Hiding the reality of COVID-19 has become much harder to do
MANY Australians have been hit hard during the coronavirus pandemic and now the reality of our financial pressures are really starting to show.
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PAINTING the perfect life on social media is easy to do.
Get the right location, the perfect lighting, the best filter and bingo, you can give off an image of yourself you want others to believe.
But often the real-life story is very different and now the cracks are starting to appear.
We’ve been forced to stay at home, wash our hands and social distance – hardly anything that we’d want to show off on our social media profiles.
For many Australians the reality is far worse than this – some have been forced to deal with a job loss or huge reductions to incomes.
It’s even resulted in people who have never been on social welfare suddenly reaching out for a helping hand from the government.
Some people appear to have the perfect life – the big house, white-picket fence, four-wheel drive parked in the driveway and two adorable kids going to private school.
On the surface – and on social media – it’s something to envy.
But in recent weeks we’ve all started to peer into each other’s lives, whether it be by doing Zoom or House Party chats, and we’re glimpsing what our colleague’s life is like while they juggle family life with working from home.
And what it has shown is that we are not living the lives many think that we are.
Remove the lighting and the filters and it’s a very different picture.
Many Australian households are facing financial pressures they’ve never faced before.
The nation’s debt binge has come to a grinding halt and it’s forced many of us – whether we like it or not – to take a serious hard look at ourselves including our financial status.
Trying to keep up with the Joneses never pays off and Australia’s mounting household debt – the second highest in the world – has been well and truly put under the spotlight.
While now is not the time to point fingers at whether we have been good or bad money managers, it’s certainly a time to take stock of where each one of us sits financially.
The past few weeks have shown that life – for better or for worse – can change damn quickly.
Those maxed out credit cards, mammoth mortgages, large car loans and large amounts of discretionary spending have come to roost.
There’s one thing I’ve always stuck by and it’s this – always prepare for the worst.
No matter what happens in life, whether you become sick, someone dies, you get divorced, you lose your job or have an accident, there needs to be a back-up plan.
So for most of us who are bunkered down in our homes going a little crazy, it’s a good time to take stock of your finances and, if you need help, to seek it immediately.