Coronavirus: A Brief Update on its Impact on my Life

Coronavirus has consumed our lives right now. There hasn’t been much movement on my personal finances since my last update, so I figured I’d give a brief update on the impact of the coronavirus on my life.

Work

I am thankfully still working. Several of my friends aren’t so lucky. Everyone at my place of employment who can work from home is doing so. I, along with a few others, are still reporting to our physical location. It has been stressful, to say the least. The combination of being near others and the increase in workload is taking a toll on all of us. But we are all thankful to be working, so there is some comfort in that. Driving to work in the morning is surreal. No other cars or buses. No people walking. The world truly is shut off now.

Home

As you can guess, we are spending a lot of time at home. My gym is closed. So are all the restaurants and bars in the area. So, we are occupying ourselves with Netflix. I have managed to do a few projects around the house and have spent some time out in the garage recently. Now that the weather is breaking, I’ll be cutting grass and tilling the garden soon. So at least I’ll have some yardwork to keep me busy should this continue.

As of the writing of this, my state is not under official lockdown. All non-essential businesses, however, are closed. I’m sure a full quarantine is coming, as all the surrounding states have done so. I’m still able to go to our cabin, and I’ve been heading there on weekends to get away and get some projects done. I was just there a few days ago, and it was nice to relax and clear my head.

Finances

As expected, my portfolio is taking a beating. I try not to think about it too much since there isn’t a lot that I can do about it anyway. I must keep reminding myself that I am in this for the long haul. Retirement is still a couple of decades away, and things will eventually recover. I’ve said this in previous updates, but now is not a time to panic and start selling. Stick to your plan and weather the storm.

I am not a big advocate of timing the market, but if there ever was a time to buy a few solid stocks at a discount, then this is probably the time to do it. I have been eyeing a few companies. I’ll let you know how that turns out should I pull the trigger on something.

Final Thoughts

It’s almost unbelievable what is going on right now. They say that this is a hundred-year event. We most likely won’t see anything like this again in our lifetimes. I hope all of you are hanging in there. If you’ve lost your jobs, I feel for you. Just know that we will recover from this and that our lives will be back to normal sooner rather than later.

There is currently a lot of talk going on about the coronavirus over at the Saving Advice forums. I encourage you to go check it out and join in on the conversation if you have questions about your investments or concerns about your health and safety.

Here is a link: https://www.savingadvice.com/forums/

Take care, everyone. Remember to check up on friends and family and do your part to social distance and avoid unnecessary trips out into public. We’ll all get through this together!

See Also: 

Top Causes of Poverty in the U.S.

How To Make The Debt Snowball Payment Strategy Work For You

Things to Look For When Investing in Small Cap Stocks

6 Tips To Better Manage Your Finances During These Wild Times