The pandemic forced many companies to shake things up. But perhaps because of these challenges, some of the most basic, “boring” companies on our radar have been making some of the most interesting changes!
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The novel coronavirus is two years on, so what’s the deal with “the return to normal”? Some historical context and a few reminders.
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In psychology, “black-and-white thinking” is a defense mechanism that helps the brain cope by pushing things to their extremes. If there is a crisp division between “right” and “wrong,” things are easier, yeah? It’s not so overwhelming to decide how to behave if we can boil a situation down to two basic options.
Like a lot of fairytales, it sure does sound nice on the surface.
But so few things in life are truly black-and-white, all-or-nothing, either/or. The problem with “black-and-white thinking” is that it’s almost always a logical fallacy.
And a logical fallacy is just that: it is false, illogical. You can‘t reason with a fallacy. You reject it and find a frame that suits the situation better.
So why do people avoid hanging out in all that gray between black and white? Because gray is blurry. There are way more decisions to make when we navigate the gray.
I’m sorry to say it, but life is already mostly in the gray in-between. And it is no time for us to splinter into camps when we all could stay on the same team. Nebraskans are suffering tremendously as COVID-19 continues to move through our communities and swamp our hospitals and care systems.
What if we didn’t splinter in the face of such challenges? It is easier to hang out in the gray when we accept that we are here together. The extremes get lonely: we’d rather face reality and work through it with each other.
Across the coming years, we will learn more about the science of this pandemic and the damage it will continue to inflict even on those who survive. In the meantime, we don’t need things to be totally “black-and-white” to move in the right direction.
Stay safe enough.
Avoid unnecessary risks.
Use our resources as wisely as we can.
What do we stand to gain when we hang out in this blurry space? We get share each other’s strength in this tough time. We get to hold out some hope for the road ahead, the other side.
Clients, we’re grateful to get to work with you, even in this tough time. Have questions about your own options? Let’s talk.
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For up there is down; for day there is night. Sunrise, sunset. You’ve heard this from us before. It’s been challenging for many of us to apply this same awareness to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the earliest cases of the virus were detected this time last year, and many of us in the U.S. have been living much more restricted lifestyles since early spring of this year.
The changes we’ve made—limiting travel, exposure, contact, among others—have been a reasonable price to pay for the possibility of preserving the health and vitality of ourselves and those around us. And yet, it’s still been a long stretch. It’s had its tough moments.
But the sun keeps rising, we continue to count our blessings, and the latest scientific developments may help provide some hope.
Following a recently completed phase of a COVID-19 vaccine trial, the National Institutes of Health reported promising results, suggesting this latest “vaccine is safe and effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in adults.”
This isn’t a victory by itself, but it’s certainly an important milestone in the journey forward. Many partners are working together to figure out the logistics: how a vaccine would be produced, stored, transported, distributed; how its effects would be monitored; and how other areas might be affected as the vaccine takes priority. All that is to say… it’s complex.
But it’s not impossible. And it’s not forever. It may feel like we’ve been traveling through a long, dark tunnel. Here’s the thing about tunnels: they’ve got exits. It’s possible that things are dark and that we’re still on our way.
Let’s keep our heads up, toward that glimmer of light ahead.
Clients, when you’d like to talk about what all this means for you, your plans, and your planning, reach out.
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In the spring, we checked in with friends and family as work and school and much of life was in upheaval. Some folks were struggling more than others. We talked with one friend who sat through meetings in the office about how the switch to remote work was going to be handled when (not if) the team went that direction.
“I heard what they were saying, but I didn’t believe it,” our friend said. Within days, the team was out of the office. The friend was home three weeks before it finally sank in: work had gone remote.
Have you ever felt that way? Like your body has moved somewhere but your mind is refusing to catch up?
“It just feels like I’m waiting for Monday, like we’ll be back any day now,” the friend said.
The shock of change can have lots of effects on us, and we do not fault anyone going through this thought process. It made us wonder, though… What is the pandemic teaching us about time horizons?
You’ve heard this from us before: “long-term investing” is a little redundant. as we believe better chances for success lie in longer time horizons. It’s easy to outperform a strategy for short-term goals if you’re playing the long game.
2020 has been a months-long lesson in this perspective, hasn’t it? As spring turned to summer, a lot of folks had to come to grips with the idea that we could be in this situation for a while.
We are all about taking things one at a time, about taking life one day at a time—but how would our day-to-day change if we were geared toward the long term?
“I could be here a while…”
How could that phrase change your home life? Your retirement goals? Where you want to wake up each day? Your grocery and shopping routines?
Clients, what a time of change and reckoning we’re living through. But we’d like to help you do just that: live through it. Live in it.
When you’d like to talk about this or anything else, please write or call.
Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.
All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
You may know that the requirement for some people to make withdrawals from their retirement accounts was waived for this year, 2020. In the past, these Required Minimum Distributions generally applied to people over age 70.
Since the waiver was passed after some people had already taken withdrawals out, the benefit was not evenly spread. But now new guidance has been issued.
Anyone who took out IRA distributitions in the first half of the year 2020 may now repay those distributions by August 31 and avoid paying tax. It could make sense to review your options if you are in this situatiton.
Among the considerations we’ll be looking at:
• Whether there are sufficient cash balances to make the repayment without strain.
• If repayment would make room for Roth IRA conversions instead of outright withdrawals.
• Thinking about the possibility of higher tax rates later, and leaving 2020 withdrawals in place.
Everyone has difference circumstances and objectives, so a personal consultation might make sense for you. Or you might want to review overall retirement funding options at this time.
Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, please email us or call.
This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.
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