Afford Anything - PSA Thursday: Social Distancing is Social Solidarity

Episode Date: March 19, 2020

A new segment giving tips to help flatten the curve and manage your money during this global event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to our new segment. It's called PSA Thursday. We are, as you know, currently in very tumultuous times. There's a worldwide pandemic. There's a bare market. We're poised to head into a recession. And a lot is changing very quickly. And so every Thursday, for the foreseeable future, I'll be rolling out this new segment called PSA Thursday to discuss best practices for handling these times. So we're going to talk about the financial side, how to invest in a bare market, how to handle the fact that. that a recession is almost inevitable. How to prepare for a possible layoff. Tips for being more productive if you're working from home. And what should you do if you were planning on retiring soon? Should you change your plans? How does this affect sequence of returns risk? What if geo-arbitrage was part of your plan?

We're going to talk about many of those issues and more. And we're also going to talk about the human side. What conversations are you having with your family about the risks, the very real risks that we are all facing? And in particular, what conversations are you having with your parents and your grandparents and anybody in your family who has chronic conditions or is immunocompromised? We're going to be discussing that as well. And we're also going to talk about what can you do to help? There are many local businesses that are suffering. There are hourly workers, people who rely on tips for a living, service workers who are in a serious economic bind right now. And it doesn't look like that's going to abate at any point soon. So what can you do if you are in a position to help? How can your help be more? most effective. Those are all of the things that we are going to cover over the series of

the next few PSA Thursdays. And again, I don't know how long this is going to run it along as long as it needs to until life as we know it returns back to normal, although a new normal. A couple of notes. First of all, as I'm sure if you're a long-time listener, you can tell already. This is a bare bones podcast episode. There's no intro music, there's no out-dural music, there's no outro music, there's no sound effects. We are not even really going to edit this. I'm hitting record and publishing the raw unedited file. If we do any edits, they will be quite minimal.

PSA Thursdays are not normal, Afford Anything Podcast episodes. They're not episodes that carry production value. They are here to serve the purpose that radio originally served, which is to communicate through audio in times of Christ. By the way, if you're a first-time listener, if you're just tuning in, my name is Paula Pant. This is the Afford Anything podcast. Most of our episodes are, as you can tell, not like this at all. But the world is changing around us very rapidly, and I want to respond quickly. And to be clear, we will still be doing our normal episodes.

We will still be releasing a normal episode every Monday morning plus a first Friday bonus episode on the first Friday of every month. So our normal schedule is not going to change. These PSA Thursday episodes are a bonus. They're a supplemental recording in addition to the show that we normally produce. So with that said, with that introduction to PSA Thursday, I want to kick off by thanking everybody who is a health care worker or an epidemiologist or a researcher or an essential care provider, everyone whose job is to contribute to the effort to flatten the curve. Thank you.

Next, I have the unfortunate announcement that we have just learned that one of our former podcast guests tested positive for coronavirus. Matt Kepnis, he goes by the name Nomadic Matt. He was our guest on episode 202, where he talked about affordable traveling. He is currently in Austin, Texas. He seems to be doing well. He's been tweeting about his experience, if you want to follow him, Nomadic Matt. And he is the first known case among our former interview guests, but he is certainly going to be the first of many. And if you've been a lot of listening to me for a while, you know that I make a practice of never being certain about the future, and I am certain that he's going to be the first of many, former podcast guests and other people

in our community who either directly or through a loved one is impacted by this, who tests positive for coronavirus. And that's the reason why I want to make sure that we are talking about this, because it's right here. It's in our community, members of this community. And Guests on this podcast are either testing positive or in a high-risk category. Tanya Hester, whom many of you know, she's a former guest on the show. In fact, she's actually a two-time guest. She was our guest in episode 111 and our guest in episode 178. She is an early retiree.

She retired at the age of 38. She has a blog called Our Next Life. And she has been talking about, she's not diagnosed, but she's been talking about the fact that she is, in her own word, and I'm quoting her, severely immunocompromised. That is how she has publicly described herself. And right now, she is rightfully unable to leave her home. And then there are people like Kim. She's a firefighter in the city of Austin.

She was our guest on episode 139. And she's out there, out on the front lines, in the streets, responding to 911 calls, and lacks the proper equipment to be able to protect herself and reduce the risk while she's at work. And those are just three stories among the many, many people in this community who in one way or another either have been or very well might be strongly impacted by this. And there is a strong likelihood that many people, many more people in this community in the coming weeks and months might have to deal with situations that nobody ever wants to deal with. And I want to emphasize, I am saying this not for the sake of spreading. panic, but rather to emphasize, number one, how severe of a threat this is, and number two,

how it directly impacts us, our community. Because my hope is that by communicating both of those ideas, that will lead to the third idea, the conclusion, which is, what can I do to help? And if you're a longtime listener, you know, the superpower that we have, being part of the fire community, being part of the personal finance community, is that we have a very deep respect for the difference between exponential growth and linear growth. And that's a key part of the message that many people, people who are not taking this seriously, are failing to understand. And for us, as people who are steeped in personal finance, you know, as the finance nerds, we have the advantage of understanding that the problem with an exponential curve is that when you look at it on a graph, that start a

of that curve looks linear. And at a societal level, if you're living through an exponential curve, then at that start of that curve, your experience as a member of society, your experience might feel linear. And there are a lot of people right now who are still living inside the feeling of linear. And I'm sure there's some therapists who are listening to this who are going like, Paula, linear is not a feeling. But, you know, right now it is. And a lot of people dismiss this.

I live in Las Vegas, and two nights ago, there was a big outdoor concert, a bunch of people in the street, everybody dancing. This afternoon, outside of the Pond Stars Shop, there was a long line of people huddled close together, trying to get inside the crowded, cramped, pawn stars shop. And if you saw the news earlier this week, Clearwater Beach, Florida, the beaches are packed. People are on spring break. And that's particularly frightening, given that so much of Florida's population is comprised of people's moms and grandmoms. So much of the Florida population is comprised of brave World War II veterans. And we need to come together if not for our sake, then for theirs. And for Tanya's, and for anyone who's listening to this who has asthma or diabetes, or cancer or chronic heart problems.

And for their sake, we need to do everything in our power to not let this spread, because that's the superpower that we have as members of the fire community. If you ask me how I feel right now, what I feel above anything is a deep respect, a respect that transcends into both fear and awe of the power of an exponential curve. When you can see that on the horizon, it's time to take drastic actions because, if you wait until it's noticeable, if you wait until it no longer feels linear, you are on the part of the curve that we don't want to be on. And so we need to change the defaults. I think the best way to contain this is not only to assume that it's already in your community, but also to assume that you already have it, that you are asymptomatic, and assume you already have it and you don't want to spread it to others and make every decision from that framework.

The problem that we are having right now is that in the absence of testing and in the absence of information, people are defaulting to the assumption that they don't have it. And as a result, they're going out and they're spreading it to others. So we need to switch the default setting. We need to default to the assumption that we have it. Because coronavirus has a long incubation period. It can be asymptomatic for two weeks. And I shudder to think of how many people have been accidentally infected before those who test positive realize that they have it. And again, I am not trying to incite panic and please don't stockpile, but a healthy dose of fear is appropriate right now. And I know, as I said in the last episode, I know that the media

has been fear-mongering for a long, long time. They have been prioritizing ratings above truth. But, as I said in the last episode, the media is having its boy who cried wolf moment. And this time, the wolf is real. So you can be as critical of the media as you want to be and you are absolutely right to distrust them. And that does not change the fact

that COVID-19 is spreading at an ex-examination. exponential rate, and that if we don't take radical steps to flatten the curve, our hospitals will soon be overwhelmed. So, again, I know that the work that I do, sitting in the comfort of my podcast booth in front of a microphone, I know that this is absolutely nothing compared to the efforts of our health care workers and our researchers and everybody who's out there on the front lines. Thank you so much. And on my end, to the best. To the best, best of my ability, to the maximum ability that I have the power to do so, I am committed to using this platform to first flatten the curve. And second, of course, we will also be discussing

how to handle our financial lives through this Black Swan event, because finances are extremely important. Finances are your ability to access food and shelter and medicine. To the people who dismiss financial concerns and say, it's just money. Money is your lifeline. Money is the tool that helps you financially deal with crises. And so we're going to talk about how to invest, what to do with your retirement accounts, how to assess whether or not your emergency fund is strong enough, how to start proactively preparing now in the event that you might get laid off, how to help friends, neighbors, family members who are struggling. That's going to be a big focus of what we talk about, but even still, there is nothing more important than flattening the

curve. And if I can communicate just one message, if you learn one and only one thing from me in the entire time that you listen to this entire podcast, please stay home, flatten the curve. There is nothing that I can say that is more important than those five words. Stay home, flatten the curve. And I know that not everybody can stay home. There are many essential services providers who must leave home and thank you for being on the front lines, but to the best of your ability to do so. Stay home as much as you possibly can if your boss is not letting you, but you have the type of job that could be done from home. Speak up. Protest.

Ban together with your colleagues. Because we all need to come together to defeat this. I know that it's called social distancing or social isolation. But what's really happening right now is the most incredible display of social solidarity that I have ever seen. Social distancing is social solidarity. So let's close out today's PSA Thursday by talking about what you can do to help others, help friends, family members, neighbors who have been economically hit hard already and for whom there is no end in sight. Number one, I know there are a lot of people who listen to this who are rental investors. If you are a landlord and you have the financial ability to do so, reach out to your tenants,

find out what their situation is, and offer them some type of a break, such as an interest-free deferment on their rent or reduced rent, like work with them, collaborate with one another so that your tenants don't feel as though they have to go put themselves at risk in order to pay the rent. As I said in the last episode, this is your opportunity to be the landlord you want to see in the world. And I got a text message today from a member of this community who is by no means rich, his family budgets carefully, they're very cognizant of their bills, and he told me that he reached out to his tenants, and he did exactly. that. And so thank you to him for taking action. All I can do is sit here behind a microphone

and recommend courses of action. But the credit, all of the credit, all of the positive change will come from you because you're the one who took action, each and every single one of you, listening to this right now. So that's one tip. Another tip, if there are workers or providers who used to come into your home. Maybe you have a house cleaner who comes every two weeks. Maybe you have a babysitter or child care services. If you are ceasing to use those services right now, continue paying them. It was in your budget already. You already planned on paying those bills. You already planned on paying that babysitter or that house cleaner. So keep it up so that way they don't have to go out there and expose themselves to serious risk for the sake of making up that lost

income. Number three, if you are a regular at any establishments, there may be bartenders, servers, hairdressers, manicurists, there may be those whom you have been seeing regularly for years. You know, maybe you go to the same person to get your haircut and you've been doing that for years and as time has gone on, you've gotten to know this person. Reach out to them, check on how they're doing, see if they need any help, and if it feels appropriate to do so, consider giving them a gift. A giant tip. No strings attached.

They don't have to do any new work in order to get this tip. Just consider Venmoing them if it's appropriate to do so. It depends on the relationship that you have with them. You don't want it to be awkward, but you'll feel it out. You can just say, hey, you have provided such excellent service for so many months or years that you've earned this tip. You deserve this tip. I want you to have it. You've earned this money. This is yours. And speaking of tips, if you order delivery services and you know what I'm about to say next, please tip those people very generously. And again, give these tips electronically.

Give it through Instacart or through the Uber or Lyft app. Or if you have a personal relationship with that service provider through Venmo. Electronic transactions. save lives. If you have friends or neighbors who are worried about how they are going to adjust to these new changes, look into non-monetary ways that you can help them out. Could you batch cook a whole bunch of dinners for them and leave it on their doorstep? Could you offer to walk their dog for them? Of course, donations of money are wonderful, but money is not the only gifts that you can give. There's also your time. There's also possessions that you don't need, although be careful about those, make sure everything is clean and

disinfected, leave it on their doorstep, but whatever you can safely and comfortably give, this is the time when we all have to come together. Pro-social behavior has never been more time-sensitive than it is right now, because that's the thing about dealing with a virus that grows and spreads exponentially, every day counts. Every day counts. So to the best of your ability to do so, stay home, encourage others to stay home. And for those others, if staying home, presents an economic hardship, do whatever is in your power to share your resources with them. I know that there are many, many other ideas about how to help each other, our friends and neighbors, how to help each other in this time of crisis. I didn't even

mention, I don't think. I don't think I mentioned buying a gift card to locally owned businesses. Like if there's a locally owned restaurant or bar or hair salon, buy electronic gift cards to those businesses so that the owners can have some revenue right now. So I know that there are many, many other great ideas to help. I'm going to start a thread on both Instagram and Twitter. That's where I'm spending most of my time these days. I'm going to start a thread posted today, Thursday, March 19th. That's not literally today, by the way. That's just the day in which I know this is going to air. But it's going to be posted with today's date, Thursday's March 19th date. And I will invite you to share, like leave a comment, share any tips, suggestions, anything that you want to add to the conversation. And speaking of the conversation, the community, afford anything.com slash community. It is our free digital community of people who are going through these times. times together. So afford anything.com slash community to join our free digital community. Or you can find me on Instagram. I'm there at Paula P-A-U-L-A, P-A-A-P-A-N-T. Or you could find me on Twitter, if that's your

platform of choice. I'm on Twitter at Afford Anything. So thank you in advance for going above and beyond your call of duty. Thank you for staying home. Thank you for looking out for your neighbors, thank you for being part of the effort to flatten the curve. And I'm going to close out today's PSA Thursday with one of the best quotes that I heard about this. I read this on Twitter. I don't remember who posted it. But this person said, ask not what staying home can do for you. Ask what staying home can do for your country. We are being called to come together and patriotically sit on the couch and binge watch Netflix. That is the service that this nation needs from us right now,

this nation and every nation, because this threat is worldwide. As former podcast guest Morgan Houssel observed, this is the biggest global event since World War II. And we all must join the effort of hanging out in our living rooms, eating Cheetos and playing video games, and making sure that others can do the same. Thank you for tuning in.

My name is Paula Pantt. This is PSA Thursday, March 19th, 2020. Stay safe out there.