Life On Hold – Happy Friday 13th!

The worldwide China Virus pandemic is certainly the top news story of the last few days. The news keeps getting exponentially worse. I almost do not want to watch the news, but I do. Kind of like watching a train wreck. Speaking of train wrecks, the stock market has spiralled to a completely panicked state with several days of record drops in Dow. Some crazy times!

Life On Hold

We have decided to just lay low for a few weeks. We are both fine and in good health, but are in the over 60 age group, so the prudent thing is to practice good “social distancing.” It is funny how they come up with these new terms.

So, we will just take some hikes at a couple of local state parks, work on hobbies, read some books, etc. Try to stay away from large groups of people. One of the reasons that we came to this RV park (Pioneer Creek RV Resort), was the large amount of activities. And with all of the activities include small to large groups of other folks. Well, darn, guess we’ll pass on most the activities.

In the next few weeks, we will not be going to anymore theme parks, crowded restaurants, movie theaters or other such activities. Many will be closed anyway. Such as Disney will be closing on the close of business March 15. Unprecedented!

Better to be prepared and safe rather than sorry. It is probably way over-hyped, but looking at just how very contagious the virus is combined with how deadly it can be is enough to cause concern.

Flights in from Europe (less UK) and many other countries are now banned. I’m beginning to wonder if it will get to the point where states begin to restrict travel as someone mentioned on one of the blogs I read. That might change our travel plans.

I also hear about how dire it has become in Italy. A very high mortality rate and containment has not been very good. Maybe the variables are just different in Italy or maybe they are further along the curve. They have younger people, not just 80 year olds, ending up on ventilators to breathe.

Sudden Economy Stop

It is hard to imagine all of the sporting events or businesses that have either temporarily closed, postponed, or cancelled seasons. The list just seems to keep growing. From the Masters golf tournament, to the NBA & NHL seasons, to the NCAA tournament.

After three years of RV travel, I finally bought a Dish satellite system to watch news and sports. Having the ability to watch most of the NCAA games was my goal. Especially since we decided to stay home for awhile. The next day after I set up the system, they cancelled the tournament! Oh well, we can keep up to date with Fox News now.

I guess the airlines and cruise lines are all but stopped at this time. The only upside to the economy is the run on grocery stores to stock up on food, Lysol and toilet paper.

And probably the largest driver is that people like us are staying in and not out spending. This and all the above combine to trickle down into an economic mess.

Stock Market Impact On Us

I have heard for months that most all economic indicators (growth, jobs, unemployment), were positive. But at the Dow’s all time record high, and a 10-year bull market, it just takes some unsettling news to bring crashing down the market.

Hopefully, it will recover in the next 12 months. In the meantime, I’ll switch to some money market funds to make our withdraw. Our RV travel budget is funded by 50% of our social security income and 50% from savings.

Now is not the time to withdraw anything from the stock market. Just wait a few months and it should return to normal.

We can also quite drastically reduce our spending by booking into a low-cost no-frills RV park for the spring and summer. It is great to have that flexibility. Maybe pick up some new hobbies instead of seeing more of this great country. The USA will still be there next year.

In the meantime, practice good social distancing, avoid large crowds, and wash your hands while singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” And good luck finding toilet paper at Walmart! 🙂

Take care and God Bless.

V