I Believe In People
We have tremendous respect, love and appreciation…
We have tremendous respect, love and appreciation for all the wonderful people at the front lines fighting to keep us alive, those still working to provide for our sustainability, the government employees, scientists and others that are navigating a path forward while many hunker down to stop the spread. Thank you!!!
I spent the past week reaching out to my clients on the phone. It was wonderful to hear your voices and what you’ve been up to. Sounds like lots of home projects were finished, a few bottles of wine, and plenty of family/zoom time.
Own what you love before the bottom.
Early in this process I decided “Own What You Love Before the Bottom” would be my core investment approach. I concentrated on holding assets I believed could do well as we eventually emerge from crisis mode. I simultaneously built a conservative portfolio and an opportunistic portfolio (shorting the market), however I cautioned against taking either of those approaches. It was no secret that the market and economy were going to decline. The challenge was knowing how and when the market would respond to the inevitable trillions of dollars that the government and fed would raise to combat the losses.
There were two opposing forces since the early stage of Covid-19 - Contain (the disease) and Stimulate (the economy).
So far my “own what you love” approach has helped reduce the downside and appears to also make nice headway on the good days. I’m going to continue forward with that mantra knowing the challenges are far from over, and will concentrate on minor adjustments as necessary.
I believe in people, human ingenuity, compassion and the natural desire for life and productivity.
Opening the economy will be a long and laborious process. Conceivably it won’t be completely possible without a vaccine. We will see technological breakthroughs in early detection of disease, sharing of that information publicly and advancements in treatment before finally seeing a vaccine in 2021.
I’ve been following this website for weeks - HealthWeather. Kinsa is a thermometer company that pairs with an app on your phone. This gives them real time data on temperatures in the home. Not every household has a Kinsa, but I have found this to be a good leading indicator for the actual Covid-19 cases.
This website tracks cases in Oakland county by zip code. The government websites tend to display by county. However there can be great disparities within a county. Here’s one for the entire state of Illinois that sorts by zip code. I haven’t found an intuitive zip code site for the entire state of Michigan. I hope (assume) as we continue forward this type of information will be more robust and public.
The Federal Government yesterday announced a 3 phase approach to opening the economy, ultimately putting decision making at the state/local level. It looks like a thoughtful approach. Before opening in phase 1, a state must first meet the guidelines of downward trajectory of symptoms within a 14-day period, downward trajectory of documented cases or of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period and robust testing with treatment of patients. The guidelines can be found here.
The Federal and State governments have been in communication daily throughout the process and will likely adopt best practices as we see and learn from states transition into phase one as early as this coming week.
From a personal financial planning perspective.
I encourage you to use the remaining time of shut down to reflect on your finances and budgets. Here are some free resources on our website to help you get started. Take a look at what spending you aren’t doing compared to the past, and decide what expenses are worth the value of your labor. How did you feel financially? Were you content, worried, abundant? Is there something you wish you had done differently years ago with your money? Saved more? Now is a perfect opportunity to change and build a plan for the financial foundation you ultimately desire.
Here’s a short term no-brainer. We aren’t driving much and many households have multiple cars. Only drive one vehicle and take the insurance off the others, putting them into “storage” insurance mode.
I know things will look much different in the future because of what we are going through. The loss of life is unfathomable and I have no words sufficient to console. Going further beyond the deaths, there are obvious layers of suffering and hardship in the virus’s wake. What’s not so obvious, and quite possibly will be much more impactful, are all the good things that will come from this pandemic. Our worldwide human shutdown has brought pause to world pollution and provides an opportunity to measure that positive impact. The medical breakthroughs not only for Covid-19, but other disease and early detection will be with us forever. We are forced into a new way of doing business and some methods will emerge as superior to the old methods. Many have been blessed to spend time with our immediate household, and all have realized how important relationships are in our lives.
Thank you for allowing us the privilege of working for you. Call/email/zoom us anytime!