TECC 227: The Impact of the Pandemic on the Stock Market: Securing Your Financial Future

In this episode, I talk to Bill Keen, founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors. Bill was previously seen on episode 214, where he talked about retirement for engineers. In today's episode, Bill talks about how what is happening today with the current pandemic is affecting the stock market and our everyday lives as well as how it will affect the future. He then provides some actionable steps that you can take to ensure you make the right choices and not go on an emotional roller coaster ride. Engineering Quotes: Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed about The Impact of the Pandemic on the Stock Market: Don’t be blinded by the headlines that the media puts out. They are designed to get clicks, views, and sell advertising. They are typically going to be skewed negative to cause more people to feel unsafe. The headlines to come soon are going to look very bad, but the stock market already knows it’s coming. The stock market will start moving toward recovery when the media is still publishing the bad news. Limit your news intake to 30 minutes a day, and don’t live or die by it emotionally. You need a financial plan as well as a six-month emergency reserve on which you can survive for six months without any income. Your retirement and financial plan need to be stress-tested and re-evaluated to suit the findings of these tests. It’s important to allocate your assets properly. This temporary decline in the stock market is the time to accumulate more shares at lower prices. You should be maximizing your contributions into your stock market investments. As you approach retirement, you need to pull back from the equity investments and start to own fixed income and bond-type investments. Rebalancing your portfolio means to balance your investments in stocks and bonds. If either one gets a higher percentage of your investment allocation, then the difference needs to be shifted in a way that both investments return to the original percentages that were allocated to them in the beginning. Some of the resources that the U.S. government has made available to assist people who qualify for them are: Stimulus checks in the mail or a direct deposit into your bank account. Help with rent, mortgage, and student loan debt. There is the typical unemployment that you will receive. Everyone who files for unemployment will get an additional $600 a week for the next 13 weeks. If you have any debt with an interest rate over 4%, then you have an opportunity to refinance some of it to get a lower interest rate. For firms with under 500 employees, the CARES Act’s paycheck protection program can help by loaning, with a 1% interest rate, or granting up to 2½ months of your payroll to you. If the firm does not lay anyone off for the period of up to 2½ months, then the loan will be forgiven. To service debt, you must pay interest on the debt. The interest rates in the U.S. are currently so low that it’s less difficult to service the debt. More in This Episode… About Bill Keen, CRPC Bill Keen’s interest in finances began at an early age, when he was exposed to financial hardship. In his own words, “By age ten, I knew I would have to learn to understand saving and investing to be able to eventually assist my family.” As founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors, Bill desired to build one of the country's most personal and trusted fiduciary wealth and retirement advisory firms. With the heart of a teacher, his objective is to bring financial and retirement literacy to those serious about planning for their future. In addition, Bill and his team have a unique speciality in advising those within the engineering community on issues such as ESOP plans, compensation, taxes, and benefits planning.