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Retire Me - Episode 8 - Coronavirus in perspective for investors and 12 reasons to stay optimistic Thumbnail

Retire Me - Episode 8 - Coronavirus in perspective for investors and 12 reasons to stay optimistic

General Investing Retirement


Welcome to Episode 8 of Retire Me!

Today, I talk about the Coronavirus and how a retiree can put market downturns into perspective.

Summary:

1.  If you have a solid plan, and an investment strategy that follows that plan, you are going to be fine.

2.  A 60% equity/40% quality bond holder has 10 years of retirement spending in bonds using a 4% withdrawal rule.  If you think what's happening now will resolve itself in 10 years, you should feel ok

3. There is always a reason to be pessimistic - Coronavirus is just the most recent one

4. 12 ways the world has gotten better, and optimism for how the world will continue to get better

Chart from Michael Batnick's Blog:

Ben Carlson Article:  Fifty Ways the World is Getting Better

The 12 that I cherry picked:

  • Over the last 20 years, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty has almost been cut in half.

  • The number of deaths from natural disasters is 25% of what it was 100 years ago.

  • The share of homes that had electricity in 1870 was exactly zero. Today the proportion of people with electricity is 85%.

  • The average American now retires at age 62. One hundred years ago, the average American died at age 51.

  • The proportion of people killed annually in wars is less than a quarter of what it was in the 1980s, one-seventh of what it was in the early 1970s, one-eighteenth of what it was in the early 1950's, and a 0.5% of what it was during World War II.

  • Early in the 19th century, 12% of the world could read and write. Today it’s 83%.

  • The world’s nuclear stockpiles have been reduced by 85% since the Cold War.

  • The world has gotten richer (as measured by Gross World Product) in 51 of the last 55 years.

  • Every single country in the world today has a lower infant or child mortality rate than it had in 1950.

  • The control of infectious disease since 1990 has saved the lives of more than a 100 million children.

  • Just 7% of the world’s population lived in a free or relatively free society in 1850. Today that number is closer to two-thirds.

  • In 1820, more than 80% of the world was unschooled. It’s estimated that by the end of the century this number will be close to zero.

Have a Plan, Turn off your TV, Stay Optimistic!

Thanks for listening!

Mark