How has your financial situation changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began?
Whether it was an increase in unemployment or the ups-and-downs of the stock market, the last few months have taken their toll on some residents.
Brandon Parkes is a Financial Planner with IG Wealth Management in Milton.
He says that, while it seems obvious, people should try to track where their money goes.
Parkes adds that he’s noticed that people have significantly increased their savings over the last few months.
He says getting creative can play a role in how you increase your savings moving forward.
There are certain things that you can do, according to Parkes. It could be something as simple as using the money that you’re saving from not driving into work every day while you continue to work from home to increase your regular contributions into your retirement plan.
Parkes says that when it comes to your savings, it’s important to remove emotions from your decisions.
If there were one thing Parkes could do differently now when reflecting on the last month, he says it’d be not holding off on refinancing and leveraging out a chunk of money for his future. He says with hindsight being what it is, and not knowing at the time what the bottom was, he would have done it sooner and bigger.
Parkes tells residents that if you’re thinking about investing or saving your money, don’t be afraid to reach out to a financial advisor. He says having a second set of eyes and a professional opinion will never hurt your decisions.
If you’re looking for some publicly available advice, the Milton Public Library is holding a financial planning event on Wednesday, July 15th. The webinar will be hosted by Kathleen Daunt, a Financial Planner at the New School of Finance in Toronto. For more, click here.
You can also follow the MPL on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Brandon Parkes and the IG Wealth Management team can be found through here.
