MMMers.... Show me your outrageous optimism!

[Jimbo]

Alright MMMers... Time to get out the optimism gun! Panic in the news, stock market going crazy, even the very weird call for public execution of quarantine breakers. I would expect these things from news sources pandering to the masses. And yet I sense panic even on this very forum!

I am personally super ready to move on, and it is reassuring to know that our ADHD news cycle will find something else soon. My bets are around spring/summer time. In the meantime, it is best to ignore the news and carry on as usual.

I am personnally super reassured that this flu is a 'typical' flu, not an atypical flu like the Spanish flu or the H1N1. Those were deadly amongst the young and healthy - unlike these typical flus.

Anybody else wants to chime in with some optimism?

[Jimbo]

Well, the fact no one wants to be optimistic about this is definitely in line with the news...

Sheesh, this too, of course, shall pass...

Time to go back under the rock, I guess.

[Just Joe]

I'm optimistic that a bunch of us will get a little time off to practice being retire or to do spring projects. Yeah, this virus shall pass. 

[dougules]

This is a good idea for a thread.  Thanks.

It sounds like China is really turning things around. 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china/chinas-coronavirus-epicenter-sees-single-digit-cases-for-first-time-idUSKBN20Z046

[Boofinator]

There's a good chance we'll be able to reduce long-term costs for Social Security and Medicare? Yay?

[dignam]

China has drastically curbed new cases of COVID-19.  We just have to follow suit.

We'll figure it out, be more prudent, then the media will find something else to harp on.

Summer is coming!  We've had a few teases of 50 and 60 degree weather.  Winter just tends to last about a month too long up here...

[DadJokes]

Big Ern (earlyretirementnow.com) often says that the best thing that can happen to an investor is a large downturn early in their investing lifetime. Between that and the fact that my work will allow 100% teleworking in the event of an outbreak here, I have plenty to be optimistic about.

[Jimbo]

There's a good chance we'll be able to reduce long-term costs for Social Security and Medicare? Yay?

I guess, if that comforts you... But it seems like a super dark reason to celebrate. Not the optimism I was expecting!

Are you normally this worried about elders dying from the flu? Hundreds of thousands of them die from the flu every year... Sure, it might be more than usual this year and of course it does suck.

All I am trying to say is that we will get over this and panic is not helping.

[Boofinator]

There's a good chance we'll be able to reduce long-term costs for Social Security and Medicare? Yay?

I guess, if that comforts you... But it seems like a super dark reason to celebrate. Not the optimism I was expecting!

Are you normally this worried about elders dying from the flu? Hundreds of thousands of them die from the flu every year... Sure, it might be more than usual this year and of course it does suck.

All I am trying to say is that we will get over this and panic is not helping.

Sure, we (as a species) will get over this. Just like Europe got over the plague.*

I have lots of reasons to be optimistic in my life, but the coronavirus is not one of them.

*Not making a direct comparison between the coronavirus and the plague, just illustrating that a pandemic that could literally decimate the elderly population this year if things aren't brought under control is probably not something to be optimistic about. This is not the flu.

[maizefolk]

I'm looking forward to the reason to work from home for a few weeks or few months if-and-when it comes. Planning to do more gardening than I have in years. Getting off the constant treadmill of travel for work a couple times a month for a reason completely outside my control is also good.

That said:

I am personnally super reassured that this flu is a 'typical' flu, not an atypical flu like the Spanish flu or the H1N1. Those were deadly amongst the young and healthy - unlike these typical flus.

Just to be clear, this outbreak isn't a typical flu, because it isn't a flu at all. Coronaviruses and influenza (the viruses that cause the flu) are both RNA viruses, but that's like saying I'm a vertebrate and an axolotl is a vertebrate.

This particular coronavirus is related to other coronaviruses that cause SARS (deadly), MERS (extremely deadly), and the common cold (not deadly at all).

[Jimbo]

Point taken - this is not a flu. This is more dangerous.

And yet this too shall pass. The mortality rate will be revised to a lower value in 6 months once the dust settles and more data is available.

It will suck for a while.

Things will be better.

Spring is just around the corner.

[driftwood]

The weather is getting nicer. I'm always looking for opportunities to explore CO by motorcycle and on foot, and it looks like I'll get more chances soon.

If we shut down where I work to and all-work-from-home situation, I'll have about an hour of work to do each day, in the morning. Then it's off on my own into the mountains where social distancing is the norm. I'll also get to stop shaving daily, which is pretty fucking awesome.

In a few months I stop paying alimony which is like a $12k annual raise, after taxes.

My kids are at really fun ages and we're going to have loads of quality time this summer!

Also, Iran shot missiles at me this year and I didn't die... so I'm pretty fucking optimistic about that.

[Jimbo]

The weather is getting nicer. I'm always looking for opportunities to explore CO by motorcycle and on foot, and it looks like I'll get more chances soon.

If we shut down where I work to and all-work-from-home situation, I'll have about an hour of work to do each day, in the morning. Then it's off on my own into the mountains where social distancing is the norm. I'll also get to stop shaving daily, which is pretty fucking awesome.

In a few months I stop paying alimony which is like a $12k annual raise, after taxes.

My kids are at really fun ages and we're going to have loads of quality time this summer!

Also, Iran shot missiles at me this year and I didn't die... so I'm pretty fucking optimistic about that.

That was amazing! Sounds pretty great indeed.

[turketron]

My company has enacted mandatory WFH globally though at least the beginning of April. Looking forward to getting to sleep in a bit later each day, and it's easier fit in a few more chores around the house (easy to throw in a load of laundry between meetings) plus some other stuff that normally I get around to on weekends, like baking bread that takes hours/days to proof but very little active work. Also, our jobs are pretty flexible so it's kinda nice being able to duck out at 10am to grab some groceries if I don't have any meetings or urgent/time-sensitive work to be done.  That being said, I might have a completely different attitude 3 weeks from now, I might be stir crazy and dying to be back in the office, haha!

[GuitarStv]

Maybe the economic slowdown from coronavirus will be large enough to help the planet withstand global warming for a couple years.

[secondcor521]

1.  It has been a great buying opportunity for me so far.  I've moved from 93% stocks to 95% stocks over the past two weeks, including today.  This gets me closer to my long term asset allocation, gives me something to do rather than fret, and it also gets me to a nice round AA (95/5 just feels better than 93/7 or 97/3).

2.  I managed to book two trips this past Sunday using far fewer miles and points than I normally would have to.  There are great sales going on because of all the fear in the airline and cruise industries.  Added bonus is that I get one fee-free flight change if I want it.

3.  My daughter has collected so much in college scholarships that I won't have enough OOP expenses to take full advantage of the American Opportunity Tax Credit.  I'll probably use the LLC for her for her first year.  This also means that the college funds I had saved will not need to be used, and my kids will get more leftover money when they graduate.  (And, she's still up for more scholarships this spring where she may end up literally getting paid to go to college.)

4.  My son is interviewing right now for a good-paying job with a great local company, nine months before he graduates.  I think he's got a very good chance of a job offer in the next few days.

5.  The weather's nice, I'm healthy, and the gym isn't very crowded these days, so I get to use the treadmill nearest the CNBC TV most days.  (I don't consider any of what shows up on CNBC to be actionable, but it keeps me up to date on the major happenings of the day financially speaking.)

There's probably more, that's just off the top of my head.

[Dogastrophe]

Weather is getting better (slowly).

Our tax return hit bank today which I transferred into our TFSA's and made a stock buy after lunch.  In hindsight I would have waited an hour or so and the price has dropped since.  Meh. 

Taking a long weekend vacation with wife starting tomorrow morning.  Not going far - couple hours up road.  Looking forward to getting away for a couple nights. 

My old dog took 1st prize in a dog show (not really ... we found the ribbon on the floor of a dog show we went to on the weekend but at 15 years old, he's still our #1)

[Captain FIRE]

Hmmm. 

We are no longer sitting on an enormously unreasonable pile of cash because we invested it the past few weeks....regrettably before the latest dives this week

I was part of the rare few approved to work from home for now...because no one knows the effects on immune compromised pregnant women, though they have seen some adverse infant outcomes

My son is going to get his wish for "at home" days instead of "at school" days...as we are likely to pull him from the petri dish called daycare and have grandma watch him for a few days before she flies out to visit the other grandkids, to try to delay me getting the virus.

This prompted me to call my grandma...who is 96 years old, medically frail, likely to blow away with the wind, and thinks she'll go to h3ll if she misses the large crowd gathering location called mass.

More bonding time with my folks....who have agreed to watch my son when daycare inevitably closes, when it's convenient with their schedule.  I'm sure 2+ weeks of living with parents/in-laws will be FUN!

My job is secure...because I work for state govt in health care, in a union, and a lot of people were hired after me.


So yeah, it's hard to be optimistic given the major impact to life or wishing others ill (e.g. cheeky SS/Medicare fix above).  If you have no one elderly/immune compromised/with medical conditions that you care about, you probably are going to find this a lot easier to blithely dismiss the seriousness of it, than those of us who do.

[OtherJen]

Um...this whole mess sucks. It isn't a flu. It is more akin to the SARS of 17 years ago, except much, much more contagious.

But you wanted positives, so:

I work from home, so that's a plus for social distancing.

My hospice volunteer org, community choir, the city council, public libraries, and local museums are all taking social distancing seriously by cancelling or postponing events and meetings.

Our city library system signed up for the Hoopla system, so we have access to that and Libby while we're holing up in our house.

I have enough yarn to make a few sweaters so again, something to do during social distancing.

The other manager at husband's store is horribly sick (fever, chills, hacking cough) so there may be an opportunity for overtime if husband doesn't also get sick.

I did my regular Costco stock-up last week, so we have plenty of toilet paper. I think we can easily avoid a trip to the grocery store until maybe Monday morning, when we'll need some produce.

[Sanitary Stache]

I am getting only green lights to quit my job and start my own consulting company.

[Boofinator]

So yeah, it's hard to be optimistic given the major impact to life or wishing others ill (e.g. cheeky SS/Medicare fix above).  If you have no one elderly/immune compromised/with medical conditions that you care about, you probably are going to find this a lot easier to blithely dismiss the seriousness of it, than those of us who do.

To be clear, I wasn't wishing anybody ill, and I do have elderly relatives that I care about. Yes, my comment was cheeky*, but only to stress the point that this thing is deadly serious (enough to make a dent in the federal budget for those two programs).

*Oddly, using the word cheeky feels cheeky.

[Jimbo]

It does suck particularly on the immuno compromised... And I wish all of them to be able to avoid this mess. I have pregnant women and infants in my circle and am avoiding them until further notice. Also planning to do that with the elderly in my circle - this is proving harder as they do not seem to want to isolate.

[Michael in ABQ]

My wife is a stay-at-home mom so if Spring Break turns into an extended closure of school she will be fine with the kids.

Meanwhile I'm in a relatively remote location and there's no confirmed cases within hundreds of miles.

By the time I go home I expect all of this to have blown over and to have picked up a bunch of stocks with tax free money on the cheap.

[marty998]

Maybe the economic slowdown from coronavirus will be large enough to help the planet withstand global warming for a couple years.

There must be adults in China who have never seen a blue sky before in their lifetimes.

Life is still able to go on without all those polluting factories.

[Captain FIRE]

So yeah, it's hard to be optimistic given the major impact to life or wishing others ill (e.g. cheeky SS/Medicare fix above).  If you have no one elderly/immune compromised/with medical conditions that you care about, you probably are going to find this a lot easier to blithely dismiss the seriousness of it, than those of us who do.

To be clear, I wasn't wishing anybody ill, and I do have elderly relatives that I care about. Yes, my comment was cheeky*, but only to stress the point that this thing is deadly serious (enough to make a dent in the federal budget for those two programs).

*Oddly, using the word cheeky feels cheeky.

Sorry I wasn't clear online.  I didn't take it as you meaning ill will at all!  More I saw it as a cheeky/dark humor response to provoke some people in realizing the ill effects of COVID-19.

[Loretta]

Alright MMMers... Time to get out the optimism gun!

Anybody else wants to chime in with some optimism?

I am optimistic when I see the blooming trees and the yellow daffodils in my daily routine.  I am optimistic about the fact that when/if I get sick I live in a major metropolitan US city with plenty of drs, nurses and hospitals. 

[FrugalZony]

This is an uplifting story
http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/media/Tteam-di-esperti-medici-cinesi-diretti-in-Italia-per-emergenza-Coronavirus-a1079e3e-70c4-4ad6-865f-73ebb9c0f232.html?fbclid=IwAR2oTI5Yu7E3oVbPU53CRaHk84qGhTWA4zCTsyMmr4AJJ2Hsy95s2rCsKZ4#foto-3
China sends a donation of medical supplies as well as a team of medical experts to Italy in the midst of the crisis.

[HPstache]

Optimism.  After this drop, the majority of this forum (including myself) will have weathered their first major market drop with actually significantly sizable abouts of money invested.  Those who survive will be much better equipped for early retirement and the years / decades leading up.

[Travis]

Maybe the economic slowdown from coronavirus will be large enough to help the planet withstand global warming for a couple years.

While China's factories were shut down the air quality in Korea was amazing. Now they're all going back to work and the smog is ramping back up.

[OtherJen]

Late last night, our governor ordered all preK-12 schools to close for 3 weeks. This morning, the besieged superintendent of one district in our city weighed in with her perspective on Facebook. The many responses from parents were all kind and supportive. The responses to the city's decisions to shut libraries and senior centers and cancel upcoming city council meeting have been equally positive and understanding.

People in my city tend to be highly opinionated and not always kind about political-municipal matters, so I'm really pleased at the "we're all in this together" attitude.

[dignam]

Late last night, our governor ordered all preK-12 schools to close for 3 weeks. This morning, the besieged superintendent of one district in our city weighed in with her perspective on Facebook. The many responses from parents were all kind and supportive. The responses to the city's decisions to shut libraries and senior centers and cancel upcoming city council meeting have been equally positive and understanding.

People in my city tend to be highly opinionated and not always kind about political-municipal matters, so I'm really pleased at the "we're all in this together" attitude.

This.  I've seen a lot more of an understanding attitude from people than I expected.

[GuitarStv]

I'm going to take shutdown of libraries very hard when that happens.

[Boofinator]

I'm going to take shutdown of libraries very hard when that happens.

Yeah, quarantine and books are like peas and carrots. Personal libraries (aka buying books) have never made sense to me except for the few reference materials you expect to need on a semiregular basis.

[Bourbon]

I'm going to take shutdown of libraries very hard when that happens.

Yeah, quarantine and books are like peas and carrots. Personal libraries (aka buying books) have never made sense to me except for the few reference materials you expect to need on a semiregular basis.

I still have a handful of outstanding backlog requests, but they are split 50/50 between paper copies and electronic to read on my gen1 Kindle. 

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

I'm going to take shutdown of libraries very hard when that happens.

That's a great point. I need to make a serious book run this weekend.

[Hirondelle]

I'm going to take shutdown of libraries very hard when that happens.

My library shut down yesterday, now I only have 5 books at home to still read :'(

[OtherJen]

I'm going to take shutdown of libraries very hard when that happens.

It would be a lot worse for us without the online services. Our libraries are always packed and do a lot of community programming, so this will be a hardship for many.

[erutio]

I'm going to take shutdown of libraries very hard when that happens.

Hey, this is supposed to be an optimism thread!

Optimism:  Noticeably less cars to weave around on my bike ride into work today!

[maizefolk]

Optimistically, think how much worse potentially being shut in for weeks and months would be in the era before ebooks!

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

I'm going to take shutdown of libraries very hard when that happens.

Hey, this is supposed to be an optimism thread!

Optimism:  Noticeably less cars to weave around on my bike ride into work today!

I'm optimistic because if the library closes, even after giving away dozens of books, I still have 3-4 bookshelves worth of books left to read in a pinch.

[GuitarStv]

DAMMIT.  They're closing the library tomorrow until future notice.

[Bloop Bloop]

optimism - less traffic on the roads = more fun driving

optimism - less economic activity = cheaper goods!

[GuitarStv]

Wait, wait!  I have optimism!  I managed to bike down to the library before they closed and get (hopefully) a months worth of books (two large panniers worth anyway) for me, my wife, and our kid who has his school closed for three weeks at least.

[lost_in_the_endless_aisle]

I can imagines outcomes where this crisis results in (American) people being more realistic, less partisan, and less individualistic. Went shopping today and rather than fights over toilet paper, everyone was more social than usual. A crisis is a bad way to do it but maybe this will be remembered as an important shared experience that snaps people out of their habitual routines in a therapeutic manner.

[PhilB]

Wait, wait!  I have optimism!  I managed to bike down to the library before they closed and get (hopefully) a months worth of books (two large panniers worth anyway) for me, my wife, and our kid who has his school closed for three weeks at least.

I like it.  Panic borrowing!

[never give up]

More cycling for me. I am now forced to work from home so gain my commute time back. Hopefully they'll be less traffic on the roads too. A double win.

[iris lily]

There's a good chance we'll be able to reduce long-term costs for Social Security and Medicare? Yay?

Haha, this made me laugh, as an old age pensioner.

[iris lily]

Weather is getting better (slowly).

Our tax return hit bank today which I transferred into our TFSA's and made a stock buy after lunch.  In hindsight I would have waited an hour or so and the price has dropped since.  Meh. 

Taking a long weekend vacation with wife starting tomorrow morning.  Not going far - couple hours up road.  Looking forward to getting away for a couple nights. 

My old dog took 1st prize in a dog show (not really ... we found the ribbon on the floor of a dog show we went to on the weekend but at 15 years old, he's still our #1)

That dog. Too cute for words!

As an introvert I’m looking forward to the next two months as a time to weed gardens, clean my house,  plan Flower shows of 2020 and year 2021. This is like an extension of January and February where we already dial down activities.

[MasterStache]

DAMMIT.  They're closing the library tomorrow until future notice.

Crap I didn't even think about this. I only have 1 book to read. I guess it's time to try some eBooks.

[GuitarStv]

I got the last bag of milk, last container of yeast, last bag of onions, and last large ham (there was a selection of ham and ground chicken in the meat aisle) at the grocery store this morning.

So I guess it was worth it showing up 30 minutes before the grocery store opened and standing in a long line outside the doors!



I'm optimistic that we must be close to peak panic at this point - this is pretty crazy.