Things to learn from this terrible situation.

mark55man

thank you all - very interesting

not so much learned as reinforced that it's important to have a strategy (mine was tiers of risk eg DB pension, property, DC Pension, high risk investment with some gold and bonds to steady the ship) and then keep to it.

Clearly with hindsight money could have been made by speculating but that's not for me - the confidence to just keep on plan and buying the same blend of assets monthly but now much cheaper is enough reward.  I am assuming that recovery will be achieved by 2025 but can work longer if not.

katsu

Reinforcement that having savings and living within your means helps you feel safe.  The relief of not panicking about how to make ends meet is worth every sacrifice to have saved some money for a rainy day.  

Also, being at home like this is dearer as the big supermarkets, chemists and local delivery companies are more expensive than shopping in person at cheaper stores like Home Bargains, Savers, Aldi etc.  

mark55man

I agree - my current estimate (based on a few weeks shoppng) is that we are spending about 30% more on groceries - eating more at home and there are less special offers

So I suppose another thing I learned is that "lean shopping" only buying when you have nearly run out leaves you prone to shortages. 

RetSol

FWIW, I have learned from reading the MSE threads that there is no right answer.  Do whatever enables you to sleep OK at night.  Everyone's situation is different and what works for you won't necessarily work for me. 

eskbanker

RetSol said:

FWIW, I have learned from reading the MSE threads that there is no right answer.  Do whatever enables you to sleep OK at night.  Everyone's situation is different and what works for you won't necessarily work for me. 

Username999

I've learnt that I'm not very good at cutting my own hair!

quirkydeptless

bluenun said:

quirkydeptless said:

 

I've also learnt that I can work from home full time!

Would you mind telling me if you are employed or self employed and what line of business you are in?
I love being at home and would love to be able to earn some money from home.
I am a self employed window cleaner of 2 1/2 years.

I'm employed and I work with it, err, I mean with IT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV0wTtiJygY

ianthy

A few things I have learned during this crisis - 1. Understand how you (and your OH) spend money - this will stop you stressing about furlough, job losses, rising prices in the shops etc., We have a monthly finance meeting and talk about money/expenditure and agree the big decisions. 2. Bird in the hand - last year we decided to downsize and exchanged before Xmas with completion in Feb. OH was not 100% happy about selling last year, feeling there could be more money to be made by waiting a year. My moto is always bird in the hand - we completed mid Feb 2020. I have no idea of the impact on house prices but if we hadn't sold we could be still waiting for who knows how long for market confidence to return.   

Mistermeaner

Not so much learning but keeping the faith !
I watched around 50-60k reduction in value of our pensions and Lisa's .... Was horrible but reading here was to be expected and therefore I've done nothing different 
In fact put / putting another 25k on top of the regular monthly payments into the markets buying more of what we already hold

Not learned anything in this regard yet but being 40 and expecting a long malaise from this virus and slow recovery there may be only one upward cycle to come before I start drawing down so want to start learning more about De risking my 100% global equity portfolio with a view to starting to later holdings from around age 45

newatc

As a result of reading the forum over the last year or so, I decided to gradually move to a more defensive (because of my age 70s) and diverse portfolio. I was about 60% through that exercise and I'm sure that the move has saved me significant sum but of course the gradual approach has meant I was still over exposed to some equities and markets (I'm down about 15%).
So belatedly I have learnt that we should find a strategy we are comfortable with and perhaps not dither too much in creating the portfolio (although perhaps that bit is in hindsight).