Don’t let COVID-19 derail your financial plan

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered plans for most of us in 2020, especially if you live in Victoria, but there are ways to keep your financial goals on track.

Whether it’s travel plans, work, sports, family gatherings, weddings or other milestones — all of our plans have changed significantly in 2020 and are likely to face further changes next year.

In these unprecedented times, it’s understandable to postpone events and put things on hold while we wait for life to return to normal, although we don’t know exactly when that will be.

The new normal for your finances

The same extends to your finances — in the initial wave of COVID-19, all plans were put on hold while we navigated the pandemic and grappled the impact on our jobs, income, and families.

However, as we adapt to this new normal, we will have to tear off that band-aid and consider the implications for our longer-term financial planning.

As Australia continues to open up, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and start to imagine and plan for things that we haven’t been able to do for most of the year.

Family, leisure, travel, sport, and health and wellbeing plans will naturally be on the top of that list — but eventually we should take the time to consider what the implications are for our short, medium and long-term financial plans.

Adapting your financial plans

The new normal we are faced with is very different to how things looked in 2019.

Your job, income, expenditure, super, and investments may all look different to what they did just a year ago, but do you still have the same financial goals?

If the entire world has shifted, and indeed it has, then changes may be needed to achieve your objectives.

Whether it’s buying a house, protecting yourself and your family financially, paying down debt or building your wealth to retire when you want, your plan may need to change to achieve those goals.

We all know that ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away, in fact it can get worse over time, and the same is true when planning your finances.

Get the right financial advice for the new COVID normal

In order to get through the pandemic, you may have made cuts to your expenditure, put your mortgage payments on hold, cancelled various plans, or used savings or equity in your home.

As situations improve, people will likely restart their mortgage payments – but is that all they need to do?

Any considerable life change should be a trigger to review your financial plan to ensure it remains appropriate and achievable, and they don’t come much bigger than a global pandemic.

And if you haven’t got a financial plan to start with, there is no better time to get started on one. Remember that there is no bad time to get good financial advice.

If you need help with your financial plans and growing your wealth, give one of our trusted financial advisors a call on (03) 9875 2900 or send us details via the contact form below.