How to Benefit From Quarantine
If you’re perceptive and have been seeing all the signs, you surely have noticed how the nature of the world, our lives, the way we work have all been changing. And this Coronavirus was merely a catalyst for pushing these changes along.
During the Coronavirus, Global internet traffic has been increasing by 35% every 5 days The world is changing!
Content creators have been leveraging the internet to communicate with great minds all over the world using Zoom, Whatsapp and various Social Media apps. The masses are now being forced to jump on this bandwagon because they’re being shoved into the shiny and apparently frightening world of telecommuting. I know this world already. I’ve been working from home for half a decade.
This isn’t something you’re going to understand overnight, so if you want to stay in the loop with how you can navigate these strange times, you should sign up for my free newsletter for insights on how to leverage the internet for making your life better.
When facing significant adversity, the first thing to remember is to stay calm. If you’re young, this may be easier said than done. But trust me, the world will be fine. These chaotic events happen, and many will panic - when the dust settles, life goes on.
The only certainty in life is that there will be change. Even as the world seems to be falling apart, you’ll find opportunity if you know where to look. For example, if you own a house, now is likely a good time to lower your mortgage rate. This will drop your monthly mortgage payment by a significant amount, especially if you have a new loan where most of your payment goes to interest payments.
Beware of fear mongering in times of chaos. I’m sure your inbox is full of all sorts of emails scaring you into buying something with the latest chaotic event. Right now, almost every copywriter is dangling the coronavirus in front of you to hit those pressure points, so you’ll buy their course on working at home. Or buy their side income guide. Or buy their new quartz watch (that’s shipped straight outa China!) Don’t even open these emails. They’re exploitive and promoting unnecessary panic. That’s the next tip! In fact, if you are in danger of losing your job, be smart about what you spend your money on. Now is the time to tighten up your budget.
Quit panicking with the rest of the sheep. Only in America would people handle the crisis of a highly contagious virus by waiting in lines of hundreds of people to buy toilet paper. This is peak Idiocracy, folks. (Welcome to Costco. I love you.) I’m sorry but what the hell are you people thinking? You need to get out ahead of the masses. When the virus was barely touching California, you should’ve been buying toilet paper. When the masses are waiting for trucks of Charmin’s White Gold, you should be buying food. When the masses are buying up all the meat products, you should be buying canned goods, ammo and bitcoin. (The Fed is going to dump $2.5 trillion on the market. What’s going to happen to the value of the dollar after such a large influx?) Quit following the herd. If you keep your head about you, you can stay a couple steps ahead.
Right now, you should be doing your research on what stocks got hit the hardest yet have very sound balance sheets. There will be a massive buying opportunity here. Consider hiring a professional if you’re too emotional for this. And quit obsessing over the perfect moment to buy in. You’ll miss it if you keep trying to hit the floor. And I’m not sure we are there yet anyway. This is all for educational purposes. Do your due diligence. Trading has inherent risks and you should consult a professional.
And most of you aren’t ready for this. Even some of the wealthier people are currently facing a “liquidity crisis.” What does that mean? It means that many people buy stocks on margin or they operate a business through a loan. Two topics here that’ll I’ll explain briefly.
Those who buy stocks on margin can buy $10,000 worth of Exxon Mobil’s stock for maybe 25%. This means they only need $2,500 down. This gives you leverage when the stock does well and it works great in a bull market. Here’s where you get in trouble. XOM stock has gone down over 50% in the last 40 days or so. Now you’ve lost your initial $2,500 and owe another $2,500. So people have to sell other assets to cover the margin calls (money they owe). This is likely why you’ve seen “safe assets” like gold, silver and bitcoin drop in price. This creates a liquidity crisis and spreads across all markets like a virus.
The second issue is the increase in margin requirements. Stocks that get hit hard often raise the amount of margin required to hold these stocks. Delek Logistics for example went from 25% margin to 100% margin. Meaning if you had $10,000 worth of the stock, you’d have to suddenly pony up an extra $7,500 or liquidate the position. Many people are forced to liquidate positions at a massive loss to cover the margin for other losing positions. If you haven’t been paying attention, the US stock market has gone from 29,000 points to under 20,000.
Get Educated. Many of you have more time than you’ve ever had. How you spend that time will dictate how you come out of this crisis. The quarantine is the Halftime of your life. Be unrecognizable when you come out for the second half. If you’re ready to change your bad habits and replace them with better ones, here’s your guide.
Now is the perfect time for you to pick up a new skill, start a blog or finish a project. In fact, you have less distractions than ever before. You no longer have sports to watch. You can’t go out to the bars. And many of you are working at home or not working at all. It’s easy to get sucked into the laziness trap of watching Netflix or playing Xbox all day. You need some time to relax, but you’ll feel much better about yourself if you can be productive throughout the day.
How can you be productive?
· Start Spring Cleaning
· Clean out your car/ a junk drawer
· Read those books that are collecting dust
· Build a website
Journaling is especially important right now. This can help you maintain your sanity. It can keep you focused. And it can be the massive change if your life that you know you need. I first started scribbling in my moleskin notebook and it soon led to blogging online. My life really began to improve when I started writing.
Journaling has helped me maintain my sanity. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I open up my notebook and grab my Parker Jotter pen and start putting thoughts on paper. After a few minutes of writing, I feel more at piece and the world feels a littler clearer.
Adapt to the Changes. Right now, you should be learning how to use tools to help you work at home. Zoom will help you stay connected with people across the globe. Social media is great for staying informed. I’m partial to Twitter as it seems to have the highest proportion of intelligent users. Click here if you want my premium guide for Twitter so you can get the most out of it. Use group messaging apps like Slack, Signal or Telegram.
If you live alone or want to get some work done, put on some synthwave music or video game soundtracks to help you focus and to make your home feel less empty.
Also check out some podcasts to put on in the background. The casual conversations can really help you feel like you’re still socializing. Most of you know I’m a huge fan of the Joe Rogan Experience. If you like the mix of casual conversation and informative content, then you’ll also enjoy the Path to Manliness podcast which has covered topics such as entrepreneurship, health and diet, and inter-gender relationships.
Change has always been a certainty in life. Right now you’re simply seeing a more drastic change. But with the chaos of change comes opportunity. These are the moments where you can make big moves. If you stay positive and keep an eye open for opportunities, you can come out of this situation better than you went in. Thanks for reading.
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