6 MoneySmartLife COVID-19 Financial Comeback Strategies

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every American family. The severity of the impact varies based on socioeconomic and demographic factors. For most working-class people, the result will be short-term economic devastation due to the loss of income, health benefits, and savings. It does not matter where your family is on the pandemic financial disaster scale, The pandemic left working-class families worse off. The economic toll has yet to be calculated. 
At the time of this writing, the economic situation is very fluid. Without income, families are in housing default or food insecurity. The longer it goes on, the more widespread the economic suffering will be. The final impact on your family’s financial well-being may be unknowable and out of your control. What is in your control is resilience.
Resilience is an integral part of financial well-being. As any world-champion prizefighter would tell you, “It is not just how hard a punch you threw; but also how hard a punch you took that matters.” Stuff happens in life all the time. We don’t know its name and duration until it happens. “COVID-19 pandemic” is this large steaming pile of stuff’s name. And when stuff happens, you have to deal with it. To continue to torture the prizefight analogy, “In life, it is not that you got knockdown. Instead, it is how long you stay down and what you do after you get up that determines the outcome.” 
So no matter how hard you got knockdown. Get up. Here is how.
1.  Start Planning Your Comeback Now While You Are Going Through. Focus on what you want your life to be. Set short-term recovery goals. What do you have to do to keep your vow “not to be caught like this again?" Start or add to your Emergency fund..  Restock or build your Food bank. Build and improve Relationships with members of your safety net. Vote. Engage with all levels of civic government. Understand the impact of civic appropriations and taxiing decisions and whose interests are benefited by those decisions. Then vote your interests. Local, state and the federal government should be run competently with an adequately resourced staff of honest public servants. Also, there should be citizen oversight with political and criminal accountability.

2.  Stay In The Moment. Every day has its own supply of challenges and joy. You can’t know the future, good or bad. Don’t create horrible future mental scenarios. Focus on making informed good choices now. The right decisions lead to good outcomes. Why worry about tomorrow? Doing so will not add an hour to your life. Matt 6:34 

3.  Believe In Yourself. You can do this. You don’t have to know every step of how. Just do the best you can each step of the way. Remember, you are playing a long game. Your outlook is post-pandemic. Don’t let a short-term decision lead to long-term financial turmoil.

4. Trust in God. If you believe He provides, then face each day with confidence.

5.  Give. Don’t be so inward-focused. Turn your attention outwards and help others less fortunate than yourself.

6. Maximize Self-Care to mitigate the stress and depression that your situation fosters. In every airline pre-flight video, you are instructed to put on your own oxygen mask first. Only then help others in the event of a loss of cabin pressure. Money troubles increase pressure. You must find a way to release it before hurting others, generally those closest to you.

For additional information on mental Resilience.

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