Tag Archives: lockdown

6 Recession-proof Careers for 2020 graduates

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By Sia Hasan

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

It seems safe to assume that 2020 has been considerably different than what you expected when you first started your higher education. Back then, your future may have seemed assured. Though things are more uncertain now, do not give up hope. There are still opportunities available to you.

Even if there were not a pandemic, chances are good that you would not have been able to acquire your dream job immediately upon graduating anyway, due to your lack of experience. While the economic fallout of COVID-19 is troubling in many ways, this may be an opportunity for you to pursue a new career option that you might not have thought of before, one that offers you more stability or teaches skills that you can transfer to your chosen field. Here are some of the top recession-proof career options for newly minted graduates:

1.) Attorney

If your dream is to become a Phoenix criminal defense lawyer or attorney in another practice area, there is no need to give that up. Granted, your career path may have to take some detours as the bar exam has been rescheduled in some states. Nevertheless, there will always be a need for people with in-depth knowledge of the law to represent the interests of ordinary citizens.

2.) Teacher and Teacher’s Aide

Even before the pandemic, traditional classroom education was adapting to new technologies that allow for distance learning. Nevertheless, someone will always have to be there to provide instruction to students, whether in person or online. Distance and on-demand learning offer advantages such as flexible scheduling to teachers as well as students. Granted, if you wish to pursue a nontraditional career path in education, you must make sure that not only your teaching credentials but your technological literacy levels are in impeccable order.

3.) Health Care Professional

The medical field encompasses a broad range of professionals, not only doctors and nurses but physicians assistants, lab technicians, physical therapists, and many more. There are also health care professionals not involved directly in patient care, such as administrative support staff and medical records technicians. All have a vital role to play in providing adequate health care while protecting patient safety.

Health care professionals will still be in high demand even after the pandemic eventually subsides. There is always a need for patients to receive treatment for medical conditions. Even before COVID-19, health care professionals were aggressively sought after. Physicians and other professionals belonging to the baby boom generation are nearing retirement age, and more providers are needed to care for boomers as they become more vulnerable to age-related disease and disability.

4.) Actuary

You might be surprised that financial services are in greater demand during an economic downturn. However, when one’s financial situation is less stable, it becomes more important to keep careful tabs on it. Continue Reading…

We can no longer ignore our Financial Health

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By Tanya Oliva

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Prior to the pandemic, the financial health of Canadians was of great concern to the Bank of Canada, who often cited the record level of household debt as a serious threat to our economy. In 2019, the average Canadian household was carrying $1.76 in debt for every $1.00 of disposable income.

Other statistics related to the financial health of the average working Canadian were just as alarming: 52% were living pay-cheque to pay-cheque, 44% say it would be difficult to meet financial obligations if their pay was late, 40% were overwhelmed by their level of debt, and 48% were losing sleep because of financial worries.

We all know now that the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020 is the gravest economic and financial shock anyone could have imagined. With no time to prepare, millions of Canadians and countless businesses are facing extreme financial stress and a global economic recession has taken hold. Now, more than ever, Canadians must focus on their financial health.

We need to think of health as a three-legged stool

Our overall health is connected on three levels: physical health, mental health, and our financial health. Financial challenges and difficulties are experienced by individuals across all income levels and age groups. Financial stress is the most obvious symptom and proves that financial health is strongly linked to our mental health.

Poor financial health can lead to more serious mental health issues such as anxiety and depression and can also negatively impact our physical health, from fatigue, poor nutrition, to substance abuse and dangerous conditions like high-blood pressure and heart disease.

A state of being in good financial health is when an individual:

  1. has control over their day-to-day, month-to-month expenses,
  2. has the capacity to absorb a financial shock,
  3. is on track to meet financial goals – short, medium and long term, and
  4. has the financial ability to make choices that allow them to enjoy life and seize opportunity.

Just like our physical and mental health, we need to put in the time, effort and commitment, and apply proven strategies, to maintain and improve our financial health. The Financial Health Network has created a measure of financial health called the FinHealth Score™.  An individual’s score is based on four financial behaviours: how you Spend, Save, Borrow and Plan for the unexpected and your future.  Your overall score will change with your circumstances and ranges on a spectrum from financially healthy to financially coping to financially vulnerable. Continue Reading…

Reopening after lockdown: Switching from Defense to Offense

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By Del Chatterson

Special to the Financial Independence Hub 

Do you know your Basic Defensive Interval? I was asked that question as I left a failed business venture and wandered off into the wilderness of between engagements. For entrepreneurs it’s an important question to answer, “How long can we survive without income?” For a business start-up, it’s the number of weeks or months before you get to break-even cash flow. For an operating business, it’s how long can you survive a disaster without any revenue.

For an individual, it means how long can you continue to cover your living expenses if your monthly income suddenly stops. How much cash do you have set aside to carry you through such an event? We always knew there were unpredictable economic and financial risks that we could not prevent or avoid. Maybe we maintained insurance coverage and had a contingency fund, just in case. But none of us were prepared for a global pandemic that would shut down normal business activity for two or three months. It may be six months to two years before we get back to anything approaching normal business activity.

Tactics for the next phase

We have all found a way to get through this temporary shutdown and contributed to slowing the spread of infection to allow health care workers and facilities to handle the case load. We are now entering the end of phase one of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, we hope. Is it time to start switching from defense to offense? Caution and constant monitoring will be appropriate as businesses reopen and people go back to work, but it’s time. Continue Reading…

What will the Post-Covid world look like?

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By Amit Ummat

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

We’re all talking about how the world will change because of COVID-19 and are already seeing things like more cooking and less takeout, lower profits for more stability, and electronic voting. But what about taxes and tax policy? The global economy is undergoing drastic change, but what will be the repercussions of these changes for tax authorities? We can expect three things: more state involvement, reduced globalization, and universal basic income. Let’s have a look at each of them.

1.) More State Involvement

Governments will be more involved in the economies of their nations and this is where new approaches to tax policy come into play. National governments will no longer tolerate tax minimization by large corporations (including airlines) and then acquiesce to requests for taxpayer-funded bailouts.

Denmark and Poland recently made it policy to exclude tax-haven companies from COVID-19 relief schemes. So, if a corporation fails to pay its fair share of tax and thereby fails to finance public goods and services, it cannot expect state-sponsored loans or wage-subsidy programs. The government of Denmark said companies which pay out dividends, buy back their own shares, or register in offshore tax jurisdictions, will not be eligible for aid programs from the state.

Expect more of this. It means income inequality will be tolerated much less by governments and society, prompting action by tax authorities to ensure that all taxpayers pay their fair share. This is already happening.

We hear echoes from every corner of the world that the share of revenues going to labour and producers are grossly out of whack. In 1960 labour expenses were roughly equal to profits, but now there is incredible disparity with the lion’s share of revenues going to capital owners and only a small fraction going to labour, and that fraction hasn’t even kept pace with inflation.

Don’t expect a Marxist-type revolution where the means of production are usurped by the working class, but there will be an expectation for income allocation to be more equalized between capital and labour.

2.) Reduced Globalization and Stronger Domestic Supply Chains

With this pandemic we have seen what happens when nations aren’t able to control supply chains for essential goods (i.e., ventilators and other PPE). The United States is a perfect example. Globally, we will see supply chains repatriated by nations, and technology allowing for this through AI (Artificial Intelligence), portable manufacturing equipment, and more accessible communications. This will make it easier to impose tax on corporations since much of the activity will take place in a single geographic jurisdiction.

While globalization has produced a myriad of benefits, including a huge reduction of poverty in the world, it’s no coincidence that the growth of the globalized economy has spawned incredible growth to the middle class, such as in China and India. But this has also led to the loss of manufacturing jobs in Western countries. One can argue that globalization is why Western nations have become almost entirely service-based. Continue Reading…