How has coronavirus changed your perception of your own finances?

[NattyAnn]

I'm curious how coronavirus has changed your perception of your own finances, if at all?

Before this, I felt really secure about my emergency account situation. We have an emergency account which will cover all expenses for 6 months, assuming my husband and I both lost our jobs, and all our tenants moved out. It seems like a pretty unlikely doomsday scenario initially, but I guess it wouldn't be that unheard of now with coronavirus. So now I feel less secure.

I've never been much of cash person, but when I saw those empty shelves in my grocery store for the first time, I kind of panicked ("If people are going this crazy over pinto beans, its only a matter of time before they go crazy about their own money"). I spent a few days deeply worrying that there would be a run on the bank, and our emergency account would disappear into thin air as our bank folded.

At the same time, I've surprised myself with how unaffected I was when my Vanguard investments took a nosedive and lost around 50% (they are back up now). I was just kind of like "huh wow that's nuts! look at my graph!" and then moved on with my day. I was almost worried that I wasn't worried enough about that, haha!

Have you surprised yourself by the way you are reacting to this new financial situation?

[Bloop Bloop]

My work is relatively secure and I have about 10-15 years' worth of living expenses saved up in my FIRE nest egg so it hasn't changed my perception of anything.

I now see that the economy is looking weaker which means I am likely to bargain harder on certain purchases (e.g. my next car) and, given low borrowing costs, I am also likely to funnel more of my earnings/borrowings into passive investment and avoid consumption of things like retail / travel / clothing till I see the discounting flow into the market.

[Zikoris]

My investments dropping didn't actually bother me much, but my $1,500 emergency fund did. So I boosted it up to $3,000 and now I feel good about it again.

[Freedomin5]

It reinforced our principles of making as much money as we can, diversifying income streams, and spending as little as we can. It also reinforced my feeling that we had chosen the right professions, which happen to be relatively unaffected by the economy, and increased my gratitude that both DH and I are employed/employable. We were thinking of going down to one income in a year or so, but I'm starting to have second thoughts on that one, as it is still possible that we may lose our jobs or not have our contracts renewed depending on the economic situation. I don't want to be in the position where one of us has quit, our investments haven't recovered yet, and the other person loses their job. Also, we've increased our emergency fund. We had enough in the past to cover unexpected expenses, but we cut it too close for comfort.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

It's made me less interested in investing in financial options, and more interested in setting up a lifestyle - garden, chickens, no goddamn neighbours.....

[lthenderson]

It hasn't but perhaps because I am more conservative than most. We generally keep a year's worth of cash on hand and have access to another couple years if needed. For many years I did the six month thing but once as the sole bread winner, I lost a job, had a baby that spent the first ten days in the NICU, replaced a car and had to move to a new town/house all in the space of a month. After that, I decided six months of just normal everyday expenses wasn't enough.  I need to plan for financial hits that come suddenly and unexpectedly.

[BPA]

I'm not too concerned about my investments since I have a really good understanding of my own risk tolerance. And I'm really glad for a decent (2-3 years worth of living expenses) emergency fund. I'm not too worried about banks failing because I am Canadian.

I am glad that I picked up a very part-time job (1-2 days a week) that I enjoy and actually really miss now that I've been laid off from it. Before I pulled the plug on my career, I never thought I'd ever actually miss a job. It covers my basic living costs when I'm working.

Currently, neither of our investment properties are rented out for money but my son is living in one. When this is over those will produce some income. Fortunately, we can cover the costs of those right now (no mortgage on one and a small mortgage on the other). My partner is still working on the one he bought in December. It gives him something to do and a creative outlet.

Like Anna above, I am planning to get more into gardening. We tried last year and it was a bit of a failure. We are planning to grow some microgreens. I don't think I'll screw those up. lol I'd do the chickens thing too but that's not allowed where I live. My partner bought a grain grinder attachment for his electric mixer (I was always too cheap to buy one of those, but I'm glad he has). He has been grinding wheat because it's getting difficult to get flour. Plus, it's so much cheaper to grind your own.

The second hand market where I live really kind of sucks, so I'm glad that all of the clothing stores are having good sales now. I had gotten a gift card for Christmas and just stocked up on clothes I'm going to need in the next couple of years. I got a lot of stuff for less than $100.

I am a bit concerned about shortages and have bought up extra dog and cat food. I can't imagine that humans will starve where I live although already we aren't able to access everything we'd like to eat, but we'll be fine, but one of the cats is on a special diet, so I want to make sure we have enough of that.

As far as finances go, my biggest concerns are for people who are already disadvantaged. I feel very fortunate that frugal living, a debt-free lifestyle, and significant cash reserves are helping not only me, but my extended family. Really I am amazed that my FIRE plan is so robust but I've also been lucky. I suppose that could change. We'll see how I feel in the months to come. I think this is where stoicism and realistic optimism are really helpful.

[Laura33]

No.  I am old enough to have lived through several different versions of "the sky is falling"/"this time it's different."  It was inevitable that there would be another big market crash in my lifetime, so I guess it's better that this happened while we're both still working and socking money away.  And I have a big cash cushion in case everything really hits the fan.

I am sad that if I retired today, my lifestyle would be marginally less luxurious than it appeared a few months ago.  But I am not worried about my finances.  And that frees me up to worry about people -- the ones who are sick, the ones who are caring for them, the ones who have lost jobs or whose businesses are on the edge.  If anything, I'm spending more money now to try to support them. 

[Dicey]

I started the thread linked below. Otherwise, no changes. We're F-I-N-E. Hell I even had enough Toilet Paper on hand when all this started. Same for masks, disinfectant wipes, paper towels, bleach, rice, beans, flour, etc. Emergency supplies are nice to have, along with a big, fat EF.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/in-praise-of-big-fat-emergency-funds/

[BurtMacklin]

We are saving more (EF fund/cushion). Even though we have stable jobs, I don't trust the competency of the Trump admin, so we aren't taking any chances.

[Retire-Canada]

Have you surprised yourself by the way you are reacting to this new financial situation?

No surprises. I have several years of spending in bonds, a year of spending in a LOC available and a large portfolio of equities. So regardless of the recent crash there has been no risk to my financial position. I am building up a 6 month cash EF by investing 50% and saving 50% of any surpluses at the end of the month. That seems prudent at the moment. I renewed my mortgage to a longer amortization and lower interest rate to drop payments by almost 50%. I was going to do that anyways so that's not a COVID-19 thing, but with no other debt it means my basic spend is really low.

Ultimately any sensible financial plan has to be able to survive economical problems and while we didn't know COVID-19 was coming we knew something was coming. If anything I am happy with how robust my finances are and I am looking forward to coming out of this crisis in a stronger position than I went into it.

FWIW - I'm checking my portfolio balance about once every 3 months which really helps me avoid a lot of the volatility drama.

[thesis]

I thought I would handle it better, honestly. I put all $6,000 into my Roth IRA on January 1, instead of DCA-ing it. Which was, of course, the right decision from the statistical perspective. But I was pretty bummed seeing my total Roth take a huge dip. A part of me kept thinking, "You know, if it makes it back up to the value that matches precisely all that I've put in there, I'll take out this year's contribution", but that of course would ignore the dividends it's made. Considering I still have my job AND about 10 months of cash to keep me going, I realized this is foolish to be worried about. That said, emotions are real, and while I haven't come anywhere close to panic, I've been checking my balances far too often. I now better understand how important it is to detach from the numbers. Fortunately, I haven't done anything stupid. I've continued putting money into the market and haven't withdrawn anything.

[Lady SA]

I surprised myself at how chill I was when our investments "lost" almost $200k when about a third of the value of our investments evaporated (on paper, obviously). I had thought I would freak out/worry more, but I was surprisingly clinical/unemotional about it. I think I checked the balances more often, but it was more of a curiosity thing, like "huh I wonder how much it dropped today". I remember in late Feb when it started dropping I scrambled to put together $12k to max both our IRAs earlier than we normally do because I was nervous about missing the sale, lol!

We also have a LOT of cash on hand because we have been saving a downpayment on a house. I think I have been a lot more relaxed about this situation because our EF has more than doubled (the majority of that money is "spoken for" but it is still calming to see that big number). Having both of us still fully employed by essential employers (just working from home now) has definitely helped keep the anxiety down, because we still have paychecks coming in for the foreseeable future.

I think some changes we have decided on since experiencing this crisis are that we want to up our normal EF (currently at $18k) to $25k, which is about 6 months of expenses.

[SpareChange]

Not really. My job being stable probably has a lot to do with that. This HAS been the first time I've had to rebalance by selling, and the first time I've ever done tax loss harvesting.

[Metalcat]

Nope.

I've spent several years engineering my life to be able handle far more severe circumstances. I'm all good.

[matchewed]

The only thing that this event has changed for me is how I approach the system of finance. I still am investing aggressively and will continue to look for one or two more real estate deals. But I am going to look into for FIRE a diversification of resource flow. Cash will come from investments and real estate primarily. Maybe a low capital intensive business on the side that generates some small income as well. I'll put in some small redundancies with using a garden for the food portion of the things we need, maybe some chickens as well.

Developing some decoupling strategies will make FIRE that much more resilient IMO.

[Queen Frugal]

I can see gaps and opportunities in my financial plan more clearly than before.

I have always had trouble wrapping my head around planning for unplanned expenses. For example, I just bought a 120 year old house last summer. Shits gonna break. Where do I keep the money to pay for the big repairs? And how much? And in what form? I can't ever stomach keeping much money in straight up cash without a definite plan to use it soon. I'll keep it for a while, but then I feel like it's just wasting away, and then I invest it, and then I want to use it and it's invested, so I take it out in cash... and the cycle continues.

Very early this year I decided I should just use my Roth IRA as my spill over EF for these big unplanned expenses. I know it's a retirement account but I can put every extra dollar I have in a retirement account of some sort so it doesn't really matter.

I use a handful of Vanguard funds - VB, VV, VEA, BND. I am now in the process of rebalancing my accounts in such a way that, for example, the more conservative BND shares are all held in my Roth IRA as I may need to cash those in on short notice to use them for unexpected home repairs. And I will probably end up doing a roth conversion with my traditional IRA at the end of the year so I have readjusted my holdings to have my traditional IRA hold all my VEA shares - which are the most aggressive and may sustain the biggest losses this year. If that holds true, then I can convert when my IRA balance is extra low which will save on taxes.

So I am seeing diversification in new and different ways.

[Villanelle]

Having my spouse home has made me more committed to getting him FIREd.  That's really the only change I see to how we approach our finances longer term.  But that's also because DH has one of the most secure jobs around (military). 

[maizefolk]

I was surprised that a 1/3 drop in the stock market* didn't elicit more worry from me. It wasn't fun, and I'm sad that I went from above my FI target to back below it, but it wasn't traumatic or anything.

If anything the experience so dar has deepened the sense of gratitude I feel every time life throws me a curveball that would be a big problem if I was living paycheck to paycheck but that is really no big deal for me because pursuing FIRE meant I had plenty of money saved up.

*Combined with a very plausible argument for the world coming apart. Which I think makes the current situation more comparable to the great recession and less like 2018 which was 20% slump, but didn't have any real-world problems associated with it.

[anotherAlias]

I'm getting pretty close to FIRE, so I'm fairly comfortable with where my finances are at.  If I got laid off, I would eventually need to work but I could wait out a recession without having to cut back.

However, I have been starting to rethink my approach to grocery shopping.  I've always been good about having extra toiletries, tp, cleaning supplies on hand but food has always been a week to week purchase for me.  I'm not sure why my brain thinks I need to keep a couple months supply of tp or shampoo on hand when I would be hard pressed to delay the Sunday grocery trip.  So to ease my anxiety I've been reading the mommy blogs looking for freezer meals.  Each week I'm planning on buying food for an extra couple meals that I can make up and freeze for the future.  My goal is to have a couple weeks of dinners ready for the crockpot/instapot.  I'm also trying to get extras of the usual dry goods in the pantry.

[Rosy]

Immense relief that I had just finished my goal of at least one and a half years worth of expenses EF along with a separate, cushy immediate EF for immediate expenses.
It confirmed that our financial plans were rock solid and hold up in the face of a true emergency.

We have various streams of income which is key to be financially resilient.

The fact that I am already retired and that Mr. R. is in an essential field I consider - pure luck.
We already have a lovely garden that we enjoy - which I expanded this year to produce more fruit and veggies - lucky coincidence.
My original plan for 2020 was to reduce savings by 50% or more but for different reasons, this never happened.
Instead, I saved $13K since Jan 1, 2020 - lucky for us.

Being debt-free as well as mortgage-free is another huge plus in facing this crisis or any other. Becoming debt-free was always part of our financial plan and staying debt-free is important to us.
Chickens:)? - only if it becomes a question of survival - one hopes the SHTF scenarios can be avoided, but who knows?

Yeah well, I've always had prepper tendencies thanks to my grandma:).
We have a nice hurricane prep/stash which came in handy since the supply chain disruption.

Our investment strategies have not changed.

[DaMa]

I'm pretty happy I did a CD ladder instead of VTSAX with life insurance money last year.
I wish I'd sold my Carnival and Royal Caribbean stock as @Watchmaker suggested on 2/5.
I wish I hadn't postponed the TP on my Subscribe and Save order in early March.

I'm going to be more intentional on maintaining a stockpile in the future.  I did many years back, but have lived in small places with little storage for the past 10 years.  Now I have a basement again, so I'm going to get set up.

I'm a fan of Steven Konkoly's book, The Jakarta Pandemic, and have read it several times.  In the book, the main character moves part of his holding to gold when a bad flu outbreak starts.  In mid February, I remember wondering if I should do that, but I pushed the thought away.  GLD is up about 6% since then.

I stayed the course and changed nothing.  I was down 15%, but the market has come back some since then.  Overall, I'm in good shape, and this isn't really impacting me financially.  I am incredibly grateful that I don't have to deal with any employer crap. 

[G-String]

When my portfolio dropped by 30% recently I was actually excited because I've been waiting for this drop for years.  I immediately deployed my plan to buy low on a DCA basis.  I did hit some of my buying on the lowest day (March 23) but bought all along the way down, and a bit up too.  I've stopped buying the last couple weeks though, but bought lots in the 30% down from all time highs range. 

My emergency fund, while it makes me feel very good, is a bit too much. I have a fairly stable job, and I have almost 18 months expenses in my emergency fund.  It's great peace of mind, but financially very stupid, so I need to put some more thought into that. 

Unrelated to OP's question, but I am an introvert so the staying inside isn't a big deal for me since I never went out much anyways! 

[mikemagz11]

Not big on holding cash but save all my $5 bills and change and have roughly $600 in my apartment

[kanga1622]

So to ease my anxiety I've been reading the mommy blogs looking for freezer meals.  Each week I'm planning on buying food for an extra couple meals that I can make up and freeze for the future.  My goal is to have a couple weeks of dinners ready for the crockpot/instapot.  I'm also trying to get extras of the usual dry goods in the pantry.

We find we’d rather have components for meals in the freezer rather than full meals. So cooking a pork roast, beef roast, or chicken in the crockpot to eat for a meal while freezing meal sized portions for the future. They you can add that protein to soups, stir fry, pasta, sandwiches, or casseroles. We usually brown 10# of ground beef and freeze in half pound portions. Super easy to make lasagna, tacos, sloppy joes, etc when the meat just needs to be spiced or added to ingredients. With cooked beef, I can layer a lasagna (using jarred sauce) faster than my oven preheats. And it takes up a much smaller portion of my freezer than a full lasagna would.

Having a decent pantry and freezer stock has been super helpful several times when we’ve come down with influenza or for some reason had to delay the weekly grocery trip for some other reason.

[anotherAlias]

So to ease my anxiety I've been reading the mommy blogs looking for freezer meals.  Each week I'm planning on buying food for an extra couple meals that I can make up and freeze for the future.  My goal is to have a couple weeks of dinners ready for the crockpot/instapot.  I'm also trying to get extras of the usual dry goods in the pantry.

We find we’d rather have components for meals in the freezer rather than full meals. So cooking a pork roast, beef roast, or chicken in the crockpot to eat for a meal while freezing meal sized portions for the future. They you can add that protein to soups, stir fry, pasta, sandwiches, or casseroles. We usually brown 10# of ground beef and freeze in half pound portions. Super easy to make lasagna, tacos, sloppy joes, etc when the meat just needs to be spiced or added to ingredients. With cooked beef, I can layer a lasagna (using jarred sauce) faster than my oven preheats. And it takes up a much smaller portion of my freezer than a full lasagna would.

Having a decent pantry and freezer stock has been super helpful several times when we’ve come down with influenza or for some reason had to delay the weekly grocery trip for some other reason.

That would be great but we are very lazy cooks when mealtime comes around.  It's better for us if the meal is assembled and just needs to be dumped into some heating apparatus.  It takes a bit more planning but less day to day effort which is what we need with our current work situation

[Metalcat]

So to ease my anxiety I've been reading the mommy blogs looking for freezer meals.  Each week I'm planning on buying food for an extra couple meals that I can make up and freeze for the future.  My goal is to have a couple weeks of dinners ready for the crockpot/instapot.  I'm also trying to get extras of the usual dry goods in the pantry.

We find we’d rather have components for meals in the freezer rather than full meals. So cooking a pork roast, beef roast, or chicken in the crockpot to eat for a meal while freezing meal sized portions for the future. They you can add that protein to soups, stir fry, pasta, sandwiches, or casseroles. We usually brown 10# of ground beef and freeze in half pound portions. Super easy to make lasagna, tacos, sloppy joes, etc when the meat just needs to be spiced or added to ingredients. With cooked beef, I can layer a lasagna (using jarred sauce) faster than my oven preheats. And it takes up a much smaller portion of my freezer than a full lasagna would.

Having a decent pantry and freezer stock has been super helpful several times when we’ve come down with influenza or for some reason had to delay the weekly grocery trip for some other reason.

That would be great but we are very lazy cooks when mealtime comes around.  It's better for us if the meal is assembled and just needs to be dumped into some heating apparatus.  It takes a bit more planning but less day to day effort which is what we need with our current work situation

Same, which is why I have several weeks of prepared food in my fridge and freezer. I have a massive repertoire of vegetarian recipes, so I've made an enormous amount of things like curries and stews, which keep and reheat beautifully.

I just had a pumpkin chilli. Unreal, and actually tastes significantly better after having been frozen and thawed. I put half the batch in the fridge and ate it two weeks ago, but the batch I thawed tastes richer.

[John Galt incarnate!]

I'm curious how coronavirus has changed your perception of your own finances, if at all?

Before this, I felt really secure about my emergency account situation. We have an emergency account which will cover all expenses for 6 months, assuming my husband and I both lost our jobs, and all our tenants moved out. It seems like a pretty unlikely doomsday scenario initially, but I guess it wouldn't be that unheard of now with coronavirus. So now I feel less secure.

I've never been much of cash person, but when I saw those empty shelves in my grocery store for the first time, I kind of panicked ("If people are going this crazy over pinto beans, its only a matter of time before they go crazy about their own money"). I spent a few days deeply worrying that there would be a run on the bank, and our emergency account would disappear into thin air as our bank folded.

At the same time, I've surprised myself with how unaffected I was when my Vanguard investments took a nosedive and lost around 50% (they are back up now). I was just kind of like "huh wow that's nuts! look at my graph!" and then moved on with my day. I was almost worried that I wasn't worried enough about that, haha!

Have you surprised yourself by the way you are reacting to this new financial situation?

This catastrophic   pandemic hasn't changed my   view of my financial position (it's secure) but I am a bit surprised by how grave I've been lately.


The pandemic's  awfulness has caused me to ruminate on  its wreaking of  unquantifiable  psycholgical  harm.

Millions of people will suffer wrenching dislocation, loss of income, loss of their business, bankruptcy, depression, anxiety, extreme stress,  family breakup, and more.

The list of horribles is as long as it is sobering.

[Villanelle]

So to ease my anxiety I've been reading the mommy blogs looking for freezer meals.  Each week I'm planning on buying food for an extra couple meals that I can make up and freeze for the future.  My goal is to have a couple weeks of dinners ready for the crockpot/instapot.  I'm also trying to get extras of the usual dry goods in the pantry.

We find we’d rather have components for meals in the freezer rather than full meals. So cooking a pork roast, beef roast, or chicken in the crockpot to eat for a meal while freezing meal sized portions for the future. They you can add that protein to soups, stir fry, pasta, sandwiches, or casseroles. We usually brown 10# of ground beef and freeze in half pound portions. Super easy to make lasagna, tacos, sloppy joes, etc when the meat just needs to be spiced or added to ingredients. With cooked beef, I can layer a lasagna (using jarred sauce) faster than my oven preheats. And it takes up a much smaller portion of my freezer than a full lasagna would.

Having a decent pantry and freezer stock has been super helpful several times when we’ve come down with influenza or for some reason had to delay the weekly grocery trip for some other reason.

That would be great but we are very lazy cooks when mealtime comes around.  It's better for us if the meal is assembled and just needs to be dumped into some heating apparatus.  It takes a bit more planning but less day to day effort which is what we need with our current work situation

When I had more freezer space, I did both.  I had many prepared meals that just needed to be popped in the oven (or sauteed, but usually they were oven things) but I also browned ground beef with a diced onion and basic spices.  I almost always have items on hand for tacos/burritos.  So defrosting a portion of ground beed, tossing in a tortilla with canned refried beans, sour cream, cheese, lettuce/tomato/avocado if we have them, salsa.  (Often I don't have all those things, and it's still fine.)  It actually ends up being even faster than popping a prepared casserole in the oven.  And is especially good for days I forget to defrost said casserole.  The meat defrosts and heats in about 5 minutes.  Toss everything on a tortilla, and it's good to go.  (I would occasionally use the meat for other things as well, but that was a primary meal with it.) 

[diapasoun]

Not much change.

I'm wondering a little bit if I should build up a bigger cash emergency fund. I'm at ~6 months expenses normally, but let me tell you, when you need to hit your medical deductible in the first month of a worldwide pandemic it can definitely make you wonder if more cash would be nicer. I've not made any changes yet, though.

[Buffaloski Boris]

It has changed my financial outlook. What I've learned so far:

- The US stock market is even crazier than I thought it was. It's international for me for the foreseeable future. Not that international markets are any less crazy, but at least they're crazy on the relative cheap. 

- The systems in place protect the ultra-wealthy are wide, deep, and shameless.

- Cash is still King.

- Economic security is found through self-sufficiency. I.e low debt, minimal spending, high savings.

- The preppers were right. The cost/ potential benefit tradeoff is very good. 

- You cannot predict the economic future. At all. Diversification is about all you can do to temper risk. 

- That safe employment in the long run is the best.  Slow and steady wins the race.


ETA: additional observations.   

[Radagast]

Not really. We have a lot of cash now because we plan to buy a house and I definitely feel we have too much cash for this crisis if that weren't the case. I am somewhat surprised at the thought that both of us could have income reductions at once because our jobs are stable, unrelated, and always in high demand somewhere. It hasn't really happened yet, but there could be elimination of possible OT and bonuses in the near future.

I have realized that in the future I should have a diversity of cash and the like because there is no financial future if you don't make it past the present. Something like Ibonds and an FDIC account and an auto-rolling T-bill ladder at Fidelity, even if only in relatively small amounts, because there is no limit to how haywire things can get in the short term.

In general I am the sort of person who can read The Lord of the Rings and have rich and detailed impression of walking through Middle Earth from its sparse sentences. Similarly, I also read about lot of past crises and graphs of them and experienced a similarly rich account of what it must have been like to live through them. That has made me pretty stoic in the current crisis. On the Beaufort scale this is a gentle breeze!

[MrGrossGoatee]

It's gotten me re-thinking my finances for sure.  I'm about five years into this journey, and have been pretty content maintaining a 3-month emergency fund while chucking every cent into index funds. I'm fortunate to be able to work from home, but due to the indefinite nature of this crisis, I'm looking to bump up my emergency fund to at least six months.  I'm still investing as well during the downturn, but a portion of each paycheck is also going towards the emergency fund.


It also got me thinking about buying a house. I'm still young and renting, but when the time comes, I'd hate to see money I thought I had for a down-payment vanish overnight.  Therefore, I might start looking at CDs or bond indexes, just to have a more secure part of my 'stache for buying a home.  Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[Bettersafe]

It has changed my financial outlook. What I've learned so far:

- The US stock market is even crazier than I thought it was. It's international for me for the foreseeable future. Not that international markets are any less crazy, but at least they're crazy on the relative cheap. 

- The systems in place protect the ultra-wealthy are wide, deep, and shameless.

- Cash is still King.

- Economic security is found through self-sufficiency. I.e low debt, minimal spending, high savings.

- The preppers were right. The cost/ potential benefit tradeoff is very good. 

- You cannot predict the economic future. At all. Diversification is about all you can do to temper risk. 

- That safe employment in the long run is the best.  Slow and steady wins the race.


ETA: additional observations.   

+1 on the Cash is (still) King!

I just started this journey, other than consolidate that it's a very good path to take nothing has changed. But I wish I had been a few years further along.

[Zoot]

- Cash is still King.

...

- The preppers were right. The cost/ potential benefit tradeoff is very good. 

These two things are strong takeaways for me, and are strongly related.

Regarding cash:  while our jobs were relatively secure, our cash cushion would have kept us afloat for many months even if our main income streams dried up. 

Regarding prepping:  I've always been kind of "prepper-light"--that is, following what Amy Dacyczyn called the "pantry principle" in The Tightwad Gazette has led me to have a good bit of food on hand due to purchasing shelf-stable or freezeable frequently-used items in bulk at lower prices, and that has definitely stood us in good stead during the quarantine period.  I'm regretting waiting to replace my freezer (which I bought used for $100 about 15 years ago and which died in roughly January of this year--great bang for buck there!), as they cannot be had for love or money right now and are backordered until kingdom come--having that and what it could contain on hand would have made this even more manageable. 

My real epiphany has come from the combination of these two things:  having cash on hand is great, but having "stuff" on hand is equally as important, perhaps even more important.  There are times when all the cash in the world can't buy what you need--even if I had been willing to pay $100/roll for toilet paper three weeks ago, for example, there was none to be found, anywhere, at any price.  Once we are out of the COVID-19 woods, I will start working on transitioning some of our cash to tangible goods and working out a rotation system for consuming them.  I am finally becoming less anxious about spending money to be comfortable and to be prepared.

(edit: syntax)

[JoJo]

I was sitting about 50% in cash when this all went down, so when it was down 33%, I was only at half of that.  NW is still down in the 100,000s today, unfortunately. 

I am more concerned than ever about the US debt, and the fact that the govt has bailed out large groups/companies for the 2nd time in 12 years at the cost of a huge increase in the debt... at what point can we stop this from growing?  With so much of my assets in tax deferred accounts, I'm worried future taxes will take larger chunks of these.  On the other hand, I make too much money to get $1200... more incentive to retire if they're just going to throw "free" money at me.

[js82]

It's been a reminder that everything can change in an instant.

I'm still in the accumulation phase, but seeing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses has been really anxiety-provoking.  While I was working during the 2008-2009 crisis, I simply didn't have enough assets to matter at that time.  This time has been very, very different.

I've (mostly) kept my hand off the panic button and stayed the course, but it definitely has me thinking about how I'll better position myself for the next crisis, given that there's a decent chance that I'll be much closer to FIRE at that time.

[OtherJen]

It hasn't altered my long-term perception; I've left our investments alone and find the paper losses to be more absurd than anything else.

Short-term is a different story. We're hoarding cash right now because we don't know how much longer we'll both be employed full-time. However, we're also spending more than usual on various non-perishables, including pet food, because we don't know what the situation will be in the next 6-12 months.

[Buffaloski Boris]

I am more concerned than ever about the US debt, and the fact that the govt has bailed out large groups/companies for the 2nd time in 12 years at the cost of a huge increase in the debt... at what point can we stop this from growing?

We can’t. The politicians and central bankers know who they work for, and it ain’t you and me!  The $1200 we’re getting is a drop in the bucket compared to what the Fed has been throwing at the capital markets.

The debt and the dollar is a contributing factor to why I’m leaving the US equity markets behind. At least for now. The added bonus is that they’re in a different currency.

[Cranky]

It has made us decide that dh should retire sooner rather than later. Carpe diem and all that.

[Captain Cactus]

It's made me less interested in investing in financial options, and more interested in setting up a lifestyle - garden, chickens, no goddamn neighbours.....

This is interesting... my thoughts have gone to this as well.  Working at home and being generally more happy being around my family and not having to deal with terrible customers (I'm in sales)...makes me think it might not be so bad continuing this long term... grow a serious garden to offset food costs... sell my house, move to a more remote rural area where real estate is cheaper and house lots are larger... living expenses lower and I could almost FIRE already...except for the health insurance...which continues to keep many of us enslaved. 

[kanga1622]

I think I have decided I want to increase our “emergency” savings account to a higher amount. We usually have about 2 months salary in that account but do tap into it a bit during the summer (DH is a 10 month employee). Although we have several additional sinking funds we can access if things really hit the fan.

But so far we are both fully employed with no pay cut. Some expenses have gone down but groceries are way up and I expect that to continue for most of the year at this rate.

I have a very healthy need for accessible money to feel secure. Being responsible for two small people has made that even worse. But we’ve been shown many times over that our goals/plans have worked as intended so I just keep following my gut.

[mancityfan]

I am within 1-3 years of retirement.

The Good:
We paid off our mortgage 4 years ago - great to not have that monthly expense
As preparation for retirement, the Cash bucket is at 2+ years of living expenses
My job is secure, still getting paid. Expenses lowered.

The Bad:
This will push out my retirement. Not so much because of the likely volatility of the stock market. More to do with making sure my 3 college/just out of college kids can get through with some help if needed.
Not a lot to retire "to" right now. My hobbies are tied to travel and the outdoors.
Projecting less stache growth due to economic conditions in coming years

My overwhelming feeling is one of relief that I can weather this. Mainly because of a good emergency fund and a paid off house. I feel in a good position.

[Channel-Z]

I think the current situation has only reinforced my saver mentality, and the concept that rainy days are never far.

[Dicey]

- Cash is still King.
...
- The preppers were right. The cost/ potential benefit tradeoff is very good. 

These two things are strong takeaways for me, and are strongly related.

Regarding cash:  while our jobs were relatively secure, our cash cushion would have kept us afloat for many months even if our main income streams dried up. 

Regarding prepping:  I've always been kind of "prepper-light"--that is, following what Amy Dacyczyn called the "pantry principle" in The Tightwad Gazette has led me to have a good bit of food on hand due to purchasing shelf-stable or freezeable frequently-used items in bulk at lower prices, and that has definitely stood us in good stead during the quarantine period.  I'm regretting waiting to replace my freezer (which I bought used for $100 about 15 years ago and which died in roughly January of this year--great bang for buck there!), as they cannot be had for love or money right now and are backordered until kingdom come--having that and what it could contain on hand would have made this even more manageable. 

My real epiphany has come from the combination of these two things:  having cash on hand is great, but having "stuff" on hand is equally as important, perhaps even more important.  There are times when all the cash in the world can't buy what you need--even if I had been willing to pay $100/roll for toilet paper three weeks ago, for example, there was none to be found, anywhere, at any price.  Once we are out of the COVID-19 woods, I will start working on transitioning some of our cash to tangible goods and working out a rotation system for consuming them.  I am finally becoming less anxious about spending money to be comfortable and to be prepared.

(edit: syntax)

Another original Amy D. fan here. My family used to make fun of my food/supply stores. I said I had what the Mormons would call a good start. They're not laughing any more. We're FI and I'm RE, so it's not about the money as much as it is about avoiding grocery shopping during a pandemic. It has also allowed me to help others with fewer pantry reserves, which is an awesome feeling.

[Retire-Canada]

We've got something like double the food we normally do on hand, but it hasn't reduced our grocery shopping at all because weekly I go out and restock what's been used so we maintain the higher levels. If the purpose of having more food on hand is something unexpected happening than I want to be at or near full stock levels all the time.

Once COVID is over in a couple years I'll move a lot of the extra non-perishable foods to an expanded earthquake kit. I had one already, but COVID has made me realize it was weak.

[calimom]

I've always been pretty militant about keeping a 6 month or more expenses in my household account. Last year I received a completely unexpected inheritance windfall. Some of it was used to fund a real estate investment,  and instead of putting  the remainder into my  Fidelity investment account,  I decided to put it in a 12 month CD at my credit union, intending to use it for my son's upcoming  college fees. It feels extra secure having that option now. Like everyone else who is invested in retirement and stock accounts, mine are down. There are always risks and rewards as  we all know. I'll be getting $2200 for in the stimulus grant.

My small business is in trouble. Some clients have cancelled altogether, some on a wait-and-see suspension of service. A handful of accounts are being serviced by the one employee who is masked and gloved as he performs his duties, and he's happy for the work right now; he has lost his other  part time job and needs the income. There is a possibility my second business will have a project or two in the coming months but not holding my breath as things change daily. Before I pay  myself, any business overhead must be paid which right now is  the one part timer, the warehouse  rental (I'm the landlord  there and I can be forgiving if it comes to that), liability  and vehicle insurance, and the payment on the  new van I  purchased 6 months ago with my first ever vehicle loan (facepunch away!).  Tenants in my co-owned duplex, and SFR have started out  OK at the beginning of the pandemic, but one has lost a job, one's expecting a baby, so there my be  lowered/no payments ahead for a bit.

Back to my household, eldest daughter has been furloughed from her  performing arts job and insists she's fine with unemployment, savings, and here  stimulus money. My soon-to-graduate from HS/turning 18 son means the end of his portion of the Social  Security Survivors Benefit that the family receives, leaving just my  13 year old as a recipient. For the first time ever since my widowhood  in 2007, I'm considering applying for the Caretakers Benefit. It's always  been a weird point of pride for me as a young(ish) able bodied person,  that I support myself. It's not an ideal circumstance, but a welcome option facing the months ahead rebuilding a business and sending another  kid off to college. It's not an asset tested benefit, and rental income is not  factored in so I can forgo salary  while the business comes back to life, hopefully.

I've always kept a decent pantry and freezer with some backups of  paper products.  We lives semi rural, so being able to through a lentil soup or  spaghetti dinner together at  the last minute, not to mention if  someone's sick, is important.  Those supplies have certainly been ramped up over the last month, and like  others I'm finding comfort in seeing shelves  of  food in the pantry and  freezer. A  more  enhanced  vegetable garden is being planned for this year.

[FireHiker]

Actually this has been an affirmation that we made the right decision when we downsized last year. We are struggling with togetherness (see my comment in the “too much time with spouse” thread) but our finances are outstanding. We are both still working full time from home, although managing distance learning for two elementary kids at the same time SUCKS. But, it is a giant relief to know we could be unemployed for awhile and be ok. We are buying a house for our oldest in college after the whole dorm fiasco. Given the specifics of his situation it will actually save us money if he rents out the extra room since he is in a super cheap rural area. We never could have considered that before selling our “clown” house last year. We are 1000% more determined to FIRE and move where we love (mountains) vs staying where we are (so cal) forever.

[bloodaxe]

I knew I was supposed to allocate a percentage of my porfolio into bonds, but just put everything into stocks. I'm young enough that it won't really affect me, but going to do my age as a percentage of bonds in the future.

[Buffaloski Boris]

- Cash is still King.
...
- The preppers were right. The cost/ potential benefit tradeoff is very good. 

These two things are strong takeaways for me, and are strongly related.

Regarding cash:  while our jobs were relatively secure, our cash cushion would have kept us afloat for many months even if our main income streams dried up. 

Regarding prepping:  I've always been kind of "prepper-light"--that is, following what Amy Dacyczyn called the "pantry principle" in The Tightwad Gazette has led me to have a good bit of food on hand due to purchasing shelf-stable or freezeable frequently-used items in bulk at lower prices, and that has definitely stood us in good stead during the quarantine period.  I'm regretting waiting to replace my freezer (which I bought used for $100 about 15 years ago and which died in roughly January of this year--great bang for buck there!), as they cannot be had for love or money right now and are backordered until kingdom come--having that and what it could contain on hand would have made this even more manageable. 

My real epiphany has come from the combination of these two things:  having cash on hand is great, but having "stuff" on hand is equally as important, perhaps even more important.  There are times when all the cash in the world can't buy what you need--even if I had been willing to pay $100/roll for toilet paper three weeks ago, for example, there was none to be found, anywhere, at any price.  Once we are out of the COVID-19 woods, I will start working on transitioning some of our cash to tangible goods and working out a rotation system for consuming them.  I am finally becoming less anxious about spending money to be comfortable and to be prepared.

(edit: syntax)

Another original Amy D. fan here. My family used to make fun of my food/supply stores. I said I had what the Mormons would call a good start. They're not laughing any more. We're FI and I'm RE, so it's not about the money as much as it is about avoiding grocery shopping during a pandemic. It has also allowed me to help others with fewer pantry reserves, which is an awesome feeling.

^^^This^^^

I've been reading up on Provident Living.  Dang but did the LDS get that one right.  https://providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org/?lang=eng