SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — As life starts to get back to normal, it's a good time to look over your finances post-pandemic.
Assistant Finance Professor Lee Fortenberry at Shippensburg University says there are four things Pennsylvanians should consider every year, but especially now as we near the end of the pandemic.
Tip #1: Review all your insurance plans and policies.
"Both in the areas of life and disability, insurance is very, very important," Fortenberry said. "Most Americans are underinsured and given what's gone on with the pandemic and all the other trials people have gone through, a negative event like a death or disability could be even more damaging to people."
Tip #2: Up your emergency savings.
"I don't think most people realize how short their liquid funds are. If they had to do without income they would be absolutely sunk, and the pandemic really highlighted that," Fortenberry said. "The old rule of thumb was to have 3-6 months of liquid savings but as of late we've been promoting a year."
Tip #3: Pay down debt, but if you're not strategic in how you do it, and never contribute anything towards your savings, it can feel like the debt is never ending.
"We take every dime we have extra and put it towards debt, and going back to step two, then they don't have anything for an emergency," Fortenberry said. "And that emergency could be something as simple as putting tires on your car at the wrong time."
So, always make sure you are contributing something to your savings account, even if it means paying debt down at a slower rate, he said.
Tip #4: Fortenberry encourages you to put 20 to 25% of your income into savings, and says to not always focus on rate of return and to instead look at savings rates, which can be more beneficial to you when in a choppy market like we are post-pandemic.