Find someone wiser than you, check your credit report and taxes, and stop catastrophizing. This is how you can do it.
Maybe you lost your job. Maybe your hours were cut. Or maybe you had to take over caregiving responsibilities. If your income fell precipitously in the last 18 months — even if things have gotten better — it’s an uncertain time. On one hand, the federal eviction moratoriums are gone now and extended unemployment benefits are ending shortly. High inflation in some sectors doesn’t help, and neither do rising housing costs. On the other, jobs — though maybe not the ones that hotel and restaurant workers, theater people and small business owners had before — have been increasingly available in many parts of the country, though job growth has slowed recently. No two situations are exactly alike, but when you’ve been on edge — emotionally and financially — for this long, it’s especially important to conduct three types of check-ins. First, find another human being to talk to who has seen more (and hopefully knows more) than you. Then, do a quick nuts-and-bolts audit of your financial standing. Finally, check in on your feelings — which can influence how you plot a recovery from a pandemic that has permanently expanded our understanding of what qualifies as a volatile industry. Good financial planners are a reliable source of guidance, but you may not be able to afford one right now — or find one who will take you on pro bono. So consider that nearly every workplace, or industry collective has a go-to guru or two for all matters of personal finance advice. Seek them out. If that doesn’t work, where else might you look in your acquaintance list? Consider freelancers, especially people in creative industries. Sudden income shocks may be familiar to them, because they often lack regular paychecks and usually know from dry spells. Stephen Lee Anderson has been that person for up-and-coming theater actors in New York for many years. He’s particularly adept at nudging them to pay themselves first in a retirement account. “You give your agent 10 percent,” he told me this week. “Aren’t you worth at least that much?” The Stephens (and Stephanies) of the world are still out there, dispensing all manner of useful advice to people who lack professional financial planning. Or maybe you believe in strength in numbers. If you’re hurting or trying to heal, there’s a good chance others in your profession or at your job site are, too.
