Hi, I'm Rick Kahler thanks for joining me two years ago writing at the outset of the pandemic
i cited a march 2020 new york times column by david brooks it was entitled pandemic's kill
compassion 2. he warned that historically pandemics unlike other disasters which
bring communities and nations together fracture relationships and social structures
by now it's clear that his warning was justified various pandemics he described going back to 1348
divided communities were more harmful to the poor than the affluent and overwhelmed health
care workers just as colvin 19 has done in the 21st century it divided us to the extent that
the country couldn't even agree on the severity of a pandemic or even if there was a pandemic
now the focus is shifting from living through covid as a pandemic requiring emergency response
to living with covet as an ongoing health concern to be managed with vaccinations
and other strategies professionals in fields ranging from medicine to sociology to economics
we'll be assessing its longer-term impact
even if i were an economist which i'm not there's no way i could begin to discuss the economic
fallout of the pandemic in one short article as a financial planner and a financial therapist though
i do have some thoughts on how covid might affect individuals relationships with money
first many people are coming through the pandemic better off financially than they
were when it began combined being able to work from home with being unable to spend money on
entertainment shopping and eating out and the result is more money in the bank the chance to get
back to normal is bringing an upsurge in spending so it's going to be interesting to see how many
of the pandemic forced habits of frugality might continue in the long term
second we're likely to continue our increased reliance on technology two years ago i wrote
let's hope that the technology which allowed us to maintain social connections virtually will
soften the emotional toil of or toll of today's pandemic the ability to stay connected via virtual
video platforms was a huge advantage i see us continuing many of the creative ways we've
learned to use that technology for everything from remote work to telemedicine to reading books to
grandchildren finally one of the strongest money related lessons from the past two years is how
much we had taken for granted as consumers living in a country with that had a thriving economy
we were used to assuming if we needed or wanted consumer goods or services we could just go out
and buy whatever we could afford it didn't occur to us that store shelves might be empty of basic
necessities like toilet paper that huge container ships would wait at seaports for weeks or that a
shortage of computer components would make it a challenge to find a decent used car
the supply chain as a term wasn't even in most of our vocabularies but it certainly is now
didn't occur to us that ordinary health care from routine uh wellness business to procedures
like tonsillectomies or hip replacements or to things more crucial like cancer care
might be neglected or postponed because clinics and hospitals were short on beds
staff supplies didn't occur to us either as providers or consumers it's so many jobs
in areas like hospitality food service and entertainment could just simply disappear
it didn't occur to us that our well-funded retirement plans for activities like
travel get-togethers with friends time with families might be rudely interrupted
regardless of whether someone's financial health was bolstered or devastated by their
covet experience it's impossible to separate the pandemic's financial
impact and its emotional impact the individual and collective trauma of this experience is going to
affect our beliefs and behaviors around money for years maybe decades to come thanks for joining me