Money Matters With Greg Blog

If the effects of COVID-19 are waking you up in the middle of the night to a money-related
panic attack, do not worry - you are not alone. It is natural for us to worry about our financial
situation, especially during a pandemic, as it dictates so many facets of our everyday life.
Nevertheless, financial stress is a big deal and needs to be addressed.

Riding the highs, and experiencing the lows, it is the way of the investment market. However, what if we
told you that the key to sound and quality investing is learning how to keep it cool when the market is in
turmoil? Yes, this includes our markets today, where Coronavirus has caused a shocking amount of
volatility.

If the Coronavirus’ effect on the markets has taught us anything, it’s that every single person reading
this should start the process of creating an emergency fund. This is not just an idea, nor is it a savings
account, but rather, it is a separate pool of money to only use in emergencies. So, how do you even start

Our everyday lives have changed dramatically over the last few weeks as we work together to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We know these efforts are necessary, but they also have come at a cost.

Fears over the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) have gripped the country and sent stocks in the US and around the world into bear markets. Thursday’s nearly 10% decline in the S&P 500 Index was one of its worst days in history and the largest one-day percent decline since the 1987 crash.

My father used to always say when you needed to clear your head, get blank piece paper and a pen.  Odd you say? Trust me, when I was a kid and he said it, I thought he was just crazy and old, and of course, knew nothing. I was such a stupid kid.

The tough times that global markets were experiencing due to the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) worsened this past weekend as a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia resulted in sharply declining oil prices. This combination of events is testing investors’ patience.

It’s been a tough week. 

This is taken from our great research department @LPLResearch: