It's time to write the
"going back to the office" post
and it couldn't come soon enough
Please don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed working from home. A lot. The together time with my family has been wonderful. I barbecued lunches and dinners almost every day. We rode bikes, rollerbladed (yes that’s still a thing, lol) watched YouTube videos, and took long walks. In as much as we did, I wish we could have done more. I know we won’t get this opportunity to be together like this again. I probably could have pushed it and gone to my office every day during the pandemic, because I’m in the field of personal finance and asset management. But my wife and I felt it was important for our kids to see dad at home; to give them extra reassurance that we’ll be OK in this crazy time. Even though my office is only 2.5 miles from my home, I am so glad I did this.
It’s a horrible shame, the reason why. I live, conduct business, and play in the region that has become ground zero for Covid-19. Our home, Long Island, consists of two counties; each had about 40,000 confirmed cases, to this point. NYC, including the hard hit borough of Queens, was crushed. There was really no place to go except to stay at home.
I’ve been busy. Definitely one of the busiest times in my career. The thing that made working from home successful for me was that boundaries were established on Day 1 – when I am working, act as if I am not even in the house. Don’t interrupt me. Don’t think I am available for conversation. The kids took it to heart, thankfully. They were really great about the whole thing. My wife kept the ship afloat and heading in the right direction. We were lacking nothing; plenty of food, paper goods, love, reassurance, and patience. And believe me, getting the kids to go to school online and completing assignments took a massive amount of patience.
But the kids, adolescents, are ready to move on. At their age, the most important thing to them is their friends. X-Box and FaceTime have been indispensable for them, but that’s wearing thin. They’re looking forward to going back to school. Now, we just hope that school has a “physical open” come September.
I can’t wait to see my office mates too. I wrote this:
Humanity
on the day Governor Cuomo gave the order for non-essential businesses to work from home. It was a sad, surreal day that we all knew was coming. Can’t wait to see these very fine people in person.
I think a lot lately about how different my life will be post-Covid. I suspect most of it won’t be too different than it was last February, with the passage of enough time. How much time? Wish I could tell you. How different will our country be? How different will the economy be? How different will the path to a successful retirement be for my clients? I am onto answers already, but flexibility in my thinking will be paramount. I’ll be keeping all of you informed every step of the way. I’m a news junky and I find everything going on in the economy and global financial markets fascinating. I have access to the latest investing and financial planning strategies in the business. I’ll delineate, refine, and blend it just right for each of you.
I always like to say that it’s not what you do during a down market, it’s what you do before. My clients’ near term financial obligation needs were already set aside in cash equivalents ahead of the pandemic, not for any other reason except it was based on the clients' upcoming needs. It was just solid, prudent planning. Their assets were already allocated according to their unique risk tolerance, time horizon, and goals. Reassuring them was simply a matter of doing what we were already doing. It’s a good feeling reassuring someone who is worried about something.
Special thank you to my Broker/Dealer, NEXT Financial Group, Inc. and to our clearing firm, Pershing, LLC. They didn't miss a single beat. The took extra steps to reassure people like me that they were ready for whatever comes up next.
I’m also glad beyond words that I started live streaming on social media before the pandemic began. This medium is an incredible way to broadly disseminate impactful, market moving news and to add my perspective, in real time. The name of the stream is “Be the Boss of Your Money” and it’s a daily show about investing, personal finance, and business. There is no way I would’ve had the time to learn about all of the technology that goes into this endeavor during such a time like the last 10 weeks. Answering viewers’ question in the comments is by far my favorite part. So, definitely watch it if we're connected on social media. For now, I stream Monday through Thursday at 4:30 PM ET. If we aren't connected, follow ClientFirst Strategy on Facebook or go to my LinkedIn profile to connect.
In any event, our common realization that we have much less control over our lives leaves us somewhat shell-shocked, but it's bearable because we're all #inittogether.
The NUMBER 1 question I get is “how could the stock market do so well when the economy is so bad?”
I made it the topic of my live stream this week. I hope you’ll give it a look. It’s really a good and detailed answer. While you’re watching it, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. I post all of my video content there.
Thank you!
Mitch
