It’s August.
Reports say New York City has lost or is going to lose nearly one-third of its small businesses.
The $3,000 to $4,000 per month that over 33 million people are claiming from unemployment has just ended…for now.
1 million new unemployment claims are being filed each week.
Logistics companies lost 33% of their revenue in the past quarter. Entire industries like travel and hospitality have essentially flatlined.
By all accounts, something very bad is happening or is on the cusp of happening.
Why, then are the stocks I bought this spring up to all-time highs? Why has overall consumer spending increased over the summer, instead of decreased? Why are our marketing revenues higher than ever before?
Something smells rotten in the state of Denmark.
Except not actually in Denmark. They seem to be doing fine, mostly because their economy didn’t get shut down.
Something smells rotten in the rest of the world.
At this point, no one (with the possible exception of our dark overlords) who claims to know what will happen next actually knows what is going to happen next.
At this point, it is all speculation.
The first priority is 1) damage control and then 2) action.
Damage control looks different for everyone. For some, it might be paying down debt to reduce required expenses. For others, it might be getting a second job (or a replacement first job). For others, it might be diversifying their assets.
Action looks different for everyone, too, but since a looming worldwide crash is such an unknown, it’s speculative for everyone. So it is much more similar in concept for everyone, no matter whether they’re $50k in debt or sitting on a $50mm fortune. Since it’s speculative, it means keeping your eyes peeled and your finger on the trigger of the starting gun.
For some, it may mean picking up a lucrative side gig.
For others, it may mean buying a few discount skyscrapers.
Or more likely, for the rest of us, somewhere comfortably in between.