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The Financial Times reported last week that online stock brokerages, like E-Trade, hit a record number of account sign-ups in March and April. Rich Repetto, senior analyst at Sandler O’Neill (investment banking firm) commented that the stay-at-home mandate plus no live sporting events for bettors to wager on motivated many to trade stocks online. Whoa! Think about that for a minute. These people were so starved to bet on something, they decided to bet on stocks!

Last year I wrote what I called a “practice” graduation letter to my daughter. Now that she has officially graduated, sans in-person commencement, I reviewed what I wrote and decided the advice is still pertinent. Here goes:

Friends of ours are in the process of downsizing and would like to move to a different, hipper, part of town. (Not in Lexington) As they grapple with the details of freeing up cash for necessary work on their current home, look for a new house to purchase, attempt to decipher mortgage details and, maybe most of all, try to assemble all the moving parts in a sequence that avoids living in an apartment between houses, it can be quite stressful. Amid all of this I asked if they had ever considered renting rather than buying a new place.

What have you learned about yourself during the pandemic?

Recently, a friend of mine told me she used to dream of being at home all day during retirement…until the pandemic forced her to work from home. Although busy, she is nonetheless bored. She now believes that dream was premature and maybe she needs a more thorough plan for when retirement arrives. Her story reminds me of the importance of planning for your post-career purpose, not just for your financial future.

My 14-year old client, Wally (not his real name), recently showed wisdom beyond his years when pondering an investment question. For background, four years ago Wally had a few bucks that he’d saved from birthday gifts and mowing his grandfather’s lawn that he decided to invest. The measly interest from a bank savings account wasn’t getting the job done so he chose, on his own, three individual company stocks to buy. Now, we invest our clients in mutual funds rather than common stocks, but occasionally a client will ask to invest a small amount of their portfolio in a company they like and this seemed to be a good way for Wally to learn about the stock market. Here are the companies he chose to purchase:

I realize that I don’t dream anymore. I don’t mean the “being chased by a creepy guy and my legs won’t work” kind of dream. I have more of those than ever. But, ever since the pandemic lockdown started, I don’t daydream about the future anymore. No more dreams about traveling to London, Paris and Tuscany; no plans to show Iceland to my wife and wondering whether we should visit the Faroe Islands while we’re in the neighborhood; and no thoughts of a 275-yard bomb off the tee box on the 18th. Quite frankly, I’m not sure what to dream about now and I really miss it. And that’s a shame because dreaming is the fun, first step toward doing.

Spoiler alert: I don’t know. Spoiler alert number two: neither does anyone else. I get a kick out of prognostications anticipating all this activity from home – working, teaching, learning, exercising – will catch on. As if, after several months of 4 Zoom meetings a day with 3 of them occurring in the middle of a light sabre battle between your offspring, people will want…MORE of this! I don’t know about you, but this extrovert’s family is about three days away from applying for me to be a bagger at Kroger just so I can talk with people for a few hours. (What’s more, before this pandemic party, I didn’t even realize I am an extrovert!)

My pre-Covid days went something like this: I would start my day with a run in my Asics running shoes (stock ticker symbol: ASCCY) and some Nike gear (NKE). I would then shave using a Harry’s razor (EPC) and Gillette shaving cream (PG) and almost always shower, using Ivory soap (PG).

Upon reflection of the financial crisis that caused the Great Recession in 2008-09, most analysts agree that both Congress and the Federal Reserve acted too slowly and too timidly to effectively ease the economic pain. In fact, most believe their inaction caused the recession to be deeper and more prolonged than if they’d acted more decisively.

During March the financial markets – both stocks and bonds – have behaved like I felt: tired, panicked and emotional. Let’s face it, those among us who haven’t felt those emotions are delusional or are actually robots. Working from home, figuring out Zoom, watching baseball games from 1976 rather than the NCAA tournament, wondering if every spring allergy sneeze is actually…IT! It’s quite natural to feel stressed and that makes us tired, which can lead to poor decision making. The stock and bond markets have been panicking – don’t fall for the trap.