Life can be unpredictable. As humans, we do a lot of planning and preparations but certain things are beyond our control. By late 2018 or even early 2019, it was hard to predict that a time will come when the world would be hit by a deadly pandemic that will cripple the world’s biggest economies, not many are likely to believe but it happened. The S&P BSE Sensex has returned with 84 percent by the end-December 2020, since the fall in March 2020. Thailand wasn’t an exemption in this challenge with significant economic losses in agriculture, industry, service with Thai gamers also feeling the heat of the economic decline. Although the pandemic was a health problem, it nonetheless affected the finances of nations and individuals alike.
With the global economy rising from the fall occasioned by the pandemic, we mustn’t forget the lessons learnt from the pandemic. During the pandemic, the income of many reduced, and governments had to bail out businesses and individuals to ease the effects of the pandemic. Having a strong financial portfolio will help keep you afloat whenever a dire and unexpected circumstance like this pandemic hits. Listed below are a few ways to prepare for a rainy day.
5 Ways to build your Financial Portfolio
Have a financial Plan
The nature of money is that as it is being spent, it must be replenished and the rate of replenishing should be more than that of the spending. Oftentimes, wealthy people are those that have planned their financial life in a way that replenishment supersedes expenditure. If you don’t have a detailed financial plan guiding your spending then you are scarcely going to have a healthy financial life. Have a budget on what to spend, what to save, and keep work towards making more money. Additionally, you may plow your savings into an investment rather than leaving it lying fallow in the bank and earning little returns.
Invest
It is a natural phenomenon to advise those yearning for financial independence to develop the saving culture. This advice is good but not sound. A sound piece of advice will be to invest. It takes investment to become rich rather than just having a fat bank account from your savings. The prospect of simple interest on savings might seem lucrative for a short time plan but doesn’t quite cut it in creating a healthy financial portfolio. Investing in assets like equity, real estate, gold, or other forms of valuables offers a more viable long-term plan. This will help yield returns that would be higher than what a bank will pay you considering the bank, in reality, invests the capital kept with them. So why not just do your investment by yourself.
Develop a Contingency Fund
The pandemic has shown to us that we don’t always have things under control. Consequent to this, it is best to develop a contingency fund aside from the money meant for savings and investment. This contingency fund can serve as a buffer to keep you steady when an unexpected event occurs like a pandemic which caused businesses to close down or experience losses. A contingency fund can help cushion the effect of such occurrences.
Curb Irrational Spending
This seems pretty much basic financial advice always taken for granted. It is imperative that you do away with ostentatious spending if you are serious about financial independence. As it does not matter how much you earn if you spend irrationally, you will struggle to have a balanced financial life. Curbing unnecessary spending would help improve and increase money diverted into savings and investments, hence a better financial portfolio. It is better to have a big and sizeable investment than to buy the latest tech gadgets and accessories just to impress people. Financial stability is a bigger achievement than an ostentatious lifestyle.
Take Care of your Health and Wellbeing
This seems somewhat unrelated to financial advice right? Wrong, it is actually a piece of great financial advice. If someone is in the hospital on admission, will they be able to work? Not really! In order to boost your financial health this year, do not neglect your health. Do not overwork yourself to exhaustion. Eat healthily, exercise rather than being careless, falling ill, and taking out of your savings to treat yourself. As the common saying goes, Health is Wealth. Unhealthy living can be fatal, as the cost of treatment cuts heavily into one’s finances.
Conclusively, it is recommended that you explore ways of generating extra income because the more money you make, the stronger your financial life is likely to become. Make extra money but focus on investing and saving.
Interesting Related Article: “How to build up a large dividend portfolio in 2021“