More Money Podcast - Special Episode - Financial Relief in the U.S. - Erin Lowry, Author of Broke Millennial & Broke Millennial Takes on Investing

Episode Date: April 9, 2020

Since so much is going on and many of you listening are looking for some financial relief during this pandemic, I thought I would do another special episode with my pal Erin Lowry who is a money expert in the U.S. and the author of Broke Millennial and Broke Millennial Takes on Investing. Erin has been hard at work compiling a number of resources in a massive Google spreadsheet (link below) to help you during these uncertain times, and she joins me in this episode to share what you need to know about applying for unemployment insurance and getting your stimulus check if you're living the U.S. Unemployment Insurance Department of Labor website: https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/unemployment-insurance Career One Stop website: https://www.careeronestop.org/ Stimulus Check https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/economic-impact-payments-what-you-need-to-know Broke Millennial's Coronavirus/Recession Relief Hub https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13OdpUwbi_VytzS4trSsGx25FxElrozbegPZK8KnSLpU/edit#gid=141836046 Support Erin & Buy Her Books Broke Millennial Broke Millennial Takes on Investing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to the Mo Money Podcast. This is a special episode because we're still in this pandemic and there's a lot to know. And one thing I realized being Canadian is that, well, number one, I have a ton of amazing American listeners. Thank you so much. But also, I'm not an expert when it comes to what's going on down south. So I wanted to bring an expert, my friend, Erin Lowry. She is the author of Broke Millennial and Broke Millennial Takes on Investing. And I have her on the show so she can explain what are some of the things going on in the US financial relief programs. And also she has an amazing document that she made herself. It's a

Google spreadsheet that anyone can access. And I will share the link in a moment. But it has a ton of different tabs and resources to do with pretty much anything you can think of. So there's financial relief and money advice, food where you can find it, job leads, because there are still some companies, obviously mainly like tech or online companies that are hiring. Shelter, if you're looking for that. Mental health resources. Charitable giving. Education for adults and kids.

Oh my gosh, there's even tabs for fitness if you want to get fit. Entertainment news. There's so much in this amazing document. And also I want to pick her brain about what's going on and what are some important things you need to know about, you know, say, you know, getting your stimulus check or applying for unemployment insurance in the US. So I hope you enjoy this special episode. Welcome back to the Momenty Podcast, Erin. Well, thanks for having me back. We don't get to be in person this time, which is a bummer. I know. I know. That was fun. Man, that's actually now that brings me back because that

was last May that we had our event together. Holy crap. A lot has happened last year. April 9th will be one year anniversary for Book 2 for Broken Window Takes on Investing. So yeah, I've been very nostalgic about that whole, you know, this time last year I was traveling around America and then came up to Canada and I could get on a plane. Life was very different this time last year. I know. And it's one of those things too. I'm like, lately I've been like, wow, we didn't realize that life was so good. I know.

Oh, well. Yeah. Anyways, not to bring everybody down. This is all about informing. So I wanted to have you on the show because you're American. And so you can speak to some of the great resources that you've compiled in this amazing spreadsheet over here that I will share with you listeners. But basically, a lot of people right now are losing jobs or are freaking out and don't know where to go. So you created this amazing document of all these amazing resources of financial relief and advice and all this kind of stuff. So I want to kind of talk

about, because I'm not an expert when it comes to American finance. I've been watching the news, but I find it very confusing. Let's kind of start with an easy one. If someone has been laid off because of COVID-19, are there kind of relief programs available to them? There are. So yeah, to clarify again, I'm an American, live in New York. So speaking from the American perspective, yes, you do have options. Now it's delightfully fun and confusing for us because unemployment varies by state. Now the CARE Act, which is the big relief stimulus relief package that the government just enacted, has kind of modified pretty much across the board a lot of the unemployment options. So now contractors, freelancers, gig workers are eligible depending on circumstances. Like I personally haven't found that I'm able to apply for anything because technically I can still earn money with writing and I'm making a little bit of money.

It also depends on the tax structure. Are you an LLC? Are you an escort? Like there's just a lot. So you should definitely apply. A, if you have lost your job as a direct result of COVID-19 or before, please apply for unemployment. Apply for unemployment now. As soon as you stop listening to this, because a couple of reasons. One,

they're getting very backlogged very quickly. It might take you hours to get through and get your application in because the websites are a bit archaic and very overloaded right now, obviously with submissions. But the other big reason too, is because it can take weeks under normal circumstances to get your first check. So now we're thinking about the massive amount of increase in people applying hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people. We're going to tip into millions pretty quickly here. So you want to make sure to apply soon so that, you know, if we're recording this in April, it could take you until mid-May, possibly, to get your first check. And where would people, like, because I have no clue, where do they go to apply for EI? Okay, I'm actually pulling up my grid to make sure I get this address.

Because it's like, is it because you said it's different state by state, so there's different places to go? There are, but it's aggregated very conveniently. So if you go to the Department of Labor's website, they will direct you on where to go. They have a whole thing about how do I file for unemployment insurance. And then on that website, they will send you a link to, it's called like One Step or Career Step. And from there, you can fill out like this is the state I'm in, this is my employment status, and then that is going to direct you exactly to the website you need. Or you could go straight to your state's unemployment insurance website. But one thing is, please, please, please, no matter what you're doing in all of this, make sure you're going directly to sources as opposed to clicking links that you get via email that you see on social

media. So many scams are starting to pop up. So you just want to be really, really careful about who you're giving all of this sensitive information to. Just popping in here after I recorded this episode with Erin because there was a bit of glitchiness when I was recording it. So the website she was saying is the U.S. Department of Labor website is dol.gov. To go to the page that she was mentioning where it says, how do I file for unemployment insurance? It's dol.gov slash general slash topic slash unemployment dash insurance. But when I just simply Googled Department of Labor USA. The website, the U.S. Department of Labor website came up.

And as kind of one of the options, you know, when it kind of pulls up like, oh, some of these pages in the Google kind of page search page, unemployment insurance popped up. So you can find it there. And once you get to that page, then when it says, am I eligible? There is a link where it's like, find details of your own state's program. And that's where it'll take you to careeronestop.org. And now back to my interview with Erin. And that is secure. It is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. And on that site is when you can select your state and then get details of exactly where to go to apply for unemployment benefits. So besides that, which

great, everyone look into it if you're applicable or you're eligible. This other thing that's been in the news is a stimulus check. What the heck is this? So this is money that the US government is sending out the way that it's going to happen. You do not have to do anything. You do not have to apply for it. They're basing it off of your most recent tax returns. So for some people, that's 2018. For some people, that's 2019, depending on if you've filed. And just a note, the deadlines for both state and federal have been pushed to July 15th. So if you haven't done it yet, or if you made less money in 2018 than 2019, so you want that to be the return they're using. You are free to do that. There's nothing illegal about doing that. So what the government is doing is sending $1,200 per eligible

adult in the household and there are income caps. So if you make 70, let me make sure I get this right. Believe it's $75,000 or less as a single filer, you are eligible for the full amount. And if you make $150,000 as a married couple filing jointly with no dependents, no children, you make $2,400 or get $2,400. Now that starts to phase out. For married couples filing jointly, the phase out number I believe is $198,000. So if you as a couple earn more than that, and this is your adjusted gross income. So to get real technical, if you look at the tax return that you filed, it's form 1040. I think there's a letter behind it. I am not a CPA or a tax attorney, but the line should be 8B. You should see on there, the term is AGI,

adjusted gross income. That's the amount that they're using, not like your base salary. So once you consider things like putting money into retirement accounts or any sort of tax referrals, that amount. And if you have a child that is under the age of 16, you get an extra 500 bucks for the kid. I couldn't tell you why they picked the age of 16, to be honest. It might be because you can work, but obviously no one can really work right now. So like you can really go to McDonald's and get a job. Yeah. So I don't know, uh, all the ins and outs of why that number, um, the way the checks are coming out. If you have before paid your taxes or gotten a refund, a tax refund via direct deposit into your bank account, and they have that information,

that's how you're going to get it. If not, they are sending out paper checks. However, recent stuff has come out. They expect there could be up to a five month delay on a paper check. Whoa. Because of the millions and millions and millions of checks are going to have to send out. So there are ways for you pending. There are supposed to be ways that you can apply to get your funds deposited electronically. The treasury department has stated

that it is going to develop a website for you to be able to go in and put that information. I come back to this topic of scams because Lord knows that is something people are going to try to profit on. So make sure that you either go directly to the Treasury Department's website or directly to IRS.gov for being able to get links for that and send out that or submit that information to get your check deposited electronically. You'll get it faster, but please don't get scammed out of all of your personal information. Yikes. The scams is real. I know there were some scams up here, but I don't think there is probably prevalent as what's going on in the US. I just think that there's... I've only heard about a handful, mostly to do with utilities companies, actually, because they were some of the early ones to offer relief. But what I'm really worried about, and I actually got one of the scams emailed to me, interestingly. But what I'm really worried about is the number that are going to pop up as people start to get both their unemployment benefits as well as the stimulus relief check.

Yep. So be careful. One other great thing about the document that you've created is it doesn't just talk about the things that we talked about, but also has resources about if you need food, what are some programs that have that? I love this. There's a whole document about job leads. So even though we've been talking about there's not a lot of jobs, there are still some jobs. And if you can, might as well look for a job. I even up here in Canada, I saw, I think it was Shopify had a thing on their Twitter being like, we are hiring. I'm like, yeah, if you can do, I mean, I was not looking for myself, but I was just curious, like, what kind of jobs? I'm like, oh, I'm not a programmer. So I have no idea what those jobs mean. But there are some jobs to

be out there. Do you want to kind of share maybe, yeah, like how did you develop this? I think this is such an important resource. And it's funny because you can see there's like 16 people at this moment in there right now. Check it out. I know. It's fun because it's been up. I've seen up to like 100 or so people and depending on the time of day and if somebody has recently shared it. I also need to get in and update it again because there's just been so much that's come through and happened.

With the job leads thing specifically, I will say, think about who is still working in this version of our economy. So deliveries are still happening as well as grocery stores are open, essential workers, and they've been so overloaded that, and I say this with, if you are healthy, if you are not autoimmune, you don't have an autoimmune disease or immunocompromised, if you are in an age demographic that is considered a lower risk, those are the scenarios that you might want to be considering doing these jobs because you're still at risk, obviously. And I do think that it's important to also acknowledge, you know, there's been a lot of love for the healthcare workers and very deservedly so,

but also people who are doing very essential things like delivering Amazon packages, working in the grocery stores, working at your local pharmacy. Like these people are all also putting their lives at risk in a lot of ways. So huge thank you to them, but also for those who are in either like so desperately need to make the money right now and you're not eligible for maybe relief programs or something is happening where it's just a very, very desperate need. That is one thing to consider. There are also things on here in terms of recruiting jobs. Your local grocery store might be hiring. Chains are hiring nationwide.

Amazon added over 100,000 new full and part-time positions across the U.S. at fulfillment centers. Walmart was hiring. I also included a few different job leads or temp working. And a lot of them have been doing placements for call centers. So those are things you can do remotely in the safety of your own home. I would also say anyone who is a writer, I know there's been a lot of places are freezing their budgets and all of that. And while it's true, there actually still are gigs out there. So applying for or signing up rather, I should say, for newsletters like

Study Hall or Opportunities of the Week, things like that, where all of this stuff is aggregated into one easy to find location for you. Nice. That's amazing. There's also, which I think is so helpful, a resource that lists out different things for mental health, because I think everyone's having an issue with their mental health right now, every single person on this planet. So I know a lot of people are looking for some resources and there's some great apps and organizations. You want to kind of talk a little bit about that? Absolutely. Well, one that I actually just found out about creating this is called Crisis Text Line. And so obviously one of the big concerns right now, too, in addition to all of us having, you know, our own mental health struggles through this experience,

is anyone who is also experiencing any sort of domestic violence from being isolated and quarantined at home. So please be sure to be able to contact whether it's domestic help hotlines. There are a very variety of sources, but you want to make sure that you're doing that in a safe way where it's not going to provoke perhaps the person who is perpetuating the abuse in the household. Crisis Text Line is also a really good option where you can text and the number is 741-741. And it starts as a bit of an automated back and forth before they connect you with a real person. But if you can't get on the phone, especially texting back and forth is an option for you too. And it's not just about abuse. It's any sort of mental health crisis that you're experiencing. The other big one that I like to point out in here is we haven't really

seen a whole lot of coverage of this, but people who are struggling with sobriety now is also a very vulnerable time as well. And, you know, AA has actually taken their meetings to being online. So you can find those resources. And I have a link in here to a spreadsheet of the AA online meetings. So really no matter where you're located, you can find one to join as well. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like, especially right now, just cause you know, when you're at home and I've been seeing a ton of memes and like, you know, videos, people just joking, Oh, I just drink all day. I'm like, this must be very hard for someone who struggles with that on a regular basis. So that's amazing that they're doing that online for people that need it. And there's another section all about charitable giving because there are some of us that are privileged enough that our jobs are secure,

we have money in the bank, we're not as financially affected. This is a great time to give back because people and organizations really need it. It is. And I would also say too, this website specifically talks a lot about the big national organizations and some on a very more local level, depending, and please submit ideas if you have ideas. So everything from like Donor's Choice to City Meals,

Meals on Wheels, Feeding America, Freelancer Relief Fund, all sorts of different things. But, and I want to come back to that stimulus check. If you are somebody who has a very stable job, you have a healthy emergency savings fund, and you're still eligible for a stimulus check, and you might be thinking, I don't really need it, quote unquote, please either donate or and or put it into your local economy. So whether that means ordering takeout, if you're comfortable doing that, or making an online purchase at a local boutique, or just some way to also at your very local,

local level, try to be stimulating your economy. Absolutely. Or supporting people like us who are self-employed and create a lot of free content, which is, yeah, now I'm going to pitch because you have two amazing books and I know you have a third one on the way in the fall or 2021. Is it going to be this year or next year? Well, you know. We'll see. We'll see. Tentatively the end of this year, but kind of also depending on where things stand with the world, it might be 2021. Okay. So we'll keep our eyes out for that.

But you, of course, have your first book, Broke Millennial. And Broke Millennial takes on investing, which is where we met and had that amazing event, which you can actually still listen to the podcast interview if you want to listen to me and Erin's interview or the recording of the event. But two books that I highly recommend you take out from, you can take them out virtually. If you don't want to leave your house, you can take them out virtually or buy them virtually. So this is the time to, I think, you know, do some reading, guys. You can. And you could probably buy it from your local indie bookstore and then shop local. And it's a win-win.

Yeah, exactly. It's a win-win. So there we go. Thanks so much, Erin, for being on the show and sharing. I will, is there like a short link to get to this? Like a little like brokemillennial.com slash something? Well, it is on my website, actually. There is a landing page on brokemillennial.com. It's the most recent post on the website. And then also I have it pinned to the top of my Twitter, brokemillennial on Twitter.

I share, it's in my link tree on Instagram. And I will also send you like a pretty link. That's not like the really crazy long Google link. And for anyone listening to, and I will make sure to reshare on all of my socials and I'll send them to Jessica to put in the show notes. But on the very front page of this document as well, where it says start here, you'll also see there's a link to submit tips. So if you have tips and ideas for things that need to be in this document, especially as everything in the world is changing, it feels like at the speed of light every single day, please submit them because I love keeping this as current as possible.

And you're also taking donations, paypal.me slash Broke Millennial, and you're going to donate 50% to charitable causes and the broke millennial community, which I think is awesome. So again, if you got that stimulus check or you got some money to help and spread around and share, there we go. There's an opportunity for you guys. Yeah, I'm excited to be running some giveaways very, very soon. Yes, yes. Awesome. Well, thanks for taking the time to chat with me. It's such a helpful resource. Make sure to check it out. I will share a link in the outro that I record after this when we have this special link that you'll get to find out. But also check out her books. They're great. Thanks so much for chatting with me again, Erin. Thanks for having me back. Always a good time. Okay. So first and foremost, I want to share that special link. She sent it to me. It is tinyurl.com slash brokemillennialcovid19resource.

Once again, tinyurl.com slash brokemillennialcovid19resource. But as she mentioned, it is pinned on her Twitter account. You can find her at Broke Millennial. I've also shared it on my Twitter account. And yeah, that's where you can find it. And also depending on where you're listening, I'm going to include it in the description of this episode so you can easily find it and check it out yourself because a lot of great resources that she took the time to compile. Really great job that she did. And also make sure to lend your support to Erin because she's awesome and puts out so many great, uh, articles and resources and, you know,

of course has some amazing books. So, um, you can check out actually all my book recommendations on my website, jessicamorehouse.com slash recommendations, or just go on Amazon or, or your, like she mentioned, um, your local, uh, bookstore to support local businesses to check out and get copies of her books or get them from a library or whatever. But show her some love because she's amazing and doing some really, really great work. Anyways, thank you so much for listening. I'm going to be back here tomorrow with a special Money Minute episode. I want to share what's going on in Canada. What are some relief programs here? What's Curb all about? And what are some things that you need to know as a Canadian?

So thanks for joining me for this special episode. I will see you back here tomorrow for another episode. Have a good rest of your day. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.