Who do you think is profiting the most from this crisis?
While everyone is filing for unemployment benefits and trying to figure out how to survive
this pandemic, even billionaires are scared that they might lose all of their fortunes
in a blink of an eye.
Eric Yuan made 4 billion dollars in the first three months of the pandemic.
He would probably make much in the few months and possibly years.
He wasn't even on the billionaire's list just a year ago.
He founded Zoom and took the company public last year, and today his net worth is over
8 billion dollars.
But he is not alone.
Thousands of people, if not millions, are making a fortune in the middle of this crisis.
Because, based on what we know, this recession will probably turn into a depression, and
if it does, then most of us are doomed.
But if you take some good financial decisions, you will not only survive it better than everyone
else but might end up with a little fortune.
First, Cut your expenses.
During any crisis, cash is the king, and crises create one in a lifetime opportunities.
You might come across one of them.
But if you don't have enough money to invest, you will miss it.
Amazon, Google, and many other great companies, for example, emerged during the Dotcom bubble.
If you have invested in amazon just a thousand dollars in 1997, your investment would be
worth $1,362,000 as of 2018.
This crisis might be a little different, but it also presents different opportunities.
However, you need cash to take advantage of them.
If you could keep your job in the middle of this chaos, you have probably been working
from home since the country was on lockdown.
As businesses will realize that they can let their employees work from home, that will
probably be the new normal.
Which means you no longer have to overpay to live in a city.
Living in a city is expensive, and rent makes up a substantial part of most people's budgets.
If you can keep your job and move somewhere else and cut 20, 30 or even 40 percent of
your rental payment than that should be on top of your to-do list.
Who knows how long the crises is going to last, every penny matters now.
How much have you already saved by cooking at home since you didn't have many options?
A friend of mine told me that he had saved a fortune on Starbucks coffees.
The lockdown has taught us that we don't have to spend so much money to lead a normal life.
Which means, we can invest more and reach that financial independence much sooner than
you have imagined.
So save as much as you can.
2.
Second, keep holding
Over 50 percent of Americans invest in the stock market, which is great.
But the stock market has been down for a few months already.
It has recovered slightly, but overall it doesn't look good.
Most people panic in such situations.
You have been saving for years and now, once you invested that cash, you have lost 30 or
40 percent of your wealth.
What do most people do, they cash out before they lose more.
And that's why it has been down by so much.
People are selling their investments since they are uncertain about the future, about
where the stock market is headed in the foreseeable future.
Everyone is trying to minimize losses.
Of course, It would be fantastic if you could cash out right before the crash, but if you
did not, which is the case for most people.
Do not sell and keep holding.
Sooner or later, the market will recover, and most of these businesses will gain their
market value.
If they are a great business, they will not only recover but grow faster, which is wh
happened in the last crises and pretty much in every other crisis.
Especially if you have invested in an index fund such as S&P500.
Don't be one of those dudes who has invested at the peak of the market and sold at the
bottom of it.
Of course, if it's a lousy business such as a weak airline, it might go out of business,
and getting even half of your investment is better than nothing.
So think twice before selling.
3. third, don't be too confident
During the dot com bubble.
Online businesses emerged every single day.
Investors were ready to throw money at any business that ended with .com it was the golden
opportunity that no one wanted to miss.
But only a handful of these companies were legit such as amazon, google, and a few others
that are growing until today.
The same thing happened with cryptocurrencies just a few years ago.
Some investors literally threw money at most of these businesses because even if one of
them would succeed, it will overshadow all the bad ones.
And if social distancing is going to be the new normal as it seems.
Entrepreneurs will try to find every way to profit from it by building apps, softwares,
bots, whatever to help us to live, work, and entertain in this new world of social distancing.
And many of these businesses will seem like they are going to revolutionize the world
but they won't, they probably would go bankrupt a few years later.
So you have to be very confident in what businesses you are going to invest.
Mark Cuban founded broadcast.com during the dot com bubble.
And Yahoo, who was the leader of the internet at that time, purchased it for 5.7 billion
dollars making Mark Cuban a billionaire.
Good for him but not for Yahoo since when the bubble burst, broadcast.com went out of
business and devasted the entire company.
4.
next, Do not invest in a bank
Even before the pandemic, rates on fixed deposits were really low, like just a few percents
at best.
They barely coped with inflation.
Even if you are not looking to make a fortune by investing in a fixed deposit, you want
your money to grow at least by 2 percent or 3 percent to catch the inflation.
Otherwise, your savings will keep getting worthless every year because inflation will
swallow it over time.
However, What's different now is that, during any crises, when the economy isn't growing
for whatever reason.
The central bank usually lowers interest rates to its bare minimum to encourage businesses
to borrow and grow their businesses to get the economy back on track.
We have an entire video on that which link you can find in the description if you want
to learn more about how the economy works.
And that's happening now.
Interest rates are at a 0.25 percent at the time of writing this script, which means you
will be losing money if you keep your savings in a fixed deposit.
Some banks are paying as low as 0.01 percent like Wells Fargo.
And that is not going to change anytime soon until the economy gets out of this crisis.
And that is not just in the United States.
In Europe, interest rates are negative, 0.5 percent.
So do not consider banks as an investment during the crises or any time at all.
5.
And finally, Do not invest your last pennies
The stock market isn't all sunshine and rainbows.
Your chances of losing your money are higher if you are financially uneducated.
Even if you are, the risk is always there.
So take off your pink glasses and assess your risk.
Your priority should be putting food on the table, especially if you have a family to
feed.
For god's sake, don't invest your last penny, especially if you have lost your job.
Imagine this crisis lasting much longer.
What are you going to do?
At some point, you will need cash to survive, and you will exit your positions at a loss.
The stock market is more of an emotional game.
You have to be patient, strategic, and purely base your decisions on reason and logic rather
than emotions and feelings.
Unfortunately, Not everyone is going to make a fortune when there is an opportunity.
But what is worse is losing your savings when you need them the most.
And now it's your turn, what do you think?
What's your plan to take the best advantage out of this crisis.