No one has gone completely untouched by the coronavirus pandemic. Half of Americans say they’ve been financially affected by the virus. However, many states are beginning to reopen businesses and some folks are going back to work. What many people aren’t considering is how to begin setting themselves up for their own financial recovery.
What Will Your Financial Recovery Look Like?
Before you can start preparing to recover from this pandemic financially, you need to consider how you’ve been impacted. Everyone’s finances are set up differently. Some individuals have been hit way harder than others during this time. Certain folks are out of work, while others haven’t been financially impacted (much).
If you’ve been out of work, the first thing you may do when you get back to your job is get caught up on your bills. Others may want to focus on revamping their emergency funds or savings accounts. Many will look at how they can mend their retirement accounts after the market crash.
Depending on how you were impacted by the global pandemic, what you focus on will be different. So, think about how you have been affected by COVID-19 and what your first steps need to be.
Our Recovery
For us, our financial recovery will focus on re-establishing our emergency fund and focusing on rebuilding our credit. We decided to take a break from a few payments during this time so our finances wouldn’t be as tight.
This will undoubtedly have an impact on our credit scores and the length of our debt freedom journey, but it was something we thought would decrease our current financial stress. (Worth it, in my book!) Once we’ve rebuilt some of those areas, we will refocus on snowballing our debt with everything we’ve got.
On top of that, we are also going to be looking into some hustles to help us earn a bit more to make these things start happening sooner. My husband is looking at becoming a delivery driver and I’ve looked at some additional hustles as well.
For now though, we are continuing to stay in and stay safe! Readers, how are you prepping for financial recovery post-COVID?