How to manage your Finances during the COVID19 crisis

Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Assalamu alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh. Hello, everybody, this is monsoon Ganesh. And in this session of mine, I am sharing with you some tips on how we can better manage our finances during this global crisis that we are witnessing. Now we're living at a time which is unprecedented. No one expected this to happen. And the reality is that most of us are anxious, and it is only natural to be anxious. I will not say this is unnatural. It is a natural human tendency to become anxious, specially at a time when you don't even know how long will this crisis last? How long will it take before this Coronavirus disease is controlled? How long will it

last before the chain is broken? So at this point of time, there is a high level of anxiety amongst most of us.

And one of the other reasons for that is we have financial commitments, we have to meet our electric bill, we need to pay the rent bill, the gas bill, the water bill, all of these expenses need to be cleared, we have credit card dues to be cleared. Some of us may have taken EMI is and we need to or other loans, and we need to pay off the EMI guys. So with all of these happening in and around us, it is natural for people to become anxious. I'm going to share a few tips with you. And I'm hopeful that this will assist you in the coming few days, weeks, maybe even months. First and foremost, I wish to remind you that while we are living through difficult times, while we are living through

stressful times, I remind you of the verse in the Quran where Almighty God says that He does not burden a soul beyond his capacity to bear it. This is a beautiful verse in the Quran, where Almighty God Allah subhanho wa Taala is saying that he will not put on us a burden which we can't bear this entire burden that you are experiencing, whether it is a health related stress, financial stress, emotional stress, spiritual stress, all of this is within our capacity to bear that is why it has come upon us. Please remember, we shall not be burdened beyond our means to bear it. If we can internalize this into a court process into our system, we are able to move forward in life.

Otherwise, we'll keep getting anxious, and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it. So we remind ourselves that Allah is generous, he's kind, he's merciful, he's a result he is the provider, he is the sustainer. He is the Cherisher. Even in these times, even in these turbulent times, he is looking after us, put your trust in Him, and we shall help us see through these difficult times. The second advice that I wish to have and this is mostly to do with the finance, finance bit.

The emotional trigger expenses, controlling expenses, it is natural that many people during these times tend to go overboard with their expenses. Look when you know that your business is not running. When you know that you may even face job cuts, you have to ensure that every savings of yours is used judiciously. And in order to do that, I said tell you please plan your expenses. Well, don't go overboard buying disinfectants hand sanitizers, hand wash, you don't have to go overboard buying all of these please identify which are the essential commodities, which are the commodities which you need for your survival for your existence? Do I really need to go overboard with so much

of handwash and sanitizers and disinfectants? I mean, there are a

lot of other things which we can do to keep our house quarantined or home quarantined. We don't necessarily have to go overboard buying disinfectant. And when I say this to you, I tell this to you from experience if you go to Amazon right now. And if you try to place an order for a hand wash or a sanitizer or a disinfectant, you will see that it's run out of stock. It's not available. Why? Because people are always talking themselves. What is the point doing this? I mean, why are you putting so much stress on your savings? So I'm advising you I'm appealing to all of you my respected audience, my listeners, don't burden your savings act judiciously. Plan your savings identify which

are the most important items that you need over the next few weeks and months, and then plan your other expenses. The third tip that I have is to do with your investments. Please don't hasten to sell your existing investments. If you

feel that there may be job cuts or as a businessman, you feel that the financial inflows are not coming in. Don't panic, plan your savings, plan your expenses, keep a stock of your investments. It's extremely critical at this point of time that we list down. What is my total investments? How what kind of an exposure do I have in mutual funds, shares, real estate, gold commodities, foreign currencies, savings, lying in bank accounts, savings lying at home? What are the total valuation of all of this? Look, my friends, when you do this valuation, and you see that number in front of you on an Excel sheet, you are going to get a world of confidence, you will feel far more relaxed than

you are at this point of time. Take some time out over this weekend and plan it out for yourself, you will see that things are far within your control than you initially thought it was.

The last point that I have over here is got to do with again investments, the markets are correcting itself, you might find a lot of these

investment companies reaching out to you and asking you to invest. Please don't take random decision. Don't go on a buying spree. You need to inch understand, as I mentioned in the beginning, these are uncertain period of time, we really don't know how long this will last. You need to make sure that your savings which you have remain with you for a longer duration of time at this point. If you really need to invest, if you really have that kind of money, which you can set aside for safe investments, stagger your investments, instead of putting all your money at one go break it down over one year period, break that money down into 12 installments and invest on a monthly basis

what is called the Systematic Investment Plan. Do that instead of putting in all your money at one go, this will give you more liquidity in your hand. At the same time, as I told you that the markets may even correct further, we really don't know how long this will last, it may impact the markets and the economy even further. So it allows you that gap. Alright, so these are some of the important tips that I had. Please remember one last important point that I have here is please be careful about the kind of consumption that you do have water, electricity

and gas at home because there are bills that you need to pay for them. In many countries you need to pay a water bill. So please make sure that you are able to cut down on the water consumption.

This will allow you to have more control over your money over your savings in this difficult period of time. Now of course these are some tips which I had, I'm sure you can add more to this please share your views in the comment section. And with that I would like to end my session BarakAllahu li May Allah bless us all with good and May Allah help us see through these difficult period of time that we are witnessing was Salam alaykum warahmatullahi wa barakato