In a time of a pandemic, people withdraw in order to social distance to protect themselves against infection. The industries that rely on people interacting in close proximity—the service industries, air travel, and other fields—lose their customers almost overnight, and then they lose their employees. Money and jobs become much more scarce almost simultaneously. Meanwhile, saddled with debt and scarce emergency savings, with a pandemic dragging on now for over a year, with dysfunctional government and little stimulus, many Americans are struggling with debt, homelessness, hunger, pressured social relationships, and other challenges. This work explores some available and recent peer-to-peer personal finance advice on the Social Web (in English) on several social platforms to assess their applicability in a challenging historical moment.
Does short-term emergency savings translate into longer-term financial wellness?
