Coronavirus: when do we reach the bottom of the dip?

Yeah haven’t really noticed a pattern except as usual the power of peer pressure. Groups tend to be either all fully masked or not covering their face, rarely mix.

Interesting how this thread went from the investment aspects of the covid-19 prevention measures to a medical debate. Ultimately, whether the measures taken are logical or not is irrelevant in relation to the fact that they are implemented, from an investment perspective. That’s my opinion anyway.

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Not much optimism coming from these experts.

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I see we have been having a mask discussion for a while, which has been interesting to follow.
But it would be interesting to hear how you guys invest now during the ongoing, and seeming neverending Covid-19 saga? plus the ongoing riots and looting in the US which causes instability over there.

Do you invest as you usually do, following your old plan? or have you changed your strategy? Are you not investing at all at the moment and are keeping your saved money in liquidity?
(and please refrain from letting this go into a political discussion know)

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I’m back to 100% staying with my original plan, even though during the first few days of the crash I put some money in the market a bit earlier than planned. I didn’t get it perfect, but compared to my planned timing I made a profit. :grinning:

Honestly, I think if you change your (investment) plans because of Corona, then you should carefully think about why you chose to change your plans. Were they inadequate for your risk tolerance? Were they just bad? Am I getting carried away by daily prices? Did I learn something big?

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I’ve been investing for over a decade back in the UK and I automated my investments many years ago - takes the emotion out of it and I can just set and forget.

In Switzerland however, I only started investing recently (Dec 2019) - I have a fund account with my bank with a standing order set to invest a set amount each quarter on the 20th. I invest in a simple fund that tracks the MSCI World Index.

Many of my friends panic sold in March taking a 30%+ hit on their portfolio and then stayed in cash like idiots all throughout the greatest 50 day rally in the history of the market. Now they are too scared to enter back in as they think the market is too high. I’ve seen this so many times before, back in 2001, 2008 and even the 20% correction in Dec 2018.

By automating your investments, you avoid all the above - human beings are emotional and irrational. I completely ignore the financial news (looking at you CNBC!) and don’t even check my portfolio - sometimes I forget its even there.

I looked at it today on the back of this post - I am up 10% YTD by simply doing nothing.

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This is so sad. They will never be successful in investing.

You can add the 1987 crash. The lesson: don’t fight the Fed, it will always rescue the markets!

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Selling in panic in March is one thing.
Predicting some sort of subsequent recovery would not have taken great stretches of imagination.

Foreseeing „the greatest 50 day rally in history“ and new all-time highs on stock markets would probably have seemed ludicrous though, without the benefit of hindsight.
And many price ratios are (still) at levels that don’t seem sustainable from a historic perspective. The market may in fact be „too high“ - and the jury‘s still out on that (or the market and its participants, rather).

Speaking of these years, it took the markets and stock indices years to recover their losses back then - not a mere 50 days or something.

And while 2001 and 2008 might have been major shakeups in the financial markets, 2020 seems to have (had) much larger effects on the „real“ economy and society - with major (negative) shakeups on the financial markets possibly still ahead of us, rather than behind. A debt crisis might still be looming.

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I agree mate - but I am not clever enough to predict or analyse all these things, nor do I have the time to look at charts all day.

I like to keep my investing very very simple… the only two things that matter to me are consistency and discipline. When Fidelity conducted their customer account audit and revealed that their best investors are dead or inactive that really struck a chord with me - sometimes its best just to do nothing.

I can’t compete with the quants, hedgefunds or professional traders out there - I don’t have the same access to the information or tools… but I do want to participate in the financial markets and passive investing levels the playing field somewhat.

If I hadn’t automated my investing, I guarantee I wouldn’t have put any more money in back in March because all the nonsense that I was hearing on CNBC - literally every expert that was wheeled out was talking about Armageddon and the markets falling another 40 - 50 %, in the end they were all wrong - which proves that no one really knows anything.

Ironically, March 20th was around the bottom and that investment alone more than made up for all my losses from December. Thank God I just stayed invested and stuck to my plan and I didn’t lose any money

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For that kind of investing, it’s clear… But who knows, they could be good in less speculative sorts of investments…

Interesting article by KTipp

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There is a reason why you shouldn’t use a mask a second time and why hand washing is recommended.

I also wonder by what method and how fast the masks were transported to the lab for testing.

Nothing to worry about. I eat tons of blue cheese (which combines both: bacteria and mold) - it’s delicious and healthy!

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I hope we won’t see more no-maskers because of this article…

You’re missing the point. “Shouldn’t” is the key word. They took some real life examples and saw what could be expected. People reuse their masks. I’m guilty of it too. I will not carry a pack of fresh masks and wear a new one each time I step into a shop or a tram. On a saturday stroll through Zurich, I put the mask on 10 times a day (2x train, 2x tram, restaurant, coffee, shops, coop). How should this work? I just put it in my pocket and take it out again when needed.

Also, many people own multiuse cotton masks, either bought or self made. What is your opinion on these? Wear it, tuck it into the pocket, then wash it?

I mean masks are quite cheap right now, you can buy certified masks for around 20 Rp. per piece. Is it really such a hassle to carry a pack of 20 or so masks with you?

I’m skeptical about cotton masks, they have a lower filtration and you should disinfect them with 60°C hot water after each use. I highly doubt that people do that.

That’s the only mistake you make…or at least it seems. How do you put them back?

Are you serious? Yes it’s a big hassle. Should I carry a backpack just for the masks? Do you live in the real World? I know nobody who does it all exactly right. And most do it totally wrong.

And did you see the photos of streets full of used masks? Is waste reduction no longer an issue? With billions of masks used every day one can only imagine how much garbage we will produce.

I fold it the white side to the inside. I always wear the mask where it’s required, don’t want to get in any stressful situations. Can’t imagine I’m the only one here, maybe the others are shamed into silence.

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Yes? You can also package a few and put them in your back-pocket. This shouldn’t be a big deal.

Personally I find waste to be a much smaller issue than it takes up space in the public discourse. Properly managed waste has such a negligible impact on the environment that we should not spend that much time worrying about it.

Littering is a different problem, but I haven’t seen many masks on the ground.

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