Here's how COVID lockdown helped millennials save, and even pay off student loans
Donavon Brooks, founder of Storyline Financial Planning in St. Joseph, Missouri, says he plans for clients receiving any unexpected windfall. So when the government issued the first round of stimulus checks, Brooks knew who could shore up savings, who could eliminate high-interest debt, and who could contribute to local businesses impacted by lockdown orders.
Few of the conversations ever turned towards investing, he says.
“The way clients came to me, people were really worried about their initial savings and debt and what it means for them,” Brooks says. It also became a teachable moment for many people on how they use their discretionary budgets. “I got to have some pretty cool conversations about, ‘What do you actually need? What were you spending money on that you can do without now?’ Not that they have to cut it out all together, but they see the effect of just scaling it back.”