One thing that some people have picked up on and others have not is that life is NOT going to go back to normal for many people just because the immediate threat of Covid seems to have abated.
Some have lost their jobs. Others may have gotten their jobs back now, but find themselves behind on all their bills. (I think the govt. did a great thing by doubling the unemployment payment but for many people it still wouldn’t have paid their rent / mortgage let alone other bills). Some may have been paid to work from home and haven’t been out in months and realised how much money they’ve saved by not eating out and drinking in pubs etc… All economic forecasts say the recovery is going to be long and slow for many business and individuals.
What can you do about this? Not a lot really. If you run a business you’re going to have to look at more novel and interesting ways to pull clients in. If you work a job you have to also have to take into consideration any debts you may have built up in the downtime. Rent and mortgage holidays are fine now but eventually they will come knocking as too will the electricy, rates, water, credit cards and other things. Take this into account an try and clean these up as fast as you can. Rest assurred creditors will come calling eventually and this is expected to hit sometime after january when a string of mortgage and credit defaults are expected to hit the economy.
TO WITHDRAW SUPER OR NOT IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN COVID DEBT?
Nobody wants to withdraw super. Everyone says its a long term investement and for the most part thats right. The reality of it is is you are in debt and there’s a chance you could default on your mortgage or other debts to have to weigh up the lost interest on your super vs. the REAL cost of defaulting on your credit. This could include Credit black marks, default fees, default interest, or in some cases bankruptcy. If you’re disciplined you can put more super in later or work an extra year. If you loose everything to your name this is much harder to recover from.
Many situations people find themselves in will be different. There’s no one size fits all for these circumstances. Many of you will have to think outside the box on ways to either save money or make extra money to dig yourselves out of debt. I guess all i want is for you people to think about this properly and make a considered decision
If you do find your self in debt that seems like you can’t get out of do some research and learn your rights. There is a lot of stuff out there that can help you. Just don’t keep your head in the sand!
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