Did the Bottom Fall Out?

What happened to the world? Did the bottom fall out? The words that are being used to describe the current situation are “unprecedented”, “pandemic”, “crisis”, and “extraordinary”. We now have new words in our everyday vocabulary such as social distancing, self-isolation, self-quarantine, N-95 masks, Coronavirus, Covid-19, Contact tracing, Community spread, super-spreader, asymptomatic, pandemic, epicenter, flattening the curve, presumptive cases, herd immunity, virtual drinks, and MS Teams/Zoom/Slack meetings.

Three things happened all around the same time:

1. Coronavirus Covid-19 hit the world
   • First detected in China in Wuhan, Hubei in December 2019
   • Virus spread to South Korea, Japan and Iran in early 2020
   • Spread to Europe with Italy being the worst hit
   • Spread to North America with NYC being worst hit so far (early April)
   • WHO declared it a pandemic on March 11, 2020
   • Schools, universities, travel, recreational facilities, pubs, playgrounds, libraries and national parks are all closed
   • People are working from home (My husband and I started working from home on March 16, 2020 – the same day schools closed in Calgary)
   • Demand for oil and products made from oil such as gasoline plummeted
   • Lots of people are losing their jobs and govt. are rolling out stimulus packages
   • Risk of health care system being overwhelmed with not enough ventilators or hospital beds for everyone
2. WTI crude oil prices collapsed
   • March 2020 – Saudi Arabia, leader of OPEC+ cartel could not reach a deal with Russia and crude oil prices more than halved from around $60/bbl to around $20ish/bbl. The price war has begun.
   • The energy market plummeted with some stocks losing 80% – 90% of their value (PPL stock trading at $53.79 (peak) before the crash, hit bottom (so far) at $15.27)
   • People working in oil and gas (including me and my husband) are worried about losing our jobs. There will be massive layoffs in the oil and gas industry if Saudi and Russia don’t come back to their senses. But this is what free market is like.
3. Stock Market crashed all over the world
   • All the overvalued stocks that were climbing and climbing throughout 2019 and into 2020 crashed.
   • Airline, cruise, hotel and energy stocks were hit the most

This is probably once in a lifetime crisis. What should we do now? Here’s what I am doing.

1. Act on things that are within our control
   • Save Cash
     • Enter savings mode and save cash for when/if you lose your job
     • Get a personal or secured Line of Credit if that makes you feel more secure
     • Increase amortization on your mortgage to increase monthly cash flow and save the cash
     • Decrease your bills, if possible
   • Invest in undervalued securities
     • Lots of great buys in the market so invest some of your cash for future growth potential
   • Get effective and productive at working from home
     • Show your company that you can adapt
     • Set up workspace so that you are comfortable and ergonomically setup
     • Communicate with your manager more often
     • Turn on your camera (don’t care too much how you look)
   • Take care of your health
     • Get good sleep
     • Take your vitamins
     • Don’t stress
     • Stay home
   • If you didn’t already stock up on groceries then order them online or go during non-peak hours
2. Don’t worry about things that are not in your control
   • Watch less news – too much news about people dying etc. is depressing
   • Go outside for walks everyday
   • Connect with your partner and your family
   • Yoga and meditation at home
   • Read some of the books on your reading list
   • Start a project (organize a section of the house, learn to play music, build a model, write a blog)
   • Journal – as these events are unprecedented, write about them and about how you feel
   • Text your friends and set up virtual coffees/drinks
   • Coloring books for adults are relaxing and helps unwind
3. Come up with some fun activities to do at home with your kids (if you have kids) or with your significant other (or by yourself) and stay positive
   • Dust off old board games
   • Coloring together
   • Learning to draw or play music together
   • Family yoga time
   • Nature walks/biking
   • Learning a new language together
   • Family reading time (aloud or quiet)
   • Family computer games time (pick a collaborative & fun game)
   • Model building and coloring
   • Journaling time

And remember…. This too shall pass!