Mr. Market is coughing blood from COVID-19.

Good or bad, things happen everyday.

When things happen, people react.

How we react will depend on our situations.

When the stock market crashed, I am sure there was a whole gamut of reactions.

Some might find it surprising but the crash didn't affect me emotionally.

Readers who have been following me for a long time might have an idea as to why this is so.





Basically, I have achieved all that I had set out to achieve in order to have peace of mind.

For an idea of what I am talking about, read the following blogs:

1. How much passive income do we need?

2. 4Q 2019 and full year 2019 passive income.

A saying comes to mind once again:

"We only need so much money in life, the rest is for showing off."

Having said this, I still want to grow my wealth.

Yes, it is probably more a want than a need at this point, I feel.






Anyway, as stock prices crash, all else remaining equal, we will get better value for money.

So, with lower prices, I have nibbled at certain stocks.

Which stocks?

See the following blog for some ideas:

3. Largest investments updated.

There isn't a need and I don't really have any motivation either to look at other counters outside the ones listed.

Did I say I nibbled?

Yes, I only nibbled.

I have yet to roll out my war chests.






The COVID-19 situation looks like it is more serious than SARS.

Things are likely going to get worse.

Of course, I still believe that Mr. Market will recover from COVID-19 but it might take longer for it to happen compared to the recovery from SARS.

World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

COVID-19 cannot be contained anymore.

COVID-19 will spread.

All we can do is to try and slow down the speed at which it happens.






No thanks to Donald Trump, the world economy was already slowing down before COVID-19 happened.

As whole countries lock down and economic activities slow to a crawl, it is only natural for recessionary pressure to set in.

More bad news is to be expected in the coming weeks and months.

Having said this, I will stay invested because I believe my businesses will continue to pay me even so.

What about increasing exposure to stocks?

Like I said, I have nibbled at some stocks as their prices plunged but I am in no hurry to buy a lot more.

There could be some rebounds in stock prices as, in a bear market, prices go down a river of hope.

However, until I see signs of the downtrend breaking or, better still, a trend reversal, my war chests stay locked.






Like I told a friend recently, stay calm and play Neverwinter (or anything else that we enjoy).

My mind is at peace and it will probably stay that way.

Yours should be too.

Until the next blog, wash our hands more often, practice good hygiene and stay safe.

We should always try to remember that there are more important things in life than money making.







Related post:
Mr. Market is sick and AK talks to himself.
(Read the comments in the comments section of the blog if you have not done so.)

Mr. Market is sick from COVID-19 and AK talks to himself.

One reason why I have not been blogging as much is that I don't really have anything new to say.

Yes, to be fair, we cannot blame it all on my adventuring in Neverwinter.

Anyway, although I won't really be saying anything new, I am going to blog about investing in the stock market now.

I have received quite a few comments from readers asking about my investments and also what am I doing?

Why?

Mr. Market is pretty sick from the COVID-19.

So, we see stock prices declining and by quite a bit too in some cases.






If you have been following my blog, you would know that I always say it should not matter what I am doing.

What you should be doing matters so much more.

This is because our circumstances are different and vastly different in some cases.

CPF savings in a pie (chart).

Know ourselves and do what we can comfortably and, more importantly, safely do, given our circumstances.

In my retirement, I am mostly investing for income.

I am more concerned with whether my investments are able to generate income for me regularly.

If they are able to do that well, I am quite happy to hold on to my investments.

I would sell if I think that things have changed or if I think that there are better investments for income.

I do a bit of trading from time to time, selling high and buying low.

However, most of the time, I am doing nothing.

It isn't that difficult to understand, really.






I said the following in a couple of blogs before:

1. If we own stocks of good businesses that are able to generate meaningful income for us

and

2. if we did not use borrowed funds or use funds which we might need for other purposes to do so,

why do we have to worry about stock prices going down?






3. If we are disturbed by our investments in the market enough to lose sleep, then, chances are we are probably over invested.

4. If we are clear as to what are our investment objectives, examine if what we are doing now gels with those objectives.

If they don't we could also lose sleep.

The tools and motivations should match.






People do die from the COVID-19 but I am willing to bet that Mr. Market is stronger than us mere mortals.

Mr. Market will recover from the COVID-19.

It is just a matter of time.

"If you worry about corrections, you shouldn't own stocks." Warren Buffett

Related posts:
1. Wuhan coronavirus is war and are we ready?
2. Wuhan coronavirus and REITs.