Good Financial Reads: The Coronavirus Pandemic

At this point in time I look to the CDC to determine how I should feel about the virus and they have said it’s not a matter of if but of when, which seems to have been borne out by the news of more and more cases appearing.  This creates an unfortunate mixture of fear of the disease as well as elevated stress due to the markets reacting to this new information. So, I will give you my thoughts on how the disease is affecting markets, what that means for the long term investor, and some steps to consider taking.  

If you’re related to a loved one in the hospital, rehab or living in a retirement community, you may have received a message by now that they’re limiting non-essential visits. In some cases, they’re limiting almost all visits apart from in-house medical staff. This is for the best, as we now know the most affected population of the coronavirus is the elderly and immune compromised.

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With everyone talking about the coronavirus, you may wonder what to do, if anything, with your portfolio. There has definitely been a lot of action in financial markets this past week, with no lack of dire predictions and recommendations for your investments. You can expect more of this in the coming weeks. So how should we interpret all the information thrown at us? 

The coronavirus is creating widespread fear and causing markets to become extremely volatile. The most common mistake of investing during a potential downturn is to sell your investments. Investors without a long term plan tend to follow short term news headlines and make poor, reactionary decisions.

President Trump announced shocking news that all interest on federal student loans will be waived until further notice. This was just one of many actions that the government and the Federal Reserve are taking to help combat the economic effects of the Coronavirus.