Phew! What a crazy few days!
As you may know, I live in South Florida and we’ve been dealing with the impacts of Hurricane Matthew.
Thank you to those of you who sent messages and checked in with me. I’m happy to report that my family, friends and I are all safe and the damage to my area was minimal. The eye of the storm went further east than anticipated so South Florida (meaning Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties) got out of this relatively unscathed.
Unfortunately, it looks like it’s not over. Matthew is doing a loop in the Atlantic and possibly hitting The Bahamas and Florida again.
Oi vey!
Furthermore, Matthew is still making it’s way up the U.S. coastline and the storm has wreaked havoc all over the Caribbean.
Emergencies, Natural Disasters and Money
I’ve been through quite a few hurricanes in my lifetime. Whenever a hurricane comes our way, we usually have to spend days preparing. Depending on the severity of the storm, we could be days or weeks without power.
This means people may not be able to work and they may not have access to cash because ATMs may be down.
Fortunately, I am financially prepared for such a scenario. Here are three financial lessons I’m learning thanks to Hurricane Matthew.
I have emergency savings.
I am consistently putting money away into an emergency savings account. I have a few thousand dollars in there and it’s already saved my ass more than once.
Had I not been able to work due to power outages, my emergency fund likely would have likely saved my ass again.
Emergencies are not a matter of if, they are a matter of when. That’s why it’s important to always have a cash cushion.
If you haven’t started an account yet, or perhaps feel like you don’t have any extra money to save, I highly recommend signing up for a free Digit account.
Digit is a free savings account that automatically saves small amounts of money from your checking account. It’s computer algorithm determines how much extra money you can save based on your income and spending.
It’s a brilliant tool that allows you to start saving and shows just how much small amounts of money add up over time. Digit has already helped me save over $1500 of extra money that was just sitting in my checking account!
That $1500 alone is already a nice start for an emergency fund.
Passive income streams are life savers.
One of the reasons I’m not totally freaking out about the possibility of losing power and not being able to work is because I’ve been focusing on passive income streams in the form of affiliate sales.
Passive income refers to money you earn without having to trade time for dollars.
Here’s what I mean.
With writing and coaching, I have to trade my time in order to get paid. I either have to spend time with coaching clients or actually writing articles. While I love both of these, I can’t do them if the power goes out when a natural disaster hits.
With affiliate sales, I’m earning money by recommending great products or services on my blog, with my email list and on social media. For example, I have a video tutorial where I explain how to start a blog for $4.
In that post, I recommend my web hosting provider and insert my affiliate link. If someone purchases through my affiliate link, I make a commission.
Because I started taking this more seriously a few months ago, I’m now earning hundreds of dollars a month from recommending services or products through my website. This keeps running regardless of whether or I have power or not.
In fact, I made $100 in affiliate sales yesterday when Hurricane Matthew was said to affect my area. I wasn’t physically working, but I still made money.
See how that works?
While this isn’t paying all of my bills yet, I can rest assured that at least some of my bills will still be covered even if I can’t physically work due to an emergency.
I should note that there are other forms of passive income including receiving dividends from investments and real estate investing. Affiliate sales via a blog isn’t the only way to do this, though I would argue it’s the easiest way to get started.
I should also note that you still have to work in so far as you have to “feed” the cycle. I still have to write blog posts and send emails, it’s just that those blog posts and emails keep running automatically and therefore I keep making money.
For a really great resource on how to create passive income with affiliate sales, I highly recommend checking out Michelle Schroeder-Gardner’s Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course.
I’m privileged as hell.
The other thing Hurricane Matthew has taught me about money is that I’m privileged. A hurricane in Florida is nowhere near as devastating as a hurricane in Haiti where hundreds of people have died and thousands more are missing.
We have the best building code in the country. Our officials are prepared for when disaster strikes. The country has resources for states of emergency. We have so much technology to help us track storms and prepare for them in advance.
This in no way means that a natural disaster can’t be devastating in the U.S. (just look at Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans), it just means it’s unlikely whereas in Haiti a humanitarian disaster is almost always certain.
This Hurricane definitely has me thinking about how lucky I am to live in a first world country with vast resources. Other parts of the Caribbean are not so lucky and I could have easily been born somewhere else.
With that being said I’m going to use this post to keep a running list of Hurricane Matthew Relief efforts. If you have any others please send an email to support [at] AmandaAbella [dot] com or tweet me at @amandaabella.
Hurricane Matthew Relief Efforts
Here is a list of Hurricane Matthew relief efforts where you can donate time, money or goods. Some of these are working specifically with Haiti. Others are also working in Cuba, Jamaica, The Bahamas, and the U.S. Please send me others as you hear of them so we can add them to the list.
The Haitian-American Hurricane Matthew Haiti Relief
Love Him Love Them Ministries – Orphanage in Haiti. Their children’s choir is currently stranded in the U.S. and in need of toys.
Catholic Relief Services
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami
Operation Helping Hands
Food Aid
International Medical Corps
Tech Savvy Mama – Leticia of Tech Savvy Mama is traveling to Haiti and published a list of items she needs so that she can take them to Haiti in two weeks.
JP/HRO
Heifer International
Save the Children
Partners in Health
Mission of Hope Haiti
Hope for Haiti – Note: If you work out of Pipeline Workspaces in Ft. Lauderdale, they are collecting goods.
City of Miami Fire Stations – Fire stations in the City of Miami will be accepting certain items for Haiti relief efforts starting Saturday, October 8th. They need dry foods, diapers, baby food, powdered formula, and first-aid supplies.
The Miami Foundation – They have a list of charities that are on the ground in the Caribbean.
Sow a Seed – Miami drop off locations below. For those outside of Miami, you can donate online.
Thank you to my amazing community and network for sending these in! Keep them coming!
The post What Hurricane Matthew Can Teach Us About Money (Plus, Relief Effort Resources for Haiti and the Caribbean) appeared first on Amanda Abella | Make Money Your Honey.