A financial planner says this isn’t the time to panic, but the time to re-assess your financial plan and set a course to follow.
University of Missouri Personal Financial Planning professor Robert Weagley doesn’t want to sound like your mother, but does have some advice your mother might give. He says now is the time to make yourself as valuable as possible to your employer. In other words, do everything you can to keep your job. Review your financial plan. If you don’t have one, create one. The last couple of actions to take during these financially volatile times are to reduce debt and increase savings. Weagley suggests building a savings account equal to three to six months of living expenses.
Above all, Weagley says no one should panic. He says he is sticking with his current investment portfolio, because it is part of the plan he was worked hard on. Weagley says the problem with many Americans is that they have never created such a plan. A financial planner might make it easier to accomplish.
An easy way to make a substantial return on your money, according to Weagley, is to pay off credit card debt. Some credit cards have substantial interest rates, ranging from the mid-teens to as much as 20%. Weagley says paying off such debt brings a instant return equal to that high interest rate.