Here's a question I've had from a client: How should I be preparing to weather covid-19?

These are unprecedented times. I am a glass-half-full kind of person. One upside of being at home is that you could spend some of your extra time on your money. While each person’s situation is different, here are a few thoughts that may be helpful.

• If you don’t have an emergency fund, you’ll need to cut back on your non-essential spending until you get back to work fully. Think about your needs and your wants. This will be slightly different for everyone. But it will give you some insight into what money you actually need to live today as well as when life resumes.
• Also, if you don’t have an emergency fund, you’ll want to know how much credit you have available just in case you really, truly have to dip into it during this period. This could be credit cards, but it could also be home equity lines of credit or other types of debt.
• If you do have an emergency fund, it’s also a good time to review your spending. The idea is to spend more mindfully. What could you potentially press pause on?
• Please don’t overspend on stockpiling items. Rather, follow the CDC’s recommendations for being prepared and purchase what you’ll need if you or a loved one does get sick. Items like Kleenex, herbal teas, cough drops, cold and flu medicines and cleaning supplies are likely most helpful.
• Think about things you can do virtually either to earn money or enhance your skills. You may have wanted to start an online business. Now’s a great time to research and start testing your ideas. If you’ve been thinking about getting further education, now is a great time to check out courses.
• DO NOT KEEP CHECKING YOUR INVESTMENT BALANCES. Emotions make for terrible investment decisions. You’ll see your balances lower when markets go down. That doesn’t feel good at all, I know. It’s very tempting to take your money out of your investments during the downtimes. However, that will mean you’ve incurred a permanent loss. And, by trying to avoid bad days you may also miss the good days.
• Continue to save in your investments. Your deposits now can buy more because the markets are down. If you save consistently between 1999 and 2018 and not touched it, even through the global financial crisis, your money would have tripled. If you traded in an out of the market over that same period and missed the best 10 days your returns would have been half that amount.

It's hard not to be concerned. No matter what impact this virus might have, it’s always good to review your money situation and think about making it stronger. Since money is (often) a main source of stress, reviewing your money situation now is smart self-care. And when you’re done: stay calm, call someone you love and wash your hands. You may also want to turn on these mood booster tunes.

 Got questions? We have answers. Email your questions to me at [email protected].