TWIN FALLS — While there are still many workers of all ages being laid off and some are still waiting for their unemployment benefits to start rolling in, one financial adviser here in Twin Falls says there's things we can do on a day to day basis to help us stay on our feet financially.
“Look at the expenses that you normally have. There’s definitely some monthly subscriptions that people have that maybe they don’t use. But definitely eating out less or trying to focus on a local business, that’s always a good thing," Dallas Hunt Financial Adviser for LPL Financial in Twin Falls, said.
LPL Financial has been receiving more phone calls in regards to whether or not people should sell their stocks. With the value in certain stocks declining, a lot of people believe they are losing money and want to sell the stocks they have, but Hunt says right now is not a good time to do that.
“We tell them not to sell because if you sell, you’re locking in a loss. So we try to help them to buy things that are good buys and that are going to help them grow so they’ll regain that money," Hunt said.
Although this should be used as a last resort, Hunt also says another option for people is taking out money from their retirement account. Usually people are penalized 10% when they take out money from their retirement account if they are under the age of 59. This year if anyone under that age takes money from their retirement account they will not be penalized.
"It’s not recommended to take money out of your retirement account because you want that to continue to grow,” Hunt said.
Hunt says now is a good time to speak with a financial adviser to get support.
“I think it’s kind of similar to having a doctor. A lot of people think they don’t need a doctor that they can just look online and see what is wrong with them, but the doctors are very trained. So it's a similar thing financial advisers have a lot of training,” Hunt said.
