We Will Get Thru This!

This past week was met with a variety of news about the pandemic- from the ‘worst is ahead’ to signs of progress in some of the initially impacted geographies.  Additionally we ranged from another shockingly high Unemployment Claims number to the CARES Act, which is massively sweeping legislation that puts money directly in the hands of individuals, families and small businesses; which together makeup the heartbeat of America.

The financial markets largely took all this news in stride.  After some back and forth swings, the week closed out down about 4% for the S&P 500¹; which given all that we have seen over the last month seems largely uneventful.

The CARES Act covers a variety of categories:

1. Direct Credits to Individuals/Families
2. Tax Benefits including Waived Required Minimum Distributions for 2020 and additional Charitable Donation Incentives
3. Increased Unemployment Benefits
4. Small Business Benefits including Loans, Payroll Assistance and Tax Credits

The path ahead is largely uncharted waters from an economic perspective, and we do expect that in the larger context of a recovery, there will be volatile days in the immediate weeks ahead.  But what we do know is that since the 1920s, America has been in a recession about 20% of the time.  The general expectation is that there will be 10-15 recessions in a person’s lifetime.  Some of those occur when we are very young or very old, so we do not feel them in the same way we do right now in the thick of our ‘career’ lives. 

The good news is that despite regularly occurring recessions, America has managed to flourish and grow exponentially since the 1920s.  Despite the periodic setbacks, be encouraged by the American Spirit and just think of how far we have come from the days of gravel streets packed with Model T Fords.