For many film and TV industry professionals, it’s getting increasingly hard to wait for the production rebound that was widely expected after the strikes by writers and actors ended . Cyd Wilson, executive director of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, said the foundation’s emergency fund was getting 100 applications for assistance per day at the height of the strike; it’s down to about 10 a day now. But the problems have spread, from members with limited incomes from acting to the profession’s working class, she said.
“We are now seeing people who have earned $100,000, $200,000 a year” applying for help, Wilson said. “Those people have gone through all of their savings, they’ve tapped into their 401(k)s.” Financial experts say that the best way to weather times like these is to have crafted a budget that helped you save while work was plentiful.
But it’s not too late to make some money moves, budget or no budget, that can help keep you going until production returns to normal. Here are some of the top suggestions for stretching dollars and ginning up extra income. Justin Pritchard , a certified financial planner in Montrose, Colo.
, said the first thing to do is to understand exactly what you’re spending your money on every month. “You may see some light bulbs go on or be surprised at where the money is going,” he said. “One of the most common mistakes,” said Paco de Leon , a personal finance expert, author and host of the “Weird Finance” podcast, “.