Today, Josh & Austin are continuing to record from home (so please forgive any audio flaws). In this week’s episode, they will provide valuable insights into the spread of COVID-19, the pending fiscal stimulus package, the Olympic games, as well as some discussion around how the guys and their families are dealing with being home so much. At least for the next couple episodes, the COVID-19 will continue to be the topic of discussion for The Invested Dads!
Main Talking Points
[0:58] – The Latest Stats on COVID-19
[5:57] – Why Are Some Other Countries Containing COVID-19 Better?
[8:04] – The Outlook for COVID-19
[10:38] – Economic Indicators We’re Watching
[13:11] – Join Us Thursdays at 4pm for Bear Market Brews!
[14:28] – The Fiscal Stimulus Package
[17:28] – Monetary Policies to Limit the Economic Impact from COVID-19
[21:17] – Economic Impacts from Postponing 2020 Olympics
[24:45] – Stay-at-Home Order in Ohio
[26:38] – Dad Joke of the Week!
[27:53] – How Are We Handling Being at Home All Day?
[33:28] – Thanks for Joining Us! Stay Safe and Healthy!
Links & Resources
How to Exercise Control During These Crazy Times (The Everyday Advisor)
Social Media
Full Transcript
Intro:
Welcome to The Invested Dads Podcast, simplifying financial topics so that you can take action and make your financial situation better. Helping you to understand the current world of financial planning and investments, here are your hosts, Josh Robb and Austin Wilson.
Austin Wilson:
This is a good muffin, man.
Josh Robb:
Where’d you get it? Homemade?
Austin Wilson:
I think Aldi, Kroger. I don’t know.
Josh Robb:
I don’t know.
Austin Wilson:
It’s no doughnut but-
Josh Robb:
Those big muffins are great.
Austin Wilson:
I’m calling it a health doughnut.
Josh Robb:
It’s good.
Austin Wilson:
It’s a muffin for ya.
Josh Robb:
Muffins are good. They’re the wrapped version of a doughnut.
Austin Wilson:
Just the baked version of a doughnut instead of fried.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, that’s true.
Austin Wilson:
Okay. As soon as I finish this muffin we can [inaudible muffin eating].
Josh Robb:
You’re making me hungry.
Austin Wilson:
All right. Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to The Investor Dads Podcast. Today, Josh and I are still recording this podcast from our homes, but we are aiming to bring you some fresh insights into the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. So Josh, take it away. How are things looking out there?
[0:58] – The Latest Stats on COVID-19
Josh Robb:
All right, so first let’s kind of look at what the cases and number of deaths are both here in the US and globally. Today is the 25th, March 25th, so that’s kind of a reference point. These numbers are as of that day. Globally there are 427,593 cases.
Austin Wilson:
Wow, that’s a lot.
Josh Robb:
Yes, and total deaths are up to 19,313. Just over 19,000 deaths globally. That brings the percentage or the fatality rate to 4.5% globally.
Austin Wilson:
Wow.
Josh Robb:
Obviously the hotspots, Italy and Spain, and France over in Europe are the big ones. Iran has had actually they have a very high mortality rate over 7.5%. So that’s another hot spot. Then of course the US, we are growing quickly.
Austin Wilson:
I think we’re now in third.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. Part of that is we’ve upped our testing.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
As we test more people, we will find that COVID-19 is a little more widespread. We have 53,694 cases here in the US with 722 deaths. Our fatality rate is actually 1.3%. It is lower than the average, but we’re also earlier into this COVID-19. We will definitely be seeing the number of cases growing and the number of deaths.
Kind of what we’re watching though is that what you want to see is that kind of plateau at some point. Hopefully this isolation which we’ll talk a little more about will help. As we are doing more testing, we are going to find more and more cases because right now the testing is people that are very high risk are the ones getting tested.
Obviously New York over half of the cases of the country are there and they’re doubling about every three days. Then in California-
Austin Wilson:
Pretty quick.
Josh Robb:
Yeah in California the governor there was saying they think maybe what 80% of the people are going to get it was his-
Austin Wilson:
He said this morning that he expects the shutdown to 8-12 weeks in California.
Josh Robb:
Wow.
Austin Wilson:
So that’s a long-
Josh Robb:
That’s a long time inside. Then obviously Washington-
Austin Wilson:
Washington also has a lot with obviously it started with some retirement homes.
Josh Robb:
Yes. We are working through that. I mean that was kind of the initial place and so they’re kind of one of the early ones so we can watch how that works and how that spreads there.
Testing has been ramped up. We’re getting more and more cases being confirmed just because of the more availability of the test. The scary part though is most people will have little or no symptoms and so they’re spreading the virus without even doing so willingly or knowingly. That’s the biggest concern is that younger people, especially kids and young adults who maybe just say, “I have a slight cold.” Go out, spread that virus because it’s very contagious.
I listen to podcasts and Austin I think you listen to it too. They had a scientist on talking through that. Airborne, it can last a while just in the air. It’s so light and small. They’re microscopic. It floats in the air in a sense and somebody may walk by and you may walk into this not realizing it because it just hangs out in the air. Then when it lands on a surface you can last another three, five, seven days depending on the surface. You can get contact without knowing it.
Austin Wilson:
That was the 10x.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
Podcast with the DNA scientist.
Josh Robb:
Yup.
Austin Wilson:
We’ll link that in the show notes. It was extremely informative and interesting. I will put the disclaimer out there that the audio quality because of the voiceover IP demand that was happening was pretty, pretty tricky.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
Just know that when you’re listening to it, but yeah, we will link them to show notes. It was pretty fascinating. Overall they talked about how like anywhere that things can get in your body, so like your nose, your mouth. I think he said you’ve been in your eyes.
Josh Robb:
Yes. Eyes are-
Austin Wilson:
Are areas where this thing can kind of get in and cover that stuff up.
Josh Robb:
Yup. Then he kind of walks through how it impacts you. How it impacts yourselves and where it goes. It was very informative.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
Hearing that too, really the best practices are just try not to touch your face. Keep your hands clean, avoid contact with your face because yes you can inhale it, but the more often you’re getting exposed is from you putting that into your body through contact.
Austin Wilson:
I even heard that it was recommended that men shave their beards during this.
Josh Robb:
What?
Austin Wilson:
Because if bears are big… while they’re flavor savers…
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
For sure. They’re also germ savers and it’s hard to not groom that beard with your hand, which is right by your mouth.
Josh Robb:
Yes, that’s true. So maybe we’ll have to look at trimming it up.
Austin Wilson:
I’m growing my beard out. It’s a bear market beard.
Josh Robb:
Oh man. I may have to trim mine.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah. My wife told me that and I was like, I don’t know how I feel about that. I think I’m going to keep it, but I just won’t ever leave my house.
[5:57] – Why Are Some Other Countries Containing COVID-19 Better?
Josh Robb:
Yeah, that works too. Austin, there’s some countries like China and Japan and South Korea, they’ve really been very effective at slowing, at least the growth of new cases better so than us or Italy. What do you think is going on there? What are some of the things?
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, I think there’s a couple of reasons there. I think number one, think about China specifically. They already lived through SARS, Bird Flu, H1N1, all those things. The people over there, they know what it takes to stop the spread quickly and they’re willing to do whatever it takes. That is pretty much stay home and don’t go out and don’t do anything. It’s worked.
If you look at the growth rates on these things specifically in Asian countries, having been through these things before, they’ve been able to kind of slow things down.
I also think the second part of that is that people in these countries are much less caught up in the thoughts the government’s trying to take away their freedoms, as a lot of Americans are. I feel that this is really a big risk for our slowing and recovery because Americans kind of feel entitled to do whatever they want. When they’re told or asked not to, they start thinking it’s time to assemble a militia or something. There’s so many people freaking out on Twitter like, “Oh, go buy ammo and this is the government.” Yada, yada.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. Like in China, the government has… They control a lot more.
Austin Wilson:
Yes.
Josh Robb:
When they say and do things. They have the threat of the military behind them that it’s been historically shown that they will use it if they people dissent.
Austin Wilson:
We just are so against being told what to do because we’re free. That when we get told what to do as a country, not necessarily me specifically, but as a country-
Josh Robb:
I do what I want.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah. It seems threatening. It seems threatening of our way of life and the way that our country is operating and people are not liking it. People are outraged right now just by being told to stay home. I think that that is a risk for us because people are not going to be willing to do what they’re asked to do. It’s going to continue to spread this longer than it than it has in those other economies where people were more willing to do what they’re told.
[8:04] – The Outlook for COVID-19
Josh Robb:
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. President Trump, obviously he’s been in the news. He’s made kind of some predictions and thoughts. One of the things he says he wants to see is the economy up and running by Easter, which is April 12th.
Austin Wilson:
That’s coming up.
Josh Robb:
It is a short time away. I mean obviously everybody wants the economy up and running as soon as possible. I don’t think that’s an obscure statement, but the fact that the president says that carries a little bit more weight than if I said, oh, I mean I wish we were out ready to go for Easter. Part of that I think has to do with just this desire to minimize the impact on the economy of this lockdown that we’re in.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, for sure.
Josh Robb:
The other part too is we’re getting closer and closer to the next election. Historically speaking, a president who is looking for reelection needs a strong economy. That’s just historically speaking when we look at elections and the percent of those that are reelected in bad economies is pretty much zero.
Austin Wilson:
Right.
Josh Robb:
There’s probably some underlying thoughts there, but overall, I think if you ask a senator, you ask a governor, anybody will say, “Yeah, as soon as we can safely get up and running, we need to. To get those small businesses, everybody back to the jobs and get the economy humming again.” The balance that is, you don’t want to go too soon because then you’ll just restart this whole thing-
Austin Wilson:
I know I kind of fear that people are going to try and get back too soon and that’s going to… Things start to look better and then people will kind of push to get back and open things up. Then it just starts over again.
Josh Robb:
Yeah.
Austin Wilson:
We’re going to be back in a worse place than we would have been if we would’ve just waited another week or two or three or whatever, kind of ease in to it.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. Because you could go two weeks before you show symptoms and still be contagious.
Austin Wilson:
I know.
Josh Robb:
That’s the thing is if we’re doing a 15 day lockdown, that’s a day over two weeks. If I didn’t get the virus until this week and I’m still a week before showing symptoms, when I go out in public, you could start spreading it again.
Austin Wilson:
Right. Yeah. I think this is a point where it is going to be important for both sides of the aisle, the white house, everyone to kind of not only try and look out for the economy, but listen to the health experts around the world.
Josh Robb:
Yeah.
Austin Wilson:
Because they’ve seen this in other countries and how it’s worked and they’re trying to do what’s best for us and everyone needs to work together. It’s all hands on deck at this point.
Josh Robb:
Yes, definitely.
[10:38] – Economic Indicators We’re Watching
Austin Wilson:
I guess the markets have been all over the place lately. It’s safe to say that the virus is already having a big impact on the economy. The economy flows through the corporate earnings, which drive stock prices. Well that uncertainty as to the extensive situation has created a lot of volatility, lots of big up, big downswings all over the place.
I guess to update on what is now. Officially we’re in the bear market. Right now the S&P 500 is down about 27% from all-time highs as of this morning on 3/25 before the market opened I think.
Josh Robb:
Yeah.
Austin Wilson:
That is not quite 30% because of a good rally we’ve had the day before, but we’re still down 25+%. The Dow’s down 28% still from all-time highs and the NASDAQ down 24. Pretty deep into bear market territory there, but as of right now, this is 3/25 and it’s about 10 in the morning. Markets are up a little bit…
Josh Robb:
The S&P’s down just slightly.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
But they’re all pretty much flat.
Austin Wilson:
Yup. This is really based on the fiscal stimulus bill that we’ll talk about here in a little bit. I think that there’s a handful of things that we’re looking for as we are managing investments specifically, and that is number one, we want US confirmed cases to slow. But we do think the market is really going to bottom before the cases peak. Slowing is good though.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. You’ll want to see that trend. Yeah.
Austin Wilson:
Exactly.
Josh Robb:
Slow it down.
Austin Wilson:
We also think that this is a market where it’s really driven by sentiment right now. It’s not necessarily completely fundamental driven as things typically are over the long run. This is a very sentiment driven market.
As of now the bears are still kind of in control, so we think this is an environment where some technical analysis could be important and we’re watching a couple of technical indicators that really say who’s in control and right now bears are still driving the bus.
We’re also looking for dollar, the US dollar to weaken compared to its counterparts and we believe the market’s actually going to tell us the government has provided enough stimulus, which hopefully through this bill that will help a lot and that will cause the dollar to start to weaken.
We also feel that crude oil’s probably going to bottom. When we see that bottom that’s going to provide kind of a floor and a good point to see that hopefully we can get a rebound for the rest of the broader market from that. Those are a handful of things that I’m looking for and we’re keeping track of every day in our daily job.
[13:11] – Join Us Thursdays at 4 pm for Bear Market Brews!
Josh Robb:
Yeah. You mentioned like things that you’re watching looking for. Now, I know we’ve been talking here at our office. You guys, you, Adam, Tony, the investment committee. You guys are going to be doing something new. It’s called some sort of thing where you’re tracking the bear market.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
People can jump in on it. What’s that called? Tell me a little bit about that.
Austin Wilson:
Yes. As of today when this episode comes out at 4:00 Eastern, Tony, and Adam, and I are going to be hosting a call, which is going to really continue every week through this bear market called Bear Market Brews.
It’s going to be a virtual happy hour where we’re going to talk about all things, markets, economy, COVID-19, those kinds of things and things that we’re watching in real-time. As well as just sharing our favorite brews and just having a good relaxing conversation about this kind of thing.
Just to kind of additional way to show some things that we’re looking at and some things that might be worth taking a look at in the broader market. That starts today at 4:00 PM, we’ll throw a link in the show notes to our website where you can sign up for that webinar and we look forward to having you.
Josh Robb:
If you can’t make it, you guys are recording this so somebody can listen to it later as well.
[14:28] – The Fiscal Stimulus Package
Austin Wilson:
Correct. Yes, it will be recorded for replay as well. I alluded to it earlier, but fiscal stimulus is a big sticking point and thing that we’ve been looking forward to getting kind of figured out in this economy that is increasingly at risk from this virus.
I think from the outside looking in, it really hasn’t been surprising that Republicans and Democrats have been unable to put together a bill that could pass both the house and the Senate until recently.
Now, as of late last night and today, on the 25th, we have news that while it hasn’t been completely voted on and approved, we’re definitely headed that direction with about a $2 trillion fiscal stimulus package.
Now fiscal stimulus package is really looking at the government’s spending of money to kind of boost up the economy. As opposed to monetary policy, which we’ll talk about in a second. Some examples of this fiscal stimulus package of about $2 trillion are: $500 billion to back loans in the aid companies, $350 billion for small business aid, $150 billion for hospitals and other healthcare providers, and that total’s a trillion. Then one other trillion is direct stimulus of $1,200 per adult and $500 per child for income up to 75K for individuals, and 150K for couples, or married filing jointly tax filers, is in direct stimulus.
This will be checks that comes in the mail. I think that there’s still targeting maybe April 6th or something like that.
Josh Robb:
So it’s like two weeks away.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, it’s coming. That is kind of the biggest news as well as there’s some more loosening of unemployment issues with claiming that and deferral of taxes back to at least July. There are some restraints on corporations, whether they may use some of this quote unquote bail out money. They can’t use it for buybacks and there’s a period where they can’t use it after even they’re done paying it back. It’s very, very interesting.
That is what drove really the optimism of that drove the markets up for a record day since the 1930s yesterday where the Dow closed over 2000 points higher in like 11%. It was a pretty good day.
Josh Robb:
Yeah.
Austin Wilson:
This all in the midst of a bunch of crazy selling weeks before, but it definitely was an encouraging thing to see some green on the screen for once.
Josh Robb:
It comes back to, and we’ve had that conversation some of the best up days are positioned around some of the worst down days. That’s part of why a steady approach, not overreacting, and trying to time the market. I mean you just missed if you were trying to time in and out, 11% up day that came in this middle of down days.
Yeah, it again comes back to having a plan, working it out with a financial advisor, and then sticking to it because no one knows what he’s up and down days are going to come.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
In the long run you need to participate in these up days if you want to see that growth, but you can’t try to time in and out.
[17:28] – Monetary Policies to Limit the Economic Impact from COVID-19
Austin Wilson:
Yup. Monetary policy’s the other side of the equation. Larry Kudlow yesterday in the evening sometimes said that, “Between the $2 trillion fiscal stimulus bill that they’re working out and signing and everything right now, and $4 trillion of monetary policy from the Federal Reserve intervention, that is $6 trillion dollars that we’ve been able to kind of pull together to save the economy from this.
Josh Robb:
A lot of money.
Austin Wilson:
It’s a couple of weeks. That is a ton of money and put together very quickly. I think that that’s also raising some eyebrows. A, as to, hey, how are we going to pay for this in the long run and B, well, you can’t really ask anyone how they’re going to pay for things anymore because we’re pretty sure that we just pulled $6 billion out of our back pocket in two weeks.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, six trillion.
Austin Wilson:
Six… Did I say a trillion or a billion?
Josh Robb:
Billion, but it’s trillion.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, yeah, it’s trillion with a T, don’t forget that.
Josh Robb:
Add some extra zeros on to that.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, exactly.
Josh Robb:
What are zeros? I mean, they’re worth nothing. So just add some more zeros.
Austin Wilson:
No you just add them on at the end. As far as monetary policy goes, at a high level, the Federal Reserve has been doing the best it can main the liquidity in the fixed income markets. They’ve been purchasing a variety of security types in the fixed income market there while making debt crazy cheap for banks, which really flows to businesses and the consumers.
They actually had two emergency meetings where they cut rates essentially back down to zero and to just kind of stimulate any sort of stability and growth in the market so that they can. They’re doing things a lot faster than they did in 2008 and in 2009 and I think they’re doing the right thing.
I mean, they’re trying to limit the blow as much as possible and they’re taking drastic big actions up front. Now, the question is what do they do next if this continues to get worse? They don’t really have a lot of levers to pull anymore.
Josh Robb:
I mean their job really is, I mean the biggest job is that liquidity is to make sure money can flow and that obviously they cut the rates down. Keeping the liquidity in the fixed income market is huge because that’s really going to be the biggest issue is because people… The economy is really being shuttered artificially.
Austin Wilson:
Right.
Josh Robb:
It’s not that there’s a sector causing issues that okay, my small business is doing fine and then all of a sudden no one’s buying anything. I need help. That’s that liquidity they have to continue to provide.
Austin Wilson:
Correct.
Josh Robb:
Now they can continue to do that through this buying back all different types of fixed income and bonds and stuff. They can continue to do that, but you’re right there out of those other mechanisms to pull the rates are as low as they can go.
Austin Wilson:
Right.
Josh Robb:
In general, as long as they could keep liquidity, I think that’ll keep the panic out of the fixed income side of things.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
At least for a while.
Austin Wilson:
Well, if you think about it. So quantitative easing was something that really came into play in the financial crisis and that is what the Fed is continuing with the purchases of these fixed income securities.
Josh Robb:
Yeah.
Austin Wilson:
They have recently said that they did not put a timeline and they did not put a dollar figure.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, they left it very open.
Austin Wilson:
On the latest iteration of this. They pretty much said that we will do whatever it takes to keep the fixed income markets moving properly. It’s actually theoretically on the table that the Fed would step in for asset purchases on equities. It has never… It has not happened thus far and they’ve not talked about doing that specifically, but I would imagine it will be on the table if things get worse. That’s not really the plan A at this point.
It’s really kind of like a QE forever. Just kind of as long as we need to ease the changes in the treasury markets and in the fixed income markets, we’re going to do it. I think it’s kind of unprecedented to just kind of have a blank check that the Fed is going to do what they’re going to do, but that’s where we’re at right now. Hopefully it will continue to provide some stability in there.
[21:17] – Economic Impacts from Postponing 2020 Olympics
Austin Wilson:
So Josh, we got some news on the 24th or yesterday as we’re recording this, about the 2020 Olympics that were supposed to take place in Tokyo. Fill us in on that.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. So obviously Japan was set to host, they’d been getting ready, they’d been building up all the cool stadiums, getting all set for COVID-19 to show up. For a while there were just kind of the, okay, do we just limit spectators? What are we going to do? Prime minister Abe, he proposed, “What if we move it a year until 2021.”
He proposed that to the Olympic committee. The international Olympic committee said, “Yeah, that makes sense,” because there’s a lot of money involved in Olympics.
Austin Wilson:
Right.
Josh Robb:
There’s been a lot of expense incurred by Japan.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
If they cannot get all the people coming to watch, they’re going to be out a ton of money.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
Everybody agreed that that makes a lot of sense. They’re moving the Olympics to 2021. So all those people out there that are training, you just get an extra year to get better I guess.
Austin Wilson:
Or eat a bunch of doughnuts and lose your edge.
Josh Robb:
That’s true.
Austin Wilson:
That’s what I would probably do.
Josh Robb:
Now, Austin you’ve met the prime minister, haven’t you?
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, I did in 2012 I was over there during college for a month in the summer and I met Prime Minister Abe before he was elected. He’s a cool guy. He is currently the longest serving prime minister in Japan’s history. A little fun fact there, but how will this impact business in the economy in Japan specifically or even around the world?
Josh Robb:
Yeah, I mean, the Olympics are a big business. I mean there’s a lot of money that moves through, like we said. Businesses in Japan, they’re going to… They’ve been predicting their impact of having the Olympics there. All their expectations are going to need to be readjusted.
Negatively this year the Japanese economy will be impacted, but hopefully it’ll just be moved one year. So all of the things they we’re hoping would happen this year will be next year. Hopefully because of all this self-quarantining, there’ll be a higher demand for people to actually get out and travel. They want to do some stuff like that. Maybe next year it’ll even be better for them from an economic standpoint.
Athletes have to train another year, but like you said, the hard part though is, I mean these are… You put a lot of intense training into this and you don’t want to peak too soon. If you extend that training, there’s a chance you could wear some muscles. I mean you could hurt yourself.
Austin Wilson:
Right.
Josh Robb:
You have to really pace yourself in what you’re doing and kind of reschedule how am I going to be prepared and ready for the games? If I have one next year to do it.
Austin Wilson:
What about… Think about a 2024 Olympics now are only three years.
Josh Robb:
Yeah.
Austin Wilson:
Going to be after that one.
Josh Robb:
Yeah.
Austin Wilson:
You’ve taken 25% of people’s preparation time and all of that out of the next games. I think that this has some rippling effects.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, it will for sure. Then of course there’s a lot of companies that are really involved within the Olympics. You have like Nike and Adidas, Under Armour, all of those ones you think about for apparel and shoes, they’re all there.
Austin Wilson:
Right.
Josh Robb:
Then obviously the TV stations that have the deals, all that stuff is built in and they’re selling commercials and all that stuff. All that’s got to be pushed another year down the road.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
There’s a lot of impact that spreads just beyond watching the games. Obviously, we talked about that in our 2020 Bold Predictions.
Austin Wilson: They sound a little too bold. Yeah, they sound a little too bold at this point.
Josh Robb:
We’re going to push that down. Maybe readjust them next year.
Austin Wilson:
That’s right, that’s right. We’ll link that episode in the show notes if you want to go see how we got the 2020 Olympics wrong.
Josh Robb:
We were wrong on a lot of that stuff.
[24:45] – Stay-at-Home Order in Ohio
Austin Wilson:
Yeah. So we’re recording this in Findlay, Ohio. We’re in Ohio. Josh, what is going on specifically around here?
Josh Robb:
Our governor, Governor DeWine, he has been one of the leading governors when it comes to implementing restrictions or limitations within the state. He’s one of the first that had a closing down and self-quarantining. The schools were shutting down. He has upped that. Has since kind of moved everything to all non-essential businesses are now closed.
There’s a huge list. I’m not going to go through all of it, but in a sense if you’re not essential, it was kind of at your own discretion before now it’s, hey, you’re done, you’re closed. There’s really not an option.
On top of that, they’re also saying all travel is limited to essential reasons only. I need to go get food, I need to go check on maybe a loved one who is in need, an elderly or something.
They’re really limiting in a sense removing that decision from all of us to say, “Okay, we were letting you self-quarantine. Now it’s kind of a step up. You need to be at home, you need to be quarantined, and we’re going to eliminate that temptation to get out and do anything else.”
Now they still encourage you to actually get outside, get some fresh air, get some sunlight. A lot of the parks and stuff are opened still so you can get out and walk around, but they’re just encourage you to stay a safe distance from everybody else.
If you have kids, it’s great when the weather’s nice to get out and let them burn some energy. It wasn’t DeWine’s decision, but here at Ohio spring has been postponed and snow will remain in effect for a while longer apparently.
Austin Wilson:
I mean we had-
Josh Robb:
Because it snowed two days ago.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, we had an inch or two just in the middle of the evening and I don’t know when I was expecting that but it’s almost April and we were still getting snow.
Josh Robb:
Has there ever been a lawsuit against that stinking groundhog and his bad predictions? Because I mean he’s…
Austin Wilson:
You could.
Josh Robb:
Wow. He’s ruining my life.
Austin Wilson:
Punxsutawney Phil. You better lawyer up.
[26:38] – Dad Joke of the Week!
Josh Robb:
All right, so speaking of a little bit of a lighter side of things, I got some dad jokes of the week for you.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, baby.
Josh Robb:
These are corona related, all right.
Austin Wilson:
Got you.
Josh Robb:
All right. Okay. First I’m going to tell you a corona joke, all right. You ready?. But you’re going to have to wait two weeks to get it. You get it? Because it takes a while to show up. That’s the-
Austin Wilson:
Oh, Josh.
Josh Robb:
All right. Honestly did I tell you the joke about the germs though?
Austin Wilson:
No.
Josh Robb:
Okay. I’m not going to anyways. I don’t want you to spread it around. Last one, this is for my kids because this is their favorite meal. What did the sick parent make for their kids for lunch?
Austin Wilson:
I’m guessing not corona because that’d be terribly irresponsible.
Josh Robb:
No, they did it. They made them mac and sneeze.
Austin Wilson:
Seriously though, mac and cheese at the grocery store right now gone.
Josh Robb:
Oh yeah. I mean that’s an essential. That’s an essential.
Austin Wilson:
I cannot buy box Mac and cheese, which is so sad. We have some right now, but my daughter loves boxed mac and cheese so much.
Josh Robb:
Who doesn’t? Who doesn’t?
Austin Wilson:
I mean she eats it like every day.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. Well my little two year old who weighs like 20 pounds, she’ll eat her weight in mac and cheese at lunch. It’s crazy.
[27:53] – How Are We Handling Being at Home All Day?
Austin Wilson:
I love me some mac and cheese, so I get it. I get it people macaroni and cheese is an essential. I guess we’re in an interesting environment. We’re working from home, we’re spending a lot of time with our families. What are you doing to kind of… What are some interesting things you’re doing in this kind of forced time of being home? How are you handling that? How’s your family handling that Josh?
Josh Robb:
Yeah. One of our coworkers, Jess, she has a blog and we’ll link it in the show notes and she wrote kind of a thing on how to stay healthy during this self-quarantine, which she had a lot of great ideas. For my family there’s four kids now at home, my wife and I, we’re trying to help them with their schoolwork, getting those things done.
We found the positive impact of this because I always tried to look on the positive side as much as I can. It’s slowed our life down. All the extra activities we do the sports and the music and all the things in the evenings after work that take up our time have been canceled. We’ve been home as a family and we’ve been trying to be as deliberate in spending time together as possible.
It’s those things of playing games, sitting around the table for dinner together, which doesn’t always happen when you’re busy. We’re working on a puzzle together and it’s great. We just finished a 900-piece puzzle, which was a lot of work and a lot of fun. When we got all done, we were missing two pieces, which drove me nuts. Oh, I was so mad. It was a fun process to get there. What about you, Austin?
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, I mean it’s interesting. I really put my office together about a year ago, really nicely and I pretty much used it to study or to play guitar or do whatever. I really had no intention of working from home in it. I really am glad that I put these little sound panels on the wall and I put a nice door that latches. It’s been really good to get work done.
It’s really nice to be home, like you said, in the evenings with my family. It’s just a lot of good family time where I can help out with my daughter and play a lot and do fun things like that. Yeah, we’re doing okay.
We’ve played some games. I think my wife was beating me when we quit playing rummy the other day. I usually quit when I’m losing and I actually sat down to read a book for fun the other day.
Josh Robb:
Oh, wow.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, it was great. I think it’s kind of, like you said it’s making us slow down and just know that your family is important and enjoy it. Just enjoy some time where you’re not being forced to run around and to be worn out because of that. There’s other reasons that people are stressed right now for sure, but just to take this time to focus on the positive side of it and I think it’s going to be okay.
Josh Robb:
Yeah.
Austin Wilson:
We are watching some interesting shows on Netflix.
Josh Robb:
Okay, what are you watching?
Austin Wilson:
There’s this show called 100 Humans on Netflix and it’s like they picked a sample of a hundred people, all different ages, all different demographics, from across the country, and they brought them into one place. I don’t know how long they took to do this, but there’s a lot of episodes where they’re doing a lot of finding out why humans do things or feel the way they do about things. It’s just fascinating.
Josh Robb:
Interesting.
Austin Wilson:
One of the things was like, do humans respond better to rewards? The opportunity to get rewards or the threat of being tortured? Now, it wasn’t like crazy stuff, but it was like at a high level. Do you respond more to good or bad encouragement? Just so many things you don’t think about. We’re kind of nerding out on that a little bit.
Josh Robb:
Interesting.
Austin Wilson:
It’s a good time. We’re really kind of doing okay. Obviously we still miss some things about going out and doing things or going to a restaurant or going to see family or whatever, but we’re just kind of taking it day by day. I think we’re hanging in there.
Josh Robb:
Good. Now I will say like you said it does wear on you after a while. You’re home, you’re with the people you love, but when you have friends you’d love to see if you’re used to hanging out with people. It can get hard.
Some of the things is that podcast, we mentioned a 10x Podcast, that he had some ideas too. In general it’s just take care of your mental health and your physical health.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
He said one of the biggest things is sleep. Staying healthy, getting enough sleep is essential.
Austin Wilson:
Right.
Josh Robb:
That’s huge. Then obviously just staying in shape. It’s hard because in this knowing we’re going to be stuck in the house. We filled up our pantry pretty good.
Austin Wilson:
I eat so much.
Josh Robb:
Oh my goodness. So pace yourself. Moderation I think is what I’m always a fan of. I get to remind myself of that as I look and there’s a whole box of Cheez-its that I want to eat that maybe I just have a couple of handfuls walkaway.
Austin Wilson:
You know they make pizza flavored Cheez-its?
Josh Robb:
Oh, I did not know that.
Austin Wilson:
I don’t know if I should told you that, but they’re really, really good.
Josh Robb:
Got to break quarantine to go get that I guess.
Austin Wilson:
Some of these things that you’re talking about, they’re not just going to help you in surviving being home all the time. They’re going to help your body be healthier, not just to fight off COVID-19 should that be something you’d come into contact or whatever with, but also any other… This is still cold and flu season.
Josh Robb:
Yeah.
Austin Wilson:
Just be smart and take care of yourself and your body is going to thank you.
Josh Robb:
Yup. For me, pretty much my whole life consists of Frozen Two. It’s on repeat in our house constantly.
Austin Wilson:
Still haven’t seen it.
Josh Robb:
It’s a good movie and the songs are great, but I find myself humming it to myself when I’m up in my office, in my bedroom, and no one’s here. I’m like, why is it just stuck in my head all the time?
[33:28] – Thanks for Joining Us! Stay Safe and Healthy!
Austin Wilson:
Hey, that is all right. Well as always, we thank you guys for being here with us and listening to our weekly COVID-19 update. Just remember it’s going to be okay. We’re going to get through this together. We’re going to pull together as a country and as a world. I think we’re going to come out stronger on the other end of this.
It is a good time to be alive and it’s going to get better from here. As always, check out our free gift to you. It’s a brief list of Eight Principles of Timeless Investing. These are overarching investment themes meant to keep you on track to meet your long-term goals really important in times like this when things seem really choppy, up and down all the time, really uncertainty in the markets, so check that out.
Josh Robb:
Also, make sure if you liked this podcast, subscribe to it. Leave us a review if you would like. If you have any ideas, obviously we’re doing updates on COVID-19 and everything going on right now, but there’s any topics or anything you’d like us to talk about. Shoot us an email over at hello at theinvesteddads.com and also don’t forget to check out tonight, the Bear Market Brews which launches tonight at 4:00 PM.
If you would like to subscribe and get the email notification and the link to get into that webinar, go to our office website, which is hzcapital.com/bmb for Bear Market Brews. All right. We also have a link on our website as well.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, and remember just be smart. Think of others. Don’t touch your face and wash your hands.
Josh Robb:
Wash your hands a lot.
Austin Wilson:
Thanks for being here guys.
Josh Robb:
All right, thanks bye.
Austin Wilson:
Bye.
Outro:
Thank you for listening to The Invested Dads Podcast. This episode has ended, but your journey towards a better financial future doesn’t have to. Head over to theinvesteddads.com to access all the links and resources mentioned in today’s show.
If you enjoyed this episode and we had a positive impact on your life, leave us a review. Click subscribe and don’t miss the next episode.
Josh Robb and Austin Wilson work for Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. All opinions expressed by Josh, Austin, or any podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for investment decisions.
Clients of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. There is no guarantee that the statements, opinions, or forecast provided herein will prove to be correct. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Indices are not available for direct investment.
Any investor who attempts to mimic the performance of an index would incur fees and expenses, which would reduce returns. Securities investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principal. There is no assurance that any investment plan or strategy will be successful.
