Finance Tips for Second COVID-19 Lockdown

Boris Johnson announced a few days ago that we’re all headed into lockdown again starting form this Thursday.

People are scrambling around to sort out their last meal with family and friends and panic-buying (again! (hint: this is not a good idea)). There is a febrile atmosphere rather like the day before the Purge starts.

In this post I wanted to share a few thought about really practical stuff that we should all think about and/or do to keep our finances in a good place during this second lockdown.

Job Security

  1. The Furlough Scheme has been extended, which is welcome news. However there is a strong inevitability that it will end at some point. And if you are someone who is still on furlough or has been put into furlough again, you should actively be considering your career and job options and thinking of Plan Bs.

  2. The reason why you should think of Plan B is because this time around, those businesses that need to use furlough will be even weaker and their cash reserves even lower. So there is a potential that this could tip a lot of businesses over the edge. A lot of small businesses are furious and rightly worried.

  3. You should look into upskilling yourself. There are a ton of jobs now available online but they require online skills. You should look into graphic design, video editing, social media management, coding, copywriting, blogging, etc etc. As an employer I know when i read a CV and see they have some coding skills I get very happy - even if its not necessarily required for that role. And look - even if you stay at your current job - having these 21st century skills will set you up to progress iA.

  4. There are a few different camps you could fall into if you are facing potential termination. You are:

  • Easily going to find another job. In which case - great. No need to worry too much. Just look to save up around 3-6 months runway just in case but you should be fine.
  • Will struggle to find another job - and you would like another job. You should proactively start interviewing at places just to get some experience in and to understand the job market in your particular field right now. You should also proactively volunteer your expertise and time to a potential business you might quite like to work for. Volunteering for free at a business is a wonderful thing. The few times someone has done that IFG it has usually led to a job offer. The reason is because you give a business a win-win no-cost way of getting some free labour. But what that also does is allow you a foot in the door and if you add a ton of value and make yourself indispensable, the business will actively look to keep you.
  • You will struggle to find another job - and you don’t really want one. You should use this downtime to position yourself in the entrepreneurial realm. Experiment with those business ideas you always had and see if any of them have any legs. But understand this - business is likely to be a hard slog for many months and years. Don’t expect this to be the easy route. You have a brief respite due to the furlough payments coming in - so use them to your advantage and get cracking with a business idea. Even if you go back to work after furlough, at least you’ll have started something off that you can keep ticking over in the background for many months just in case your job disappears later on.

Investment Thoughts

  1. I would suspect that this time there will not be such a mad rise of the stock market given that this time everyone already pretty much knows what lockdown will look and feel like. So previously people were buying up Zoom as they realised how valuable it was. But in this lockdown I would expect that kind of behaviour to be muted as the market already reflects the potential that there are a series of potential lockdowns going to happen globally for the next 6 months.

  2. I would check out our halal investment platform and check out the lower risk options and really start building up a 3-6 month rainy day fund if you do not already have one.

  3. The world really has changed and it will have serious financial implications for us all in 2021. I am firmly of the belief that things will get worse before they get better financially. Right now we have been on a financial life support from the government but when that ends, there will be implications. You should spend some time in the next few weeks upskilling your financial knowledge. You can do that for free on our Youtube or you can check out our Halal Investing for Busy Professionals course, which is getting great reviews.

  4. For those with cash, it will present a great buying opportunity particularly in the small business space and the property space. To find out more about small business see Day 3 of the our Halal InvestFest and for property see Day 2. You can find all the videos for our Halal InvestFest here.

Wider Observations

  1. Make sure you take advantage of the Green Homes Grant the government has brought out. It’ll save you money both in the short-term and long-term. We wrote an article on it here.

  2. Try to use takeaways and restaurants in your local area. Many of the business owners will be Muslims so if you can help in a little way, that’s a good thing.

  3. Check if you’re eligible for Universal Credit or any local council schemes. You may not think you are eligible but often you’d be surprised.

Concluding Thoughts

I am just one guy - I am sure we, the Muslim community, can come up with a ton of ways we can look out for each other financially over this lockdown. Please do share your thoughts, ideas, suggestions below iA. Look forward to hearing all your thoughts!

If you’ve got this far down - I also invite you to join this Forum. Its completely for free and there are so many amazing Muslim contributors on here whose collective knowledge we all benefit from. Not least among them @Mufti_Faraz_Adam and @Mufti_Billal. You will also be able to hear from Wahed’s @Abul_Fazal and Zoya’s @saadm and many others who lurk on these pages!

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This is great advice!

I would emphasise on sorting out your Plan B. It’s always good to have a backup in case things go wrong with your career/wealth.

Upskilling yourself to the point where you’ll find it easy to find another job/career is the surest way to make sure that the second lockdown doesn’t affect you as much.

In the end, if you’re skilled enough in an in-demand industry, you’ll still find plenty of opportunities iA, even in the Covid 19 landscape.

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Thanks Ibrahim, definitely going to look into the upskilling advice!

For me, I’m based in Dubai, and the lockdown was perfect to save up more. I spent much less on eating out and food delivery, car petrol, and now that I’m thinking about it, shopping in general too! I don’t think I spent more on a specific category.
Also, it was great opportunity to negotiate my studio’s rent. My contract was due in September, and I was able to bring the yearly rent down by around 20%.

I think these times are good opportunity to save a bit more - and lock the savings into some investment not to over spend later on :slight_smile:

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That rent-saving idea is great actually. A colleague of mine at IFG did this too successfully.

So renegotiate your contract if you can guys!

Fantastic advice - I particularly liked the point about continuing to help our local community where possible, by still ordering takeaways, etc.

I would add: a lot of us will have a little more time now. This might be the time that was previously spent on commuting or general socializing but is no longer possible due to the lockdown.

This time could be utilized by maximising the returns from our ‘life admin’. Checking that:

  • we are on the most competitive energy plans,
  • the best / most appropriate broadband or pay monthly sim
  • going through our statements to see if we are tied to any direct debits that we no longer use
  • checking to see if our council tax bands are correct
  • browsing through our student loan statements to see if there might be any inconsistencies

The list goes on …

In normal circumstances, we may decide that these things are not really worth the time required, and we, therefore, skimp out and end up ‘auto-renewing’. But let us use the additional free time we now have to get our finances in order and have a better grasp of how our money is working for us for the future as well, i’A.

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Amazing points- thanks for that.

Assalamu Alaikum. Yes all this is great advice. During the last lockdown I also checked my car insurance particularly if you have more than car, all bills (utilities,
phones, tv, etc) going out and saved money on unnecessary expenses. I sold things on ebay, and painted the house.

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