In the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic, many people find their personal finances in complete upheaval. We want to share real stories of how people are coping with the crisis.
Our new series, the “COVIDiaries” will share individual experiences with how the pandemic is impacting income, savings, debts, and more. You can read more here. We hope you find these stories relatable and reassuring, even if they do nothing more than show you that you are not alone.
We are all in this together.
If you would like to share your experience of how the Coronavirus is impacting your finances, please fill out the form here.
Maggie, 29, from Nova Scotia
What do you do for work? Has the COVID-19 Pandemic impacted your income in reduced hours, layoffs, work from home or in another way?
I worked as an accountant and I have been laid off due to pandemic
How has the COVID-19 Pandemic affected your spending? Are you spending more or less right now? What are you buying and why?
I spend more on food now because I was self-distancing at home, so I ted to panic but, I cancelled all of my subscriptions and reduced my phone bill and car insurance to the most basic package.
What about your debts? Are you incurring debt to cope with reduced pay or increased costs? Or are you finding relief in lower interest rates?
Luckily, I’m not in debt.
Are you concerned about what will happen to your savings and investments at this time? Is this detrimental to your long-term wealth or a once in a lifetime opportunity to get into the stock market? Will you recover from this crisis or be richer or poorer because of it?
Well, before the layoff I was planning to aggressively invest in ETF. However, after the layoff I decided to suspend my regular contribution on the investment and started piling up cash for emergency fund
Did the pandemic force you to cancel any trips or special events? How did that impact your bank account (and your mental health!)
Luckily I did not have any trip booked yet. I was planning to travel to California to visit my newborn cousin, but that may not happen this year. Bank account wise, I’m trying to be as frugal as I could, but definitely I’ll need to use the emergency fund to cover the expenses, but that’s what an emergency fund is for right?
Has the COVID-19 pandemic made you realize anything unexpected about your personal finances? Did you find vulnerabilities or are you more secure than you thought? Will it change how you see and manage money going forward?
Luckily, I’m in a frugal mindset and I rent to save a good portion of money when I generated salary. The saving saved my life because I don’t need to worry about not being able to pay bill for the short term. Also, as a young professional I’m still pretty confident that I could land a job, but maybe it’ll take longer time to land the job. On the other hand, I’ve been planning to start my own business for a long period of time, and it could be the good time to start making the thinking come as a reality. Also, the event also taught me that for however long I work fir a firm, the firm can fire people without second thought. Thus, having some Fock you money and have multiple stream of income us so important.
Share how your personal finances are being impacted by the Coronavirus here.
