I haven’t written a blog post in over six weeks. I was busy moonlighting, working for the Small Business Administration, helping to process the millions of Economic Injury Disaster Loan requests they’ve received from small businesses. It was a good thing to do, work that makes a difference. Still, after five plus weeks, the long hours and lack of any kind of life outside of work convinced me to give it up. I imagine you’ll be hearing more about what I learned from those weeks once I’ve had a chance to process. For now, I’ll just say—I’m baacckkk.

Is there a lesson in this, somewhere?

When I was able to tear myself away from my computer screen, I noticed that COVID-19 is still with us, on the increase in the southeast where I live. There has to be something positive that will come out of all of the destruction this pandemic is causing! My crystal ball continues to be broken. However, an area where I believe we’ll see change is in people’s willingness to save for both the expected and the unexpected. During our 12 year bull market, it was often difficult to convince clients, sometimes even myself, to keep a good store of cash savings. No one wanted to miss out on the returns in the stock market to keep cash that wouldn’t even earn enough to keep up with inflation. A market that just goes up and up starts to feel like the safest place to stash any extra funds. But the pandemic and resulting market uncertainty reminded us of the fault in this logic. The market is the place to be until the day it isn’t anymore…and then it’s too late to run for safety in cash. Who is the person among us who can accurately predict what day the bull market will turn to a bear? I don’t know that person, either, but I know it isn’t me.

A market correction is just the reminder we need to keep cash for near term requirements and then some more just in case—a curveball fund. Those of us fortunate enough to still have an income are going to have an easier time saving some of it, too, thanks to the pandemic. In January, you might have felt that eating out and travel were non-discretionary expenses. What kind of life would it be if you were deprived of these conveniences and pleasures? That question has been answered! We may not love our new pandemic lifestyle, but we have been forced to learn that we can get along spending a lot less in some of our favorite spending categories. This, combined with an awakened sense of the need to have cash savings, can lead to a reordering of our priorities for our income. I think it’s a great opportunity to bulk up our savings and experience the peace of mind that comes from knowing that, at least financially, we’re prepared for whatever life throws at us.

Money magazine article

Recently I spoke with Money magazine staff writer Noel Davila while he was putting together this article on savings. Check it out here: Money.com Best Savings Accounts

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