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Finance

Consumer Spending Habits Changed Due to Covid-19

The first COVID-19 wave brought businesses to a standstill across all states and now the second wave seems to have worse effects. More people are shopping online to stay safe and for the convenience it offers.

The traditional methods of buying are changing and consumers are engaging in safer and faster channels of buying that require minimal or no cash transactions at all.

Strategic consumer spending

One of the major ways COVID-19 is spread is through contact. Hard cash can be an easy way of spreading the disease to millions of people. As a stay safe precaution, consumers are moving away from cash transitions and leaning more towards soft cash transactions. Online transitions are taking shape across many sectors and even gamblers are turning to casinos online to place their bets.

The COVID-19 pandemic increased the number of people who stayed at home either working from home, waiting for schools to re-open, or just searching for online opportunities.

As a result, consumers have reduced spending on some goods and increased spending on others. The necessities like groceries and other household needs like toiletries and laundry needs have remained steady and in some cases increased as people stock more to avoid visiting the local store more often.

Other business categories like gyms, eateries, hotels, and nightclubs have recorded a decrease in business unlike before when the sectors recording steadfast business. This has raised the need to look for ways to increase business profits either by providing home service for the hostility sector or online gym exercises.

Rapid growth in online retailing 

After the restricted movements were relaxed, physical store shopping recorded an increase in retail shoppers, but the greatest boom was recorded in online retail shopping.

According to statistics, online sales in 2020 amounted to over $209 billion drawn from about 69% of US citizens who shopped online in the second half of 2020. The number is expected to rise in 2021 and hit about 300 million online shoppers by 2023. This is evidence to why there is increased online activity in the online casinos.

What is selling most and least

The stay at home rules gave a plus to some goods and a minus to others. The top sellers in the list are disinfectants, soap, and other household cleaning agents which recorded an above 100 percent increase.

Health supplements is a boom as well as coffee and online gambling are major winners. The main losers are cosmetics and sun care products which dropped by 25 percent.

Investing with copy trade

If you’ve never used copy trading in order to earn a profit as an investor, you’ve come to the right place. Simply continue reading in order to discover what copy trading is and how you can effectively use copy trading as an investing strategy, in order to make a lucrative profit. As copy trading is a great investment strategy which can easily be used by experienced investors as well as amateur investors.

Each time that you copy trade, you’ll opt to copy some of the upcoming trades of a more experienced investor. Or an investor who you believe will make a profit and whose investment moves you’re comfortable following.

What are some of the benefits of copy trading?

The biggest advantage of copy trading is that you’ll be able to follow the lead of investment experts who have made a living for an extended period of time by trading shares. If you want to be able to follow some of the trades of individuals who have proven that they have a natural knack for reading the stock market, it’s well worth experimenting with copy trading. If the investor who you copy trades for is successful and makes a profit, you’ll also make a profit.

You don’t have to choose an investor to copy trade blindly:

If you’re concerned that finding the right investors to copy trade may be a difficult, tedious process, think again. Each individual investor’s profile will feature important stats, such as how much profit they have made each month, over the last two years. So you’ll be able to find investors to follow who have a proven track record and bring in sizable profits on a consistent basis.

You’ll also be able to find investors to follow who specialize in investing in certain sectors and industries. For an example, if you’re interested in investing primarily in tech companies, you’ll be able to search for possible investors to follow, who are also passionate about investing in the tech sector.

Are you interested in letting other individuals copy your trade?

You may wonder why any investor in their right mind will allow strangers to copy some of their trades. The reason why so many investors have jumped on board is that, each time that an individual chooses to copy their trade, they’ll receive a small commission. So it’s a win win situation. If you think that you have what it takes to bring in a profit 9 months out of 12 months, you may want to set yourself a long term goal of becoming a trader who individuals around the world can copy.

So if you’re a keen investor and are interested in experimenting with copy trading, it’s well worth putting your money where your mouth is and investing a small amount in copying a trusted trader’s open trades. As you’ll be able to invest with copy trade in South Africa!

 

7 Finance Tips

If you’re interested in increasing your net worth and taking control of your finances, simply continue reading to discover 7 must-read finance tips.

7 Finance tips:

1. Minimize your debts

The first step which you should take in order to take control of your finances is to make a concentrated effort to decrease your debts.

2. Consider consolidating your debts into a single loan

If you want to decrease the amount of interest which you pay on your loans, it may be a wise idea to consolidate all of your current loans into a single loan. As an example, if you currently have a car loan and two credit card loans, it’s a great idea to consolidate all three loans into a single loan. By consolidating your loans, you should decrease the interest which you’ll pay by several hundred dollars per year.

If you have loans which total tens of thousands of dollars, you should be able to save thousands of dollars in interest by the time you pay off your loan.

3. Pay off more than the minimum monthly amount, off your credit card

Many individuals make the mistake of paying off the minimum amount off their credit card each month. However, it’s a far better idea to pay off larger chunks of any credit card debt which you may have accumulated.

In the long term, your goal should be to pay off any money which you spend on your credit cards, before the end of the month. That way, you will enjoy the convenience of being able to use a credit card to shop online, without spending money that you don’t have.

4. Sign up for a debit card

If you’d rather stop using credit cards altogether, it’s a smart idea to sign up for a debit card. As a debit card can be used anywhere where credit cards can be used but only utilize your own money.

5. Make sure to start regular contributions to your retirement fund

No matter whether you’re in your early twenties or you’re in your late fifties, it’s a smart idea to work on making regular contributions to your retirement fund. To ensure that you’ll be able to enjoy a comfortable standard of living in your twilight years.

6. Check your individual credit report

It’s well worth taking a look at your credit report. As if your credit score is low, you may want to start taking action to increase your credit card score. Especially if you plan on applying for a home mortgage in the future.

7. Work out your net worth

To discover your net worth, which is a great indication of your current financial status, simply add up your assets such as investments, savings, and cash and deduct your liabilities from the total worth of your assets, in order to discover your net worth.

If your net worth isn’t as high as you had hoped, simply work on decreasing your debts and increasing your assets, in order to increase your net worth.

If you follow the 7 tips listed above, you should be able to take control of your financial future and to increase your net worth, in no time at all.