What has the ongoing pandemic taught us about Finance?

The sudden onset and the prolonged presence of the Corona pandemic have taught many lessons to people from all walks of life. While on one hand, many affluent business owners have gone bankrupt, on the other, some small-scale businesses have thrived. The situation has taught you that life is unpredictable, and you never know what challenges will be thrown to you, be it in finance, insurance, or even health and family. You cannot control the situation, but you can definitely stay prepared.

As a Woman, you are the leader of your family. You take important decisions and also manage the household finances. The pandemic surely must have hit you hard. Whether you are the breadwinner or you are the financial manager, it was ultimately you who had to rework the budget and ensure your family ate and lived well. It wasn't easy, right? But you did it anyway, and you learned some important lessons!?Here are some important points for you to ponder upon:?

Balanced lifestyle

The income of the family will keep going up with time. But every time you or your husband receives an appraisal, your lifestyle shouldn't take a leap ahead either. With simple things like the housemaid gone and the ability to dine at a restaurant taken away, we all realized what a slave we have been to our extravagant lifestyles.

Takeaway: Post-pandemic, look to cut down on your lifestyle habits. Live a more humble life, so that even in the toughest of times, you won't struggle to make ends meet.

Personal Budgeting

Personal budgeting is crucial. Knowing where every paisa goes and who in the family spends how much is very important. Unless you know the spending patterns, you will not be able to save where there is a possibility to do so. Remember how, in the month of May, you aggressively scanned through the MRPs of every product at the supermarket just to find options that cost less? The temporary salary cut may have forced you to do that.

Takeaway: You must have learned from the experience a lot. Ensure to keep that in mind and be aware of what you spend every single time.

The Second Source of Income

The pandemic led to many people losing their jobs unexpectedly. While many people struggled to feed their families because of this, some survived with the second source of income they had.

Takeaway: This was a huge lesson for everyone - try to have a second source of income. Online entrepreneurial ventures, private tuitions from home, selling homemade food, etc are some of the options people explored while they were unemployed and it worked for them. If you too started something like this, please stick on to it even after the pandemic ends.

Contingency fund

And finally, the pandemic showed just how important that emergency fund was! Your parents and grandparents have always told you to have a contingency fund and you may not have taken them seriously, but now you do! Many lives changed and families began to crumble when the lockdown was announced out of nowhere.

Takeaway: Those who had the contingency fund, used the money to eat and live at that time and we all got to see just how important it is to have such a fund.

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The pandemic has not been easy financially or emotionally. However, it has taught us some invaluable lessons. It has taught us that life goes on, no matter what. It has also taught that diversification is important. It has taught us that companionship and love can see us through the worst of times. And overall, it has shown us our inner strength. It has proved that a woman is a true captain who can weather all storms and steer the ship of her family to safety, no matter what the situation around her is.

Recognize this superpower you have and work on it. Start working more on your financial knowledge as well and work your way up. That will make you truly an independent and more confident person.