the Financial Life

How are you? Do you still have financial problems because of the Pandemic? Or did you already recover from it? Are you aware on different strategies you can do to recover from the pandemic? Are you prepared for sudden changes like the pandemic in the future? What are your realizations? Let me hear it out by commenting on this article!

Since the pandemic started, many people are being stressed about their finances. It is because of the lack of job opportunities, inflation, health issues, and everything that affect the financial life. Financial problem has begun to grow and getting hard each day. Some people are not able to provide for their daily needs and even paying for their monthly bills.  They need to work hard to accomplish their goals in the present and provide for their future. The pandemic is just a problem that we can solve, there is nothing to worry about your finances. There is a lot of opportunities that we can try to lessen the financial problem that we are experiencing and continue living without stress. Although the pandemic causes us negative outcomes, it still has positive sides and makes us resourceful and creative. We can still work at home, have an online part time job, online selling, online endorsement, vlogging, online shopping, etc. These opportunities taught us to become more resilient and stronger in life challenges. Filipinos are known for being joyful despite of any challenges. That is one of the characteristics of a Filipino. Just like in the time of pandemic, Filipinos are still able to entertain themselves and even became source of entertainment. It is to motivate and help each other to recover from the pandemic. Having support with each other by purchasing local products from the small business owners. And even celebrities or influencers are helping each other by promoting or endorsing different products. People are being entertained because of online entertainment like Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, etc. The pandemic makes us believe that there is nothing we can do to take back from our usual way of living. Especially in our financial life, it gets harder every day. But we can still do things that can save us from financial problems, stress, and challenges.

According to Mapping your future organization, there are steps to follow to personalize your budget. There are 8 steps to follow: Make a list of your values, set your goals, determine your income, determine your expenses, create your budget, pay yourself first, be careful with your credit cards, and check basic periodically. First, make a list of your values. Make a list of everything you need or wants then to organize its order according to its value or importance. There is no problem in buying you want, but you need to make sure that you prioritize the things that you need the most. Second, set your goals. Make a list of your goals, not just a short-term goal but your future goals. It is to make sure that you can provide for yourself and for your future. Although its hard to save money, it can be possible by having discipline yourself and proper budgeting. Third, determine your income. You must know what your income in each month will be. For you to organize or budget it properly and avoid shortage or debt. Because it might be hard for you to recover from financial problem. Fourth, determine your expenses. Track your expenses and make a list. It is to make sure that you are aware on where your money is going. So that, you can determine what is the things you need to lessen or add. There are two (2) kinds of expenses: Fixed and Flexible expenses. Fixed Expenses are those things that you need and required to pay. An example of this are your loans, bills, rent, etc. While the Flexible Expenses are those things that you only want but not necessary to your living. Don’t forget to include the due dates in your payment list. It is to make sure that you are able to pay before the due dates. You can also use mobile applications or apps to help you plan and create your monthly budget. Fifth, create your budget. You can consider your budget plan as your spending plan for you to be aware on where your money is going and being spent. Your needs should be gone first before your wants. It is to make sure that you prioritize the most important things rather than unnecessary things. Your expenses should be less than or equal to what you earn to eliminate the chances of you getting into debt. If your expenses are too much from your income, you can adjust your budget and lessen your spending. Sixth, pay yourself first. You should save for yourself and make sure that you can provide for your future. Make sure to save money no matter how much it is because the price is does not matter in saving. As long as you save for your future and able to provide for your needs. Those savings can consider as your emergency fund and can help you from future purposes. Seventh, be careful with your credit cards. Make sure to track properly your credit card expenses and avoid being scammed. Its hard to experience scam because it can cause financial issues and problems. Lastly, check back periodically. It is better to make sure that you review you monthly budget to have a basis for the next months. Also, to become aware of your expenses and payment. To have an idea on what should you lessen and avoid buying unnecessary things. If you are still not able to accomplish your financial goals, you need to adjust your budget plans and try harder. You can still do it no matter what challenges or problems we will face. Just like what we experience nowadays, pandemic become our biggest financial problem, but we are still able to recover from it. In saving money, we can also experience challenges, but we can still do it through having discipline and patience.