Pandemic Jackpot


I have reached my breaking point of reading anxiety laced stories about the Pandemic so this week we will focus on the positives. The Pandemic has been a great stress test for our personal and professional lives. We aren’t personal coaches but we will examine what we have learned professionally. When we take this perspective we hope you feel like you can hit the jackpot too.

New Investment 
The industry and Burford Brothers have accepted that active management was not the best approach.  The new solution to this reality were Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) or funds that replicated the major indexes passively, but didn’t charge high fees. This approach was adopted by most investors. The pandemic scared ETF investors who wanted out. The impact was similar to a person yelling fire in a crowed theater. Hopefully we didn’t loose too much money and we will examine the risks beyond lower fees. Seems like a jackpot for most aware investors.

COVID

While no one predicted the Pandemic, not even The Chinese Lab or 5G towers caused the crisis.  The facts are something we have to adjust to and these adjustments will change our professional and personal lives. We need to communicate these changes to our co-workers, families and clients and not rely on the White House, the governors and our mayors to deliver the bad news. Accepting these realities will allow us all to move forward. My boss asked me to fly after 911 to show I wasn’t afraid. I was afraid and I know most of you are afraid too. The good news is my flight took off and landed like it always had in the past. The pandemic has reminded us that some of the Professional  assumptions we made were incorrect. Our new plan will take these new realities into account and we should feel like we hit the jackpot.

Future

As restaurants and office buildings reopen we will need to clean our elevators and door knobs. We also might need a thermometer to check ourselves and any visitors into the office. Not surprisingly, Amazon, Target and Walmart have them in stock. We should also do a better job testing than the government by social distancing and wearing facial masks and gloves. When clients and prospects visit our office and we take their temperature and give them PPE, it won’t feel weird, It might increase our trust and credibility. The same will be true when we communicate that our firm is replacing in-office meetings with online meetings. Our clients and colleagues might feel like they have hit the jackpot too.

We can learn from difficult experiences. Please put your coin in the Pandemic slot machine.

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