Dealing with Losing Your Job and Income

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Many families are dealing with the financial fallout from the coronavirus, including losing their income and jobs. See how you can adjust your budget and get the resources you need to ride out these tough times! 

How to Financially Handle Losing Your Job and Income

 Judging by the numbers, Ani’s situation is becoming more common. As of right now, around 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment in the past six weeks.

Besides the health risk of coronavirus – which should NOT be ignored or downplayed – a huge concern of this crisis is the financial fallout. 

 How do we keep going through these tough times? 

Which is why I wanted to do this mini-series. 

Part of the challenge – at least to me as I’m putting this together – is reading, hearing, and seeing how different things play out depending on many factors.

Yes, we’re in this together, but for a couple who’s lost one or both incomes, or one that’s seen their retirement savings seemingly crash, those are completely different ball games than a couple who’s trying to balance taking care of their kids at home while working remotely for example. 

Each has its own challenges and so what I decided to do is break up the mini-series episodes based on different situations families may find themselves in. 

There are key takeaways, I think all of us can learn from and pick up, but I did want to highlight some scenarios so this mini-series can be helpful and relevant as possible. 

And they are based on what you’ve sent in about what you’re dealing with right now. 

So thank you, I’m grateful to have your input on this. 

Today I want to talk about one of the biggest ways many couples are being financially affected by this – loss of income. 

Whether it’s being furloughed, seeing your hours drastically cut, or losing it altogether – it can be a heavy weight on you. 

Ani is sharing her story about how she’s dealing with it. 

We also have some fantastic experts like personal finance author Toni Husbands, Coastal Credit Union’s Joe Mecca, and small business consultant Sylvia Inks.

They're offering tips and resources to help make ends meet and steps you can take to shore up your finances not just now but in the long run. 

In this episode, we’re discussing:

• Dealing with losing your job and what you can do get some income coming in
• Adapting your finances 
• Smart ways you can spend your stimulus check

Let’s get started!

Resources to Easily Stay on Top of Your Money

Here are some resources we mentioned in the episode as well as some other handy articles to check out:

• Best Budget and Money Apps: Personal Capital, Tiller, Mint, Honeyfi
• Grow Your Stash Faster: High Yield Savings with CiT Bank
• Jumpstart Your Marriage and Your Money
• Your Money: A Hub for Help During the Coronavirus Crisis via The NY Times
• COVID-19 Financial Relief Info for Those Impacted via @ I Heart Budgets
• Stitch Brush Designs
• Debt Free Divas
• SMI Financial Coaching with Sylvia Inks

Thank You to Our Sponsor Coastal!

Support for this podcast comes from Coastal Credit Union. If you’re living in the Raleigh Durham area and looking to bank better, come check out Coastal today!

We’ve been Coastal members for a few years have been happy with their services.

If you’re a member and you’ve been financially affected by the coronavirus, Coastal has a member assistance program to ease the burden.

Adapting Your Finances

No matter your specific situation, I believe one thing we’ve all had to do is adapt our finances and budget. 

And if you’re dealing with a drop of income, it’s especially important to review and evaluate quite a few things. 

• What bills to pay
• Figuring out how much of a gap you have between what you earn and what you have to spend on.
• What resources are available to you and your family

And then, of course, we’re not machines so we need some way to reduce the stress and anxiety that can understandably come up. 

Something that’s been helpful to me is talking with people who have gone through a big change or challenge. While there’s rarely a perfect match to what I[‘m going through, I usually get some takeaways or ideas that I can then use for my situation.

So with this pandemic, I had reached out to Toni Husbands, the creator of debt free divas and the author of the Great Debt Dump to get her thoughts and process. 

Besides her work in personal finance she’s also a wife and mom to beautiful kids and years ago, they paid off over $100,000 of debt.

Dealing with Job and Income Loss

Like many, my talented friend Ani had begun 2020 with a much different plan and outlook for the year. We sat down to discuss what she originally envisioned, getting laid off, and literally crafting a plan to bring income. 

If you want to grab a mask and support Ani, I’ll include a link in the show notes or you can search Etsy for Stitch Brush Designs. 

How Small Business Owners Can Keep Some Income Coming In

Another situation that some of our community are dealing with is having their business closed or severely restricted.

Actually we had a business owner send her question in.

Being self-employed, I could relate to this and I really wanted to help. So I reached out to Sylvia Inks who’s a fantastic small business consultant and author to talk them through some options this member of this business owner could take.  

Smart Ways to Spend Your Stimulus Check

When you’re dealing with a drop income anything you can bring in – whether it’s optimizing your expenses as Toni mentioned or diversifying your income as Ani did and Sylvia recommended – helps.

While millions have received their stimulus check through direct deposit others are just now getting it.  

With unemployment checks being increased through the CARES Act, you may be getting some relief, but you might be concerned with how to maximize the money you have coming in. 

Joe Mecca from Coastal Union and I discussed a few things to consider so you can make every dollar go further. 

I hope these tips help you deal with the financial stress that’s out there and shore up your budget!

Support the Podcast!

Thank you so much for listening to the podcast!

• Spread the word! If you enjoyed this episode and think it can help a buddy get on the path to dumping debt and become financially free, please share.
• Leave a review. Honest feedback and reviews make a big difference and gets the word out about the podcast. Leave your review on Apple or Stitcher.
• Grab a copy of Jumpstart Your Marriage and Your Money. My book is designed for a busy couple to set up their finances in 4 weeks. Get tips and tools that have worked for other couples on their journey of building their marriage and wealth together!

Music Credit

Like the music in this episode? Our theme song is by Gentle Regime. Additional music by Lee Rosevere and Audiio.