Hello Grasshoppa,

With the number of cases increasing daily & political instability, rumours are going around on the plan to have the State Of Emergency. Imagine if there is an implementation of the State of Emergency, how are we better prepared with this situation with the lesson that we learned from the recent lockdown? The days of being stuck at home during the MCO period may be over, however, the fight continues until the vaccine is distributed which many experts claimed it will be next year. 

With the lesson we learned earlier, how can we handle this situation better if there is an implementation of the State Of Emergency? 

1. Food Storage
I remembered the nightmare of lining up in the mall for almost an hour just to get in to buy groceries. From time to time, it is good to store extra canned food or dry food to avoid panic buying crowd. 

2. Reducing Expenses To Save More 
We won’t know how bad the situation will be or what will happen next. A situation like job loss or business close can’t be avoided. It is good to spend wisely to ensure that we have more cash just in case there is an economic downturn or loss of income. 

3. Start Saving Now 
Whether you are saving or not, it is time to start to save more. Many people used to say that it is good to have at least 6 months worth of your monthly expenses as your savings. The pandemic started to affect us since March 2020 & 6 months later, we are still facing this situation. Is 6 months savings good enough or should we actually work on more savings for an emergency? 

4. Building New Source Of Income 
In the current situation, we are at risk of losing our main source of income. Even from my industry that is in high demand, I may not know what will happen tomorrow. A friend of mine who is a pilot was also at risk of losing his job with the recent retrenchment announcement by the airline. The good news is, he is still able to maintain the job but to help him cope better with lesser income due to the reduced flying hours, he actually started a food delivery business. This decision not only helped him to cover his income, but it also helped with his expenses for his family. It is not hard to have a new source of income as long as you are willing to try something new. 

5. Using Your EPF Fund For Emergency 
It can be via EPF i-Lestari Account 2 withdrawal where you can withdraw your money effective April 2020 or you can also use your EPF Account 2 to pay for your housing loan. This will not only ease your monthly expenses but it also helps you with any emergency expenses. With no more extension of the moratorium, there are some people who struggle to pay off their loan. Why don’t consider using your EPF Account 2 instead?

Conclusion : 

Whether or not there will be the implementation of the State Of Emergency, we should always be prepared to face the worst as we really won’t know how long this pandemic or political instability will end. Rather than we sit & wait for the worst to happen, we should work on something that we can control. There is always a solution to all situations & it is important for us to stay positive & strong. 7 months into this pandemic & the only thing we should do is to stay strong, stay safe, stay healthy & be responsible to prevent the virus from further spreading. 

OSS!