This pandemic has presented an opportunity for income generating households to increase savings if they are being diligent in budgeting and reviewing spending patterns.

Changes in usual personal expenditures; whether it is child care, personal grooming, entertainment, car related expenses – gasoline and insurance, vacations and to certain extent reduced business attire.

The question will be, what to do with this additional cash? To conserve, invest or debt reduction are all viable options.

Reduction or paying down debt should take precedence over other options, assuming that one has access to some sort of emergency fund. Credit card debt should be addressed primarily followed by car loans, PLCs, and lastly HELOCs and prepayments on mortgage balance (if possible).

Investing is another option which will have various instruments available to you. GICs (negligible interest rates), stocks and bonds (if one has the risk tolerance to take the ups and downs like we are currently witnessing), gold and precious metals (no yields or dividends but has its benefits, good investment for small amount of portfolio).

These investments can be made through direct holding, ETFs and mutual funds. Evaluate all the options, know the fees and associated with each, and ask your financial advisor to see which is the right option for you.

Conserving cash is important as well, it can be kept as part of an emergency fund or it can be kept on hand for future investment opportunities.  Each person’s unique situation will help dictate what is the best financial plan for themselves.

I strongly advise against spending hard earned cash on superfluous items.  An example of this could be trading your car for a newer or better one, especially if your current car is in working order.

These are trying times as the economy is going to go through significant changes.  More people working from homes, less large gatherings, less need for office space, cruises and travel business will be reduced etc.

Almost all industries will be affecting by these changes so we need to recognize and adapt our lifestyles to these continuing changes.

Rattan Gandhi is owner of Quick Refund Tax, 133 Sixth St. His opinions stem from 15 years of experience in helping clients in the tax area. If you have questions, he can be reached at 905-616-5253 or rattangandhi@gmail.com.