4 Ways to Bounce Back from Financial Loss
If you’ve ever suffered a major financial loss, you’ll notice that the phrase “that’s just money” is being tossed around a lot by people near and far. But, you know that it’s not just money…”It’s money”, the loss of which has caused you so much of grief that it has started affecting you emotionally and physically.
You may start experiencing either or all of the below:
- Unstable personal relationships,
- Shock, regret, fear and anger,
- Feeling of being powerless,
- Lack of resources to live the lifestyle you have always enjoyed,
- Paying your monthly bills gets difficult,
- Health issues, and
- Difficulty to move on.
Having said that, having a financial setback shouldn’t doom you to a life of depression.
We’re far more resilient than we think…
…You just need to find ways to bounce back.
How to Deal with Financial Loss
There are quite a lot of things you can do to take care of the sinking feeling and bounce back from a financial setback. Let’s discuss how to overcome the financial loss.
1. Get Hold of Your Emotions
The best way to get hold of your emotions after a traumatic experience is by reaching out to your loved ones. Your family and friends can be of enormous help in overcoming this catastrophe.
When you are feeling low, don’t withdraw from social contact, rather fight this tendency and seek out emotional support from your loved ones. Even speaking to a professional counsellor may help to get a better perspective about your financial loss.
2. Assess Where You Went Wrong and Learn from the Experience
Try to be an optimist and look at life through the right lens. Your failure can be a great teacher. However, you need to make certain analyses. Once you detach your emotions from the situation, take a good look at what and why it happened.
Ask yourself these questions
- What happened and why?
- Could you have avoided this pitfall?
If you lost money in investments, figure out answers to these.
- Did you invest wisely or did you take a risk?
- Did you invest appropriately, but market fluctuations got you hammered?
- Did your asset get destroyed in an unforeseen disaster, like fire? Could you have reclaimed some of the lost money if you had an insurance cover?
If you lost your job, figure out the answers to these questions.
- Could you have seen it coming?
- Have you been trying to find alternatives to keep you from being unemployed?
Answers to these questions are critical. Because it gives you reasons why you lost money and how you could have avoided it.
Go through each situation systematically and take measures to avoid this situation from happening again. If needed, consult a financial planner or advisor.
3. Understand How Bad the Impact Is
As humans, we have the tendency to often exaggerate the whole situation. Obviously, there are going to be consequences from your financial loss. But, you need to know figure out how bad the situation is. Is it bad enough to impact your financial future? It may. But is it the end of the world? Definitely, not!
4. Take Measures to Rebuild Your Finances
a. Reduce your expenses till you get back on track
If you want to bring your finances on track, you need to first fill the gap you left behind. There are two ways to fill the gap – you either increase your income or reduce your spending.
While increasing your income may take some time, you can immediately start on reducing your cash outflow.
The best way to reduce your spending is to keep track of your expenses. When you monitor your spending, you can find areas where you can cut down.
This could be as small as cable TV subscription or as big as eating out in an expensive restaurant. Just remind yourself that it is a temporary arrangement until your financial situation stabilises. And once you bounce back, you can get back to your old lifestyle.
b. Increase sources of income
Now that you have started reducing your expenses, you’ll have a fair idea of how much money you’ll need to refill the gap left behind by your financial loss. If the amount is large and if you think your current income isn’t enough, it’s time to increase your sources of income.
In this time and age, with access to the internet, there are ample opportunities to earn money on the side.
c. Take a personal loan
The loss of wealth may have temporarily crippled you, but sadly, you cannot run away from your non-discretionary expenses like electricity bills, credit card bills, rent, etc.
If the magnitude of the financial loss is huge and you are not able to deal with your expenses, it’s okay to consider a short-term personal loan to make your payments.
However, ensure that you borrow only what you require and what you will be able to repay every month comfortably.
MoneyTap can provide you with quick and easy, collateral-free personal loan to tide over the situation.
Lastly, see your financial loss as an opportunity!
