Please Don’t Feed the Bear

So rumor has it that there’s a little bit of stuff happening in the world these days. A battle on the most massive of scales. Against an enemy that can’t be seen with the naked eye. Or even the clothed eye.

Yes, Dear Reader, I’m talking about bad puns. Foul beasts they! Alas, the world finally has awakened from its slumber. Opun the floodgates of rage!

Oh, and a worldwide pandemic. There’s that, too.

Down town

Regardless of which awfulness is more awful, the bottom line is that the world is in turmoil. That’s in no small part because every country’s economy has taken a battering. In the United States, job and economic gains made over the course of the last 10 years were wholly wiped out in four short weeks. Unemployment levels aren’t just comparable with those during the Great Recession, they’re as high as during the Great Depression. That’s nothing to sneeze at. Unless you have COVID-19. In which case you are excused. But please stay at least six feet away and wear a mask.

Of course, financial markets around the world also have been clobbered. And although I and most other rational thinkers believe that there is an end to the misery, we can’t now know when it’ll be. And who knows when markets will actually climb back to their pre-recession heights. Could be years.

In short, the roaring economy that many countries saw in The Before Times is no more. We’re in a bear market. And this bear isn’t the cuddly type. Stories abound of how much money stockholders have lost. 20%! 25%! 30%! For some people that likely, and sadly, is true.

But not us. We’re heavily invested in the stock market, but we haven’t lost a penny.

Wait, what?!

Not locked . . . and hopefully more loaded

How can this be? Well, Dear Reader, we haven’t sold any stock since the downturn started. So although the value of our stock-holdings is down an eye-watering amount, we haven’t locked in and realized any losses. And although I can’t predict the future, we hope not to anytime soon.

If you count dividend payments and the stimulus payment Uncle Sam sent us — however undeserving of it I will be the first to admit we are — we’re actually having a decent last couple of months. I don’t mean to come off as smug. I’m just saying that we’ve not made any moves that have cost us actual money. And, even more important, we’re incredibly, incredibly fortunate.

I think about how fortunate we are Every. Single. Day. My family is, thank goodness, all COVID-19-free and otherwise in good health. The Missus is still gainfully employed. And although I’m self-employed, I have not yet been cut loose by those to whom I provide services. Were I to be cast aside like a rotten fish (which, if you haven’t had it, don’t knock it), it would be very unfortunate. But it’d be completely understandable. I’m an expense to groups that are themselves expenses.

But the people who I said were down 20%! 25%! 30%!? What of them? Those, Dear Reader, are the folks who liquidated their stock portfolios over the last few months. Some no doubt did so out of great necessity. I feel for all these people (tho my sympathy is greater for the ants among them as opposed to the grasshoppers). They had two terrible options: sell and lock in huge losses or stand pat and suffer other devastating consequences.

But those who panic sold? They just flat out made a colossal financial mistake in this ignorant humble blogger’s estimation. They might feel relieved now. But when the market comes back (let alone when the market reaches new all-time highs), they might feel a bit queasy. At least I would if I was one of them.

My message: let the bear stay hungry. They’re a major threat!