Bloggers like the Frugalwoods have been dealing with a day-by-day look at what you can do, starting with the benefits available.
Jean Chatsky, one of today's most practical financiers, offers tips for a 'crisis budget' (similar to mine, ironically) and three other ideas:
1. Make a crisis budget
2. Lower your spending
3. Look for new income sources
4. Put some financial goals on hold
Suze Orman advises ignoring your credit card debt , and saving up, instead. She has a point if someone is at their wit's end -- but those credit cards are not going to pay themselves. And the interest will be mounting.
Wealth Advisors doesn't even bother with the current pandemic -- they're too busy coming up with future disasters That Are Bound To Happen.
I see a distressing number of people who are taking advantage of Coronavirus to explain away or blame their past financial decisions. Hey, why pay rent when the landlord's willing to overlook it for now?? Why should I go back to work, when unemployment checks are still coming in? And if I lose my job permanently after all this, no one would expect me to cover my bills.
Right?
Wrong.
The answer, of course, is Yes. You will still be responsible for your bills, even if you've got a few extra months to pay them for now. I have heard of landlords cutting rent prices, or giving bonuses for paying on time. (One couple got a gift card that they used for take-in one night.) I have not heard of anyone forgiving the rent altogether. Landlords have bills to pay, too.
Horrible visions rise of people who've decided to coast, running out of money around July or August. Late fees and bankruptcy costs will pile up. Houses and vehicles will be foreclosed on. Then the 'No Fair' and 'Woe is me' cries will begin. Will they be loud enough for Congress to cough up another set of stimulus checks, and stretch our national debt even more? Obviously those who've already spent this round of checks will be hoping for it.
I do have hopes that people are learning, buoyed by the news that some milllenials plan to save and/or bank at least part of their checks. That's something.
On the other hand, 60% of the respondents in a Money survey say the checks are helpful -- but not nearly enough. Others say they plan to use the checks for current housing costs. (Hopefully, that means they'll be paying the forgiving landlords.) Update: just heard of one who forgave May's rent altogether.
Our bills are paid. (We had to, being out of the country so long.) If we keep our spending (and saving) to less than what's coming in, we're fine. And if something comes up, we've got extra put away to cover it. Because we saved and scrimped and bargained, year after year, for decades. We've done this so long that it comes automatically.
Now what do I do with the person who will be in terrible trouble... because they spent too much for their rental; leased a vehicle they couldn't afford; bought high-end organic food; purchased whatever their fancy went to in clothes; and paid for highest-end cable programs and cellphones?
(And that doesn't even cover those who went overboard on student debt, renovation loans and lavish credit card purchases, on the theory that they'd be quickly making more money once things get better. Only they haven't,)
Should I donate to the now-desperate person who insisted on steak dinners at Morton's (a high-end Denver restaurant)... when we've been making do with Burger King all along?
The sad stories are only beginning. I do feel sorry for people's pain. I want to be sympathetic. It isn't fun to feel lonely or isolated...and watch your bank balance trickle down, at the same time. It would be easy to keep maintaining, not thinking or planning too much, until that magical day When Everything Goes Back to Normal.
Except it won't.
Part IV of the "Just For Now" Budget series will conclude shortly -- look for it soon.
Part I here, and Part II here, will get you started.
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