Posts to Focus On
How Much Should I Be Saving? The Covid crisis taught us that no one is truly immune. Make sure you are saving a good amount of money to keep your family financially secure.
100% Stocks? Even with the Covid crisis, the world in lockdown, and all the scary things going on, my allocation is unchanged. I "lost" about $40k, but did not sell out or change my allocation, and my portfolio already bounced back shockingly fast - and then some. I don't understand, because the pandemic is still going on and we still have people waiting in food lines, but there it is.
Your Debt is Dragging You Down. If you're one of the people who was able to continue their jobs or find new work, pay it off. The huge job loss wave made it clear that anything can happen.
Thoughts
My father and stepmother were in the hospital with Covid, but they thankfully are recovering. I am grateful to be fully employed and fully remote, as is my husband. My frugal box has been reduced to our house, but it's a beautiful safe space and I have finished multiple projects. I don't explore the world without a mask, but I have had fun matching my masks to my outfit for my grocery store runs. Family planning has been put on hold indefinitely, but it gives us more time as a couple. Our stocks took a turn for the worse early on but are already back at their pre-Covid levels (and then some, as we continued to invest). We started HelloFresh to reduce grocery store trips and add some variety, and it has been a lot of fun and sufficiently replaced our desire to go out to restaurants. Our cleaning person is also self-isolating, so she continues to come every other Friday while we take our laptops to the lannai. Our lawn and pool cleaning schedules are unchanged. It's not fair when others are struggling, but I'm thankful and grateful for the privilege we have.
I've been extremely fortunate in that we are able to help our community during this time. I have been upcycling old newspaper boxes for use throughout the city as lending libraries, spreading brand new books and donated books throughout them. As of now, I have placed over 70 boxes in 62 locations. Interviews were done by Tampa Bay Times, Fox 13, ABC and NBC. We put about $1,400 of our own funds into the project now. If you feel inspired, donations are keeping our project going.
I hope you all are staying safe, staying healthy, and doing the right thing for your family. There are no right answers, only the reality we face.