COVID-19 and Finances: Ultimate Money Tip and Resource Guide

COVID-19 and Finances: Ultimate Money Tip and Resource Guide

During times like these, the last thing you need is financial stress. What is most critical is the well-being of you and your family. Health care costs, food, water, and shelter are the essentials for your budget, but when emotions run high, spending is sometimes the vice we turn to for coping. This financial guide offers you free tips, advice, products, services, and financial aid programs to help you save and get access to money to ensure you have everything you need to manage some of the financial and emotional hardships that may come with Coronavirus. We’ll add more resources as we find them—so keep checking back.

Free Advice from Certified Financial Planners and Advisors

Financial planners and advisors are extremely empathetic to the impact of financial stress. Reaching out to a financial planner may help you work through your stressors and come up with an action plan to move forward with confidence. Here’s what some of our trusted experts are recommending: 

Alicia Butera, CFP® of Intuit recommends: 

1. Try to stay calm. “Do not make emotional or short term financial decisions during this heightened economy.”
2. Try your best to reduce expenses to a minimum. If you are experiencing reduced income, “Reducing your expenses to a minimum and working with your bank if you need access to cash or an extension on debt payments is a good idea.”
3. Keep your money invested for the long term. If you are currently an investor, Butera recommends not checking the markets every day and cautions against making decisions based on media headlines. “We will all get through this, and be sure to reach out for professional help and guidance if you are struggling.”

Brittany Castro, CFP® and founder and CEO of Financially Wise, Inc. says: 

1. Be safe and stay healthy. “Do your part to help keep this now pandemic from getting worse. Check out online resources from the CDC on guidance about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).” 
2. Check out 10 tips for what to do with your money right now in Castro’s latest blog post on Mint. 

James Conole, CFP® and founder and CEO of Root Financial Partners explains, “We have a tendency to think of this as just one big crisis.” He recommends people think of this from three different perspectives:

1. Health. Conole lists this as priority number one. “Stay healthy and follow the CDC guidelines on how to protect yourself and others during this time.”
2. Personal balance sheet. “A crisis like this highlights the need to have a few months of living expenses set aside in savings in case there is a loss or reduction of income.” 
3. Investing. “As scary as it is, remain invested and keep investing as the market goes down. It may not seem like it, but the market will recover and this is an opportunity to invest in companies that are on sale.” 

Bruce Porter, Financial Advisor, founder and CEO of SYV Wealth says: 

1. Don’t panic sell. “Panic selling is never a wise investment strategy.”
2. Invest now if you can. “In my investment business, the greatest regret I have is not calling more people when the markets are down, encouraging them to invest more of their money.”

Free Advice from Behavioral Psychologists and Economists

There’s no shortage of the psychological phenomenon we’re all witnessing, and potentially even partaking in. What is it about a pandemic that makes us feel the need to buy toilet paper? But more importantly, how might we all benefit from these times to make our lives even better in the future? To answer these questions, experts in the field of behavioral science may have the answers to leading happier and healthier lives starting today. Here’s the advice they are offering:

Dan Ariely is a Behavioral Scientist, the James B. Duke Professor of Economics at Duke University, the founder of the Center for Advanced Hindsight, and the author of the New York Times bestseller, Predictably Irrational. Needless to say, Ariely has some great advice to offer. He explains, “It is not often in life that we get to re-examine our financial expenses. For this, we need some sort of shock to get us to act, and we need the time to reconsider—the Coronavirus has given us both.” 

Here are a few tangible things Ariely recommends doing to take advantage of these times:  

1. Re-examine your bills over the last six months. “I suggest that you think about the amount of pleasure something gives you in your daily life. If something gives you a lot of pleasure, write 10, if the pleasure is so-so, write 5. If it doesn’t give you much pleasure at all, write 0. Continue looking at all items this way.”
2. Re-examine all discretionary spending. “Maybe for some of us it is our television and cable bills, for others it may be subscriptions… for others, it may be things like travel or restaurants…things that we use very occasionally but don’t derive much pleasure.” He suggests repeating the 10 – 0 exercise mentioned above.
3. Create a plan for moving forward. “I don’t mean creating a plan for these Corona-days where we are stranded at home and our life circumstances are very different, but rather, creating a plan for the after-Corona-days. Think about what changes you want to make in the way you spend your money. At the end of the day, the best way to use money is to ask ourselves: what are things you can spend money on that bring you and your family happiness, and what are the things you spend money on that don’t give you a lot of happiness? Once you understand these things, you can create a better plan for better financial spending.” 

Kristen Berman is also a Behavioral Scientist and co-founder of Irrational Labs. She explains, “Not many times in life do we get to completely change our daily routine—from our work-life, to what we eat and who we spend our time with. Consider this disruption a chance to disrupt your behavior—and save or earn money.” 

Some ideas Berman recommends:

1. Learn a new skill you can brag about on LinkedIn. “Becoming an IT consultant or designer is only a course away.“ 
2. Try your hand as a chef. “Pick one dish and perfect it to impress friends later. Homemade pizza? Honey glazed Salmon? Roasted carrots? (hint: always more olive oil and salt!)”
3. Refresh your look. “Sell your old stuff on CraigsList or LetItGo for pick up later. Clean out your closets and make extra cash. Just remember to delay pick up or avoid contact with the buyer.”

Aids for Paying Rent and Utilities

Paying rent and utilities may be some of the biggest challenges during these times. Alicia Butera, CFP at Intuit provides the following advice: “First ask your landlord if it is possible to get an extension on the full or partial payment if it can not be made. See if they are willing to let you go on a payment plan. It never hurts to ask and they will likely be happy to get whatever money they can. Then go to your main bank and see if they can pause a debt payment, hopefully with no interest, so you can use that money to make rent instead. Lastly, it could be a good time to pick up a side gig in an industry that is flourishing right now like food delivery, Grubhub etc., to earn a little extra cash.” Kristen Berman of Irrational Labs explains that behavioral science doesn’t have a solution for paying rent, but recommends leveraging the following resources for assistance:

Aid from Financial Institutions

Many financial institutions offer flexible options for customers and small businesses. As some of our experts mentioned, be proactive by calling your financial institutions. This not only can help you save money, but more importantly, can reduce some of the stress you may be experiencing by not knowing the options you may actually have. Here’s a list of some of the banks and financial assistance they are offering:

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