The corona epidemic has taught us some lessons of money management, which if we adopt, we can prepare ourselves for difficult times.
How To Stay Credit Healthy During The Covid 19 Outbreak
The corona epidemic has spoiled not only the health of the whole world but also the economics. It became clear from the pandemic that we were not prepared in any way for this kind of disaster. This is the reason that in this difficult time where the budget of every person is disturbed, the accumulated capital of many people was also lost. The corona epidemic has taught us some lessons of money management, which if we adopt, we can prepare ourselves for difficult times.
Save Money
It is understood in the Covid 19 epidemic that saving is also important. The epidemic has given a lesson that whatever is the income, a part of it should be kept as savings. In particular, Corona has explained the importance of savings and family value to the youth. In simple terms, instead of consuming more and more, we have to understand the seriousness of saving. The biggest lesson of the epidemic is that we must pay attention to savings.
Always remember that every small step can be helpful! In such a situation an emergency fund is very important. And you should keep an amount equal to your necessary expenses of three to six months in this fund. In simple words, till the current crisis is over, you should have enough cash to meet your daily expenses. You may also have to stop saving for some time for your retirement and focus on putting these money in your emergency fund. Once the situation is normal, you can start building your emergency savings once again.
Even a thousand rupees saved during this period will be useful. To deposit your emergency fund, you have to control your daily expenses. A good suggestion for this would be to make a digital payment, especially where you are getting a discount for it.
Get Started with Investment
Usually, people consider savings as investment, whereas it is not. Through investment, we can see our money doubling, trebling, although there is a risk involved. Whereas, savings are a safe amount, which we can use in difficult times. In this era of the Corona epidemic, it was seen that we have moved from credit culture to savings and investment. That means, you should start saving and investing with your income.
People are often confused about what would be the right time to invest. Actually, it is never the right or wrong time to start investing to make your savings capital. It has been proved in various studies that the time given in the market is more important rather than waiting for the right time to step into the market. Investing in the market for a longer time gives the real benefit of compounding. The longer you accumulate capital through a systematic plan, the better you are able to avoid market fluctuations and get compounded returns.
To save every month, set a fixed amount in your mind and invest in a disciplined manner. You can invest in mutual funds or Ulips to accumulate enough capital for yourself. It will be more convenient for you to invest in mutual funds and there will be lots of options.
Keep debt low
In any situation like an epidemic, if you face financial problems and you do not have debt or very little, then the pressure on you will definitely reduce. With the arrival of Corona, thousands of jobs went away. In such a situation, the biggest problem came in front of those people, whose major part of life was going on credit culture. In such a situation, when the crisis came and the debt liability remained, then the biggest challenge was seen regarding the settlement. Therefore, a big lesson of this epidemic for us was that the loan should be kept to a minimum.
Pay your EMI, avoid it only when you have a severe shortage of money
The Reserve Bank of India has given relief to those who were expecting it, due to the lockdown by giving a three-month standstill for every type of loan EMI. But loan customers in the postponement do not get relief from the payment of interest. Even if you decide to postpone EMI, the interest rate applicable to your loan will continue to be added. If you have to postpone payment of your EMI, then make a priority sequence according to the EMI amount and the interest rate charged on it. For example, huge interest rates are levied on credit card dues (3% over per month), so it would be wise to pay your card bills on time and keep expenses to a minimum. One good thing is that this postponing EMI or credit card payments will not affect your credit score.
Take care of health
It is said that a healthy brain resides only in a healthy body. The simplest meaning of saying this is that you keep yourself healthy. Include yoga, exercise in your routine. Keep your weight under control. Because it was seen that due to the work from home at the time of lockdown, most of the people gained weight rapidly and had problems related to it. Therefore, a fundamental mantra of the epidemic is that we adopt a healthy lifestyle to save yourself from diseases and debt.
Do take insurance
The biggest and important lesson at the time of the pandemic is that of insurance. You should tie the knot that there should be term life insurance and health insurance in your financial portfolio. Term plan is very important for the financial security of the family in difficult times. At the same time, if your savings remain unhealthy, it is important that you have adequate health cover. One more thing, as your age and income increase, keep reviewing your insurance too.
Savings to save tax
A serviceman or professionals should always try to make full use of tax-saving instruments. Use all your tax savings options, including Section 80C, 80D, as per your choice. For example, any employed taxpayer can avail tax deduction of up to Rs 1.50 Lakh under Section 80C.
Make retirement plan
Our attitude towards retirement is usually postponed. As we have just started a job, what is the use of thinking about retirement now? This approach is not correct. Along with starting the job, we should also think about the retirement plan and include the appropriate product in our financial portfolio. Know that it is more important to be financially independent after retirement.
Learn new concepts about money
A sensible investor should always read and understand the things related to his income, savings, investment and economy. This is so important that if you understand and read about money by doing research yourself, then you will have more ease in taking financial decisions. Along with this, you will not blindly invest in anyone’s words and neither will you buy any financial product with highest loss.
Conclusion
We are living in a very uncertain time and it is natural to worry about our economic situation. So tie a few common things – keep emergency funds ready, spend only what is very important, make sure that you have an insurance policy to save your family from any mishap and ultimately long-term saving capital. Invest regularly to prepare. Stay safe and stay positive – this time will pass!