An Investment Plan to Survive the Coronavirus Recession
How to invest wisely and mindfully during a pandemic
Claiming more than 600,000 lives worldwide, Coronavirus (Covid-19) is an infectious disease bigger than anything we’ve ever seen before and has been detrimental to peoples’ health and wealth, while also affecting societies and economies.
Savvy investors say they saw the crisis coming, and the global pandemic and the financial crash could mark the beginning of a very prominent change. A change where a new way of thinking is taking over, and people need to become aware, become healthier, and take responsibility for protecting themselves.
The people who are struggling financially may need to adopt a new way of thinking, and use this time to learn and research information to move with the ‘new normal’, and invest in a new plan to stay healthy and survive the Coronavirus recession.
“The crisis is in our head, so change what is in your head” — Robert Kiyosaki, American businessman and financial educator.
The statement above refers to the knowledge and information we currently possess and how we can re-educate ourselves to thrive during the coming crash.
The Covid-19 pandemic has had wide-ranging and severe impacts on financial markets forcing businesses to digitise and create multi-channel strategies. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as the disease has stressed a time for change, and the additional channels businesses and organisations now offer enable them to build multiple revenue streams.
Those with digital frameworks already in place such as restaurants offering a seamless online ordering experience were much less affected, and should be able to continue building their already healthy revenue streams.
The virus is real, the question is, how healthy are we when it comes to dealing with it? Does it inspire you to become healthier in all aspects, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically? Now, we must spend time, and money, on our health, to make a change for the future and protect our investments.
In this article, we’ll look at ways you can invest for the times ahead, and how you could diversify investment risks across different asset classes including stocks and real estate, to create a stable investment plan in order to survive the Coronavirus recession, and secure your financial future.
Invest in yourself
Whether you have an investment portfolio or not, everyone’s goals will be different when setting up their plan to persevere with the pandemic. At a time when we are faced with one of the biggest health scares we’ve ever seen, investing in our health may be the only thing many of us are focusing on.
Before any financial gain can be made, investing in yourself will play the most critical part of your success. In business, people who are successful and more likely to survive invest in themselves first. From reading, researching, educating and exercising, these are all investments, and are to be re-invested time and time again, especially when all the hard work starts to pay off.
Motivate yourself to stay happy, healthy and strong, you may want to invest in some books on mindfulness to declutter and reset, or teach yourself about financial markets and the effect Coronavirus may have on our societies and economies.
Tip — the main goal is to keep our emotions in check. Do not allow fear of uncertainty and greed to take over. Try to remain as logical as possible when, of course, the world around us, is doing anything but.
Perhaps it’s a time to pause, and ask ourselves a question, what needs to be done to help us during our current situations? It may be that we need to invest in our health and wealth mentally, physically and financially, and take the time to educate ourselves, learn new things, and focus on ourselves to produce the meaningful work we need to in order to pull through.
If you already have a substantial investment portfolio set up, it’s time to learn more about your investments, and what the current situation means for them moving forward. Get a grip on your financial numbers. In order to react in the appropriate way, take emotion out of it, and take the time to put some performance monitoring systems in place to get a grasp on your current financial health and cash flow.
Stocks
The 2020 stock market crash occurred as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, where stocks saw a downturn of at least 25%. So, as capital is at risk, we need to think about only investing in stocks and shares which are expected to stay strong during this time.
‘Stick with solid defensive stocks and keep emotions under control.’
Tip — Investors should use the market’s fragility to buy quality stocks, but bear in mind that investments should be able to outlive an extended decline in the stock market.
During any recession or stock market crash, investors typically look to defensive companies to invest their capital. Think of consumer essentials such as utilities, healthcare, perhaps technological advances with already well-established tech companies — Microsoft Teams, a bi-product of a thriving digital giant.
If you’re looking for income, dividend stock with low debt levels and high margins might be a safer bet than corporate bonds, so do your research.
Property Investment
In one of the latest episodes of the Property Talk podcast, we looked at how the property market has been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic and some of the things we could expect to see when investing during a crisis, as well as the lucrative opportunities available for intelligent investors.
More than a month later and the pandemic has thrown the world into a recession, resulting in a stock market crash with equity markets falling over 30%. However, while the residential property market may have been hit hard, buy to let market has continued to flourish. Similar to the crash in 2008, people are taking advantage of the situation and buying now whilst prices are below market value.
Of course, there will be challenges during a recession, but as lockdown restrictions lift, confidence is certainly returning to the property market since property is seen to be a more tangible choice when investing.
Tip — take advantage of the phenomenal deals out there if you’re looking to invest in property. Now is the time to secure a lucrative investment property by buying low and selling high to reap the rewards.
In terms of property developments, construction is still very much underway. In fact, the market is crying out for developers who are looking to jump on regeneration projects and continue to transform cities. In the UK, especially across the North in Liverpool and Manchester, investments are at an all-time high with some of the greatest rental yields in the country.
And if you’re looking for international investment opportunities but are restricted by travel, then you may want to opt for a virtual investment. Much like businesses moving online, so has the property market with a significant increase in global investments. So, anyone who was thinking of investing before Covid-19 can still do so, and from the comfort of their own home.
Remember — the only way to conquer fear is through action. The best advice you can take is to do your research, make informed decisions to make smart money moves, and go with the best strategy for you. Be resilient with the challenges that come your way, and be mindful that no matter the investment plan you put in place, all investments may involve some level of risk.
Join the conversation today and let us know what your thoughts are on securing a stable investment plan to see you through the pandemic and recession.
Lastly, stay safe, stay strong and start investing in your future today.
If you’re looking for further information on property investment, head over to our publication The Property Talk where you can find useful guides and tips to help with your investment planning.
