Category Archives: Financial Independence

The question was in French, and there was a simultaneous translation, but Finance Minister Bill Morneau made a point of answering in both official languages. Thats because they mostly speak English on Bay Street.

We see the independence of the Bank of Canada as critical, he said at a press conference he organized on May 1 to announce he had chosen Tiff Macklem as the central banks next leader. Its something that has enabled our economy to be successful over previous decades.

It was good the minister did that, and it was helpful that Macklem subtly stated he was no ones puppet. Im confident the government will respect our independence in order to meet the targets that we set out jointly, he said. This is where accountability starts.

I see no reason to doubt either mans sincerity, though I tend to give even the most powerful people the benefit of the doubt at first. Not everyone is so generous these days. A critical mass of cynics has assembled on social media over the past decade that strongly believes we can skip past the evidence stage and get straight to the hangings.

This Twitter-empowered group is ruining public discourse, but no more so than the decline of authentic communication under the message-obsessed regimes of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his predecessor, Stephen Harper. Trust is earned, and the political class is borrowing against our fond memories of a time when politics was different.

You can tell the Bank of Canada is worried about the general state of political discourse. It watched in relative horror as the U.S. Federal Reserve became a political punching bag in the aftermath of the Great Recession. The American public woke up to the central banks vast power and, even though the Fed stopped a terrible recession, many decided they disliked unelected officials having so much influence over their lives.

The well of trust in institutions runs much deeper in Canada than it does in the U.S., but the Bank of Canada has opted against taking that more docile polity for granted. One of Governor Stephen Polozs legacies will be the steps he took towards transparency, turning a black box into a translucent one. Among his innovations is an ongoing series of articles, The Economy, Plain and Simple, by central bank staffers that try to explain various economic issues, creating a neutral ground in the highly charged policy wars that take place daily on social media.

Of course, that only works if the public continues to believe that the Bank of Canada is neutral.

Central banks might have prevented a global depression a decade ago, but that hasnt kept politicians at bay. Governments in India and Turkey have dumped central bank leaders they disliked, and Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, became a target of Brexiteers for warning that divorcing the European Union could hurt the economy.

In the U.S., President Donald Trump made a show of making your own mark by replacing Janet Yellen, the widely respected Fed chair, with Jerome Powell, a less experienced member of the central banks Washington-based board of governors. Trump then proceeded to aggressively harass Powell on Twitter and in the press when the Fed refused to cut interest rates. Powell eventually lowered borrowing costs, and some on Wall Street assumed he had succumbed to political pressure.

At the very least, Trumps Fed tweets caused the markets expectations for monetary policy to adjust in the direction favoured by the president, according to a report last year by Antoine Camous, an assistant professor in the Economics Department at the University of Mannheim in Germany, and Dmitry Matveev, an economist at the Bank of Canada.

Central banks are being watched closely by economists and the broader public to understand whether, or to what degree, their decisions are influenced by outside pressures, the pair wrote, citing other research that showed 39 per cent of 118 central banks sampled had faced at least one pressure event between 2010 and 2018.

Trudeau is no Trump, and not even the rowdiest member of Canadas Parliament could dream up the abuse that Carney endured on a regular basis in London.

Still, our passive-aggressive natures are capable of creating pressure events, both real and imagined. Bloomberg News, citing multiple unnamed sources, characterized Macklems hiring as the finance minister protecting his turf, a pushback against those in the Prime Ministers Office who would have preferred Carolyn Wilkins, the Bank of Canadas senior deputy governor.

Macklem is extremely qualified and almost got the job in 2013, but that didnt stop Catalyst, a non-profit that works to level the playing field for women in business, from muddying the waters by describing Morneaus choice as another example of women being overlooked for top jobs.

The Bank of Canada must maintain the publics trust, because it has taken the most radical turn in its 85-year history by committing to create hundreds of billions of dollars to buy federal bonds and provincial debt. The reason is to keep credit markets flush with cash when otherwise they would be deserts. Still, there will be ongoing suggestions that the central bank is simply printing money to monetize the Liberal governments debt and to keep provinces from going bankrupt.

The Bank of Canadas actions are far more complex than that. Still, its new, has an air of incredibility and, therefore, invites skepticism. Morneau and Macklem will have to do more than reiterate their conviction that the central bank should operate at arms length from cabinet. They will have to prove the convention remains in effect, and do so often.

Email: kcarmichael@postmedia.com |

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Affirming the Bank of Canada's independence has to be more than just lip service - Financial Post

For primary care physicians already saddled with student debt obligations, volume-based performance demands, declining reimbursements, increasing administrative challenges, and overall burnout the spread of COVID-19 has been a pressure test. It has exposed weaknesses in the financial, clinical and operational aspects of primary care, and left thousands of doctors scrambling to save their practices. More than 70% of practices reported a decrease of 50% or more in patient volumes; fewer than half feel they have sufficient patient volume or cash-on-hand to remain open.

Independent primary care providers, in particular, find themselves at a critical point: Do I join a health system or large practice, or can I sustain my business as an independent practice?

For physicians committed to their independence, the good news is that the same factors that made concierge practices strong enough to survive dramatic health care reform have enabled them to withstand the current COVID-19 crisis.

Financial benefits

Concierge practices are better equipped to weather the current environment with more reliable cash flows from annual membership revenues, between $1,800 and $2,000 on average, that provide cushion against a sudden cash crunch. Additionally, concierge patients are reluctant to leave their physician, which creates a more consistent patient base Specialdocs average patient renewal rate is 96%.

Clinical benefits

The size of traditional primary care patient panels has presented clinical difficulties in the current crisis. On average, an Internal Medicine or Family Medicine physician cares for over 1,600 patients. With panels this large, doctors have limited time to manage care, communication and outreach. Adding in the number of COVID-19 questions and cases has proven overwhelming, making efforts to educate patients on procedures for office or telehealth visits challenging.

In contrast, a concierge physician typically has between 250 and 600 patients, making outreach, communication and care much more manageable. During the COVID-19 emergency, Specialdocs concierge physicians promptly and effectively utilized digital communication and telehealth to serve patients, especially the elderly and those with chronic conditions, and both patients and physicians report high satisfaction as a result.

Operational benefits

Operationally, traditional primary care practices are not well positioned to weather crises like COVID-19. Recent surveys show that 48% of independent physician practices have temporarily furloughed staff, and 22% have permanently laid off staff. Even when the current emergency abates, traditional practice models designed to treat 1,600 patients may not fit the new environment.

Concierge practices are lean by design, typically consisting of one physician who manages up to 600 patients with two or three staff members. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, no Specialdocs physician has implemented staff reductions.

The impact of the COVID-19 crisis is still unfolding. Systems that worked previously can no longer be depended on. Concierge medicine is an important piece of reshaping the primary care system by offering more flexibility and stability, personalized care and greater satisfaction for physicians and their patients.

Dave Farr is vice president of business development at Specialdocs, a pioneering concierge practice transition and management company established in 2002, helping physicians nationwide transform their practices with the industrys most customized and sustainable concierge model.

UPCOMING FREE WEBINAR: The Resilience of the Concierge Medicine Practice. Learn about an economically sustainable alternative to withstand COVID-19 and future challenges in healthcare. REGISTER HERE.

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Why the concierge model is resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic - Medical Economics

Renewing your career after motherhood is a challenging milestone; one that presents several dilemmas for women as professionals.

Quite often it is the woman who has to bear the brunt of sacrificing her career post marriage and subsequently childbirth. In todays age, issues like renewing career, providing maternity benefits and child-friendly workstations or facilities for working mums are of importance.

Women make up 48 percent of the Indian population but have not benefitted equally from Indias rapid economic growth. Sixty-five percent of women are literate as compared to 80 percent of men. India has among the lowest female labour force participation rates in the world, says a report by World Bank Group published last year. Female child mortality is still a grave concern, with over 239,000 girls under the age of 5 dying each year.

About 40 per cent of working mothers want to quit jobs to raise their kids, noted a survey conducted by ASSOCHAM under the aegis of its Social Development Foundation. At the study conducted, ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation had interacted with a total of about 500 working women including 200 working mothers in 10 cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune during the course of the past fortnight to gauge their career related goals. A whooping 80 out of 200 respondents who are working mothers quoted motherhood and lack of quality time being spent with family were the primary reason to quit jobs.

At such a crucial juncture, what will it take to give a much-needed push and bolster women to return to careers post motherhood or even start a career is they hadnt before?

My suggestion to women who want to get back to work is three-fold: Look for a role that excites you, and one in which your mind will stretch and learn new things. The personal cost of balancing work, life and children is tough, and beyond the very important role of financial independence, our jobs and careers nourish our minds and imaginations. Many women leave jobs, or struggle to keep them, after becoming mothers because boring jobs, or ones in which they are not growing, dont seem worth the effort, if you are fortunate enough financially to have a choice not to work, believes Shreyasi Singh, Co-founder and CEO, Harappa Education.

Along with getting a strong picture of current skills and ambition which is required to sustain in a specific industry, a holistic approach of looking at the situation and evaluation will help a long way, say experts. This includes getting a strong understanding of your own skills and ambitions. What do you really want to do? What could help you get to the long-term future you can see for yourself?

Start somewhere, dont wait for the perfect job. Figure out your non-negotiable, if thats commute from home, compensation or the industry/role you want. Or, is it flexible time schedules? For example, the post-Covid work environment, especially remote WFH, can really be an important enabler for working mothers. Dont be afraid to suggest, now of all times, the schedule that might work for you. Now more than ever, employers wont judge you. This can actually be a good time to experiment, especially if you didnt love the job you were in before. Keeping an open mind and stepping out of your comfort zone can be very powerful enablers in this phase, adds Singh.

The lockdown necessitated by the spread of COVID-19 has disrupted the normal life of people all around the world. While the situation is challenging for all, it specifically puts great demands on the women in the family, as they not only look after the work at home, but also at their respective offices.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that women are now doing two full-time jobs without even a weekend break. Indian women have always been multi-taskers and power-workers, balancing the needs of their family and job. Along with kids and family around in the same space, the work-life balance during the Covid-19 and amidst the lockdown has taken on a whole new meaning, agree experts.

Managing kids, work and the household - within lockdown, and the anxieties on both personal life (health, lifestyle) and professional life (Working from home, anxiety about job), I have seen it manifest in my house, with my wife trying to navigate as a working woman, a mother and a wife. Stress is a natural consequence, and new experiences that can be tried out at home, can help counteract that. Be it working out as a family (with kids), or cooking as a family (encouraging kids to become little Masterchefs), or trying out online yoga - my wife has been at it since day one. Going through this experience has helped us/her assuage the stress effectively, says Irwin Anand, MD, Udemy India.

We find ourselves looking to pick up new skills, whether its gardening, a musical instrument, or drawing/coding with kids in part because being challenged the right way can be a new source of delight for everyone! The coming weeks and months will shape the new normal in the day-to-day life of women, and I hope everyone understands how hard it is for them, and to support them however possible, adds Anand.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. )

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Heres how one can renew their careers post motherhood - Hindustan Times

The coronavirus hasnt upended Steve and Courtney Adcocks life when it comes to social distancing measures they live in the middle of the Arizona desert. But the market SPX, +0.42% volatility associated with the spread of the infectious disease has shaken their ground.

The Adcocks are part of the FIRE movement short for financial independence, retire early. The couple, who retired in their 30s after working technology jobs, had saved more than $1.2 million, but now has around $1 million because of market volatility linked to the coronavirus, as well as fears of a shuttering global economy and oil price wars.

They know what not to do check their portfolios incessantly.

We dont need that constant feedback and we dont want it, Steve said. We are not glued to our net worth. We dont care too much about how our numbers are going down in the short-term because we know this is a blip. Normally, they check their accounts once or twice a month.

See:Is quarantine like early retirement? These people think so

And they know what they need to do use their emergency savings, of which they have three years worth of living expenses socked away, and dial down discretionary spending.

This doesnt mean checking in on investments is a bad thing. Some people rely on those regular check-ins to feel better about where they stand financially. It is a risk to never look at it, he said. For us, we tend to look every couple of weeks just to get a feel for where its going.

For them, and others on the path to FIRE, the key is to focus on the long haul. When you invest in any investment stock market, real estate or business they tend to be long-term investments, Steve said, noting this is especially important for retirement savers, as theyre saving for decades of their life.

Some argue this pandemic may extinguish the FIRE movement. People who pursue this lifestyle are often investing much of their assets into equities, which are riskier and can severely lower an account balance during volatility. But Adcock said he thinks this will rejuvenate the movement. This environment has shown a lot of people there is more to life than making money and having a good job, he said. Im sure this time last year, people losing jobs and getting sick was the last thing on their minds, but as we have seen, things can change on a dime.

Also see: The coronavirus stimulus package raised 401(k) distribution and loan limits. But which if any should you take?

The coronavirus crisis has caused mass chaos and distress for millions of Americans. Many workers were already underprepared for retirement, but the pandemic has led to record high levels of unemployment, lost or lowered wages and a nightmare health scare. Some wonder if the market downturn and the wavering economy will derail their retirement goals.

People will have to make changes about how they spend, save and invest but they will do so with the long-term picture in mind, Adcock said. For them, quarantining is relatively easy given they live so far apart from their neighbors, but theyre tweaking their lifestyle in other ways. Aside from passive income, they have side jobs in blogging and freelance writing, including as a contributor for MarketWatch. Theyve also pared back their discretionary spending. We have a good baseline understanding of what will make us happy and we will spend handsomely on those things, he said.

FIRE is not for everyone, Steve said, so he doesnt try to push the concept of early retirement on others. But he does encourage everyone try to accomplish the financial independence part, which can help during dark or uncertain times. If you no longer like your job next year and if you are financially independent or close to it, you can choose to do something else with your time, he said. You have no idea whats going to happen in the future and if you are financially independent, that gives you a lot of choices.

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These early retirees saw their investments plunge more than $200,000 but still manage to stay calm - MarketWatch

As titled really, I'm in a really privileged position in terms of work, nothing insane but given the current climate I'm safe and secure at least.

Despite this, I'm really struggling to motivate myself at work. I do not enjoy the job and will eventually leave for numerous reasons, but there's lessons for me to learn where I am right now. I should be able to be content, no matter what the situation, especially given my life circumstance. I'd love to improve my mindset to be more positive and continue getting my work done in a playful/curious headspace. I know this, yet I still procrastinate FAR too much and moreso than I used to.

Years ago, I was plenty happy stacking shelves at a supermarket, right now I make a lot more, though there are more demands on my time at work and at home.

TLDR - I've the potential to be content where I am and bring playfulness/curiosity to everything I do. I need to work several more years until FI. I'm aware of this, yet I'm not doing it. How do I change this? Has anyone achieved similar before?

The rest is here:

financial independence / early retirement

For the concept of independence from another person for support, see Dependant.

Financial independence is the status of having enough income to pay one's living expenses for the rest of one's life without having to be employed or dependent on others.[1][dead link] Income earned without having to work a job is commonly referred to as passive income.[citation needed]

There are many strategies to achieve financial independence, each with their own benefits and drawbacks. To achieve financial independence, it will be helpful if you have a financial plan and budget, so you know what money is coming in and going out, have a clear view of your current incomes and expenses, and can identify and choose appropriate strategies to move towards your financial goals. A financial plan addresses every aspect of your finances.[2]

The following is a non-exhaustive list of sources of passive income that potentially yield financial independence.

If a person can generate enough income to meet their needs from sources other than their primary occupation, they have achieved financial independence, regardless of age, existing wealth, or current salary. For example, if a 25-year-old has $100 in expenses per month, and assets that generate $101 or more per month, they have achieved financial independence. They have no need to work a regular job to pay their bills.

On the other hand, if a (for example) 50-year-old earns $1,000,000 a month but has expenses that equal more than that per month, they are not financially independent, as they still have to earn the difference each month to make all their payments.

However, the effects of inflation must be considered. If a person needs $100/month for living expenses today, they will need $105/month next year and $110.25/month the following year to support the same lifestyle, assuming a 5% annual inflation rate. Therefore, if the person in the above example obtains their passive income from a perpetuity, there will be a time when they lose their financial independence because of inflation.

If someone receives $5000 in dividends from stocks they own, but their expenses total $4000, they can live on their dividend income because it pays for all their expenses to live (with some left over). Under these circumstances, a person is financially independent. A person's assets and liabilities are an important factor in determining if they have achieved financial independence. An asset is anything of value that can be readily turned into cash (liquidated) if a person has to pay debt, whereas a liability is a responsibility to provide compensation. (Homes and automobiles with no liens or mortgages are common assets.)

Since there are two sides to the assets and expenses equation, there are two main directions one can focus their energy: accumulating assets or reducing their expenses.

Accumulating assets can focus one or both of these approaches:

Another approach to financial independence is to reduce regular expenses while accumulating assets, to reduce the amount of assets required for financial independence. This can be done by focusing on simple living, or other strategies to reduce expenses.[3][4]

Excerpt from:

Financial independence - Wikipedia

After a decade of saving over half of his income, Justin McCurry quit his engineering job in 2013 and retired at 33. His wife, Kaisorn, left her 9-to-5 a few years later and joined him in early retirement.

Their portfolio has been as high as $2.3 millionin December 2019. Now, it's closer to $1.6 million. In March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic rocked the stock market, their net worth dropped by a staggering $298,000.

McCurry, now 39, was relatively unfazed by the massive dip. "In terms of our long-term plans, nothing has changed," he tells CNBC Make It. He's confident that their portfolio will last through retirement, even if the markets don't fully recover. That's because they worked strategically for years to get to a comfortable financial place that would be able to sustain a major downturn. Plus, they've been sticking to a conservative retirement budget of about $40,000 a year.

As for the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement overall, which embraces the concept of saving the majority of your income in your 20s or 30s so you can retire in your 30s or 40s, McCurry doesn't think that the pandemic will wipe it out.

However, it does highlight the risks involved in retiring early and relying on your portfolio and savings to last you a certain number of years, rather than consistent income. The economic impact of the pandemic is "going to reintroduce the idea that there are risks and you have to address those risks," he says.

McCurry, who does a bit of early retirement consulting, encourages his clients to think about what a massive downturn would mean for them. "What would you do if you wake up and, suddenly, your portfolio has shrunk by 30%? Or even 50%?" he asks them. "If you go from $1 million to $700,000, are you going to be OK with that? Can you still get by on that or is it going to make you panic?"

What would you do if you wake up and, suddenly, your portfolio has shrunk by 30%? Or even 50%?

Justin McCurry

early retiree

If you can maintain your lifestyle amid market turmoil, that's a good sign that you're in an OK position to retire, McCurry says. But if you crunch the numbers and realize you'd be in financial trouble if you unexpectedly lost 30% of your portfolio, you need to save more before settling down, he says.

"I think that risk is going to become a lot more real for people that have started investing after 2009, just because they haven't lived through [a major economic downturn] before," McCurry says. "It may be the first time they're really internalizing, What does risk mean? What does volatilitymean? What does it feel like to lose 30% of your portfoliovalue in a very short period of time?"

The best way to address the risk of retiring early is to over-prepare and create a conservative plan based on reliable numbers, says McCurry: "Make sure your plan is airtight and that you're OK retiring with the amount of money that you have."

McCurry left his job when his portfolio reached just over $1 million. He was comfortable with that amount for a few reasons: First, he used the"4% rule,"which states that in most cases you can safely withdraw 4% a year from your retirement savings, to determine how much he needed saved up to begin with. He knew going into retirement that he could safely withdraw $40,000 a year without running out of money.

McCurry also has some income coming in each month from his blog and the early retirement consulting work he does in his spare time, which gives him more of a buffer.

Finally, he understands that the markets go up and down, and he's willing to be flexible when it comes to his retirement budget.As he told CNBC Make It in 2018: "You may have to spend less if the markets go down. Or, you may be able to spend more than what you originally budgeted for. ... As long as you're OK cutting back on some of the wants if your portfolio goes down, then you can still cover your needs without worrying about depleting your assets prematurely."

Don't miss:3 money moves one self-made millionaire is taking in response to the coronavirus pandemic

Check out:The best credit cards of 2020 could earn you over $1,000 in 5 years

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39-year-old retiree shares how the coronavirus pandemic will change the FIRE movement - CNBC

Due to COVID-19-related school closures, parents are stretched thin. And while it may not be possible to follow your child's lesson plans to the letter, having your kids at home more

Due to COVID-19-related school closures, parents are stretched thin. And while it may not be possible to follow your child's lesson plans to the letter, having your kids at home more than usual provides a chance to show them how you make day-to-day financial decisions.

The in-home isolation can be difficult. But games, activities, family competitions and even just honest conversations can impart crucial life skills kids will need as they get older and gain greater financial independence.

Pocket change is a powerful learning tool. Even very young children can learn the name and appearance of each kind of coin. As they get older, they can begin putting combinations of coins together.

Michele Hansen of Arlington, Virginia, uses coins to teach her 6-year-old daughter.

'She emptied out our piggy bank of spare change and made a dollar with different combinations of coins,' she says. 'We also did a little foreign exchange with coins left over from past trips. Using coins made it easy for her to visualize it.'

Even if you shop online now for meals or groceries, or leave your kids at home when you go to the supermarket, you can use the experience to teach budgeting and comparison shopping, while reinforcing math skills.

Deanna Hurn, founder of Miracle Math Coaching in Fairfield, California, recommends letting your kids pick a meal they want this week and having them create the shopping list. Set a budget and have them peruse your grocery store's website. But don't let them put items into a shopping cart and have the website do the math for them just yet " instead, ask them to write down each item and its price. Encourage them to compare brands and tell you why they're picking one brand over the other. Once their list is complete, they can manually add up the total cost of all the items.

Your kids will learn how to identify the cost per unit, how to maximize a budget, and even how many items to buy to last a certain amount of time. If you have more than one child, have them compete to see who can come under budget by the highest margin. At the end, put all the items in the shopping cart and see what the final price is once taxes and delivery costs get factored in.

A few years ago, Hurn turned a too-high water bill into a budgeting lesson. She showed the bill to her children and explained the fixed costs (taxes and fees) and variable costs (water use). It led to a discussion about what actions they could all take to lower their water usage.

But it also introduced a lesson in identifying ways to save money. While your rent or mortgage payment may stay the same, you can try to reduce your electricity use by turning off lights when you're not in the room, or your grocery bill by shopping carefully. 'If you know what you can control and what you can't control, you know how to budget,' Hurn says.

'One important thing to remember is that kids are watching you when you think they aren't,' Ng says. They can see if your bills pile up, they can hear if you fight about money. Being honest with kids in age-appropriate ways can provide reassurance when times are tough. You don't have to be a money expert to be a positive example for your kids, either.

'It's totally OK not to have the answers and to learn together,' Ng says. 'It's good for your kids to see that learning about finances can be a lifelong thing.'

More From NerdWallet

Sara Rathner is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: srathner@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @sarakrathner.

The article How to School Kids on Money Lessons During the COVID-19 Outbreak originally appeared on NerdWallet.

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How to School Kids on Money Lessons During the COVID-19 Outbreak - Kinston Free Press

I tweeted this on May 15, 2013: "More news on coronavirus. I think this is our next black swan."

Now, seven years later, I'm sadly proven right. Why did I say this and how did I know? How did it change what I recommend people do about their financial well-being?

Many financial careers are built on predicting the future. If someone makes a lucky guess and gets the timing right, they become famous and people pay incredible sums to hear their prognostications. A booming stock market whips people into a frenzy and they go all in to make as much money as possible.

Sometimes the wrong people get sucked into the hysteria, specifically, those who need to use their money such as retirees. In their zeal for high returns, they take on too much risk. When a crash occurs, they do not have the financial resiliency to withstand the pain and incur significant losses to get the cash they need to pay bills.

More from Invest in You:A beginner's guide to investing during the pandemicOur overreliance on the Fed compromises millennials' futures7 quarantine saving habits to get your through this year

The coronavirus and the stock market are good examples of "complex adaptive systems" we can't predict how small events can throw the entire system out of whack. People think they can predict the future, but they don't know what they don't know.

The coronavirus has been around a long time it is a cause of the common cold. However, there were a few coronavirus cases in the Middle East in 2012 that resulted in a serious pneumonia and a high death rate, just like we are seeing now. These were the cases I tweeted about.

But that strain of coronavirus was not very infective, meaning it was difficult for one person to spread it to another. Many of us realized it would take just a tiny mutation to allow aerosolized transmission and with a slight sneeze, we would have a pandemic on our hands. And here we are.

For predictions to be worthwhile, the prognosticator also has to get the timing right. And therein lies the problem. I had no idea when the coronavirus would mutate. Likewise, we all know markets go up and down, but no one consistently knows when crucial events will occur.

You may get lucky on when to sell, but when do you get back in? After the 2008 downturn, many missed years of earnings when the tide turned in 2009.

What is an investor to do? Instead of trying to beat or time the market, the key is to only take the amount of risk you can afford to take financially and psychologically. There are four important principles to follow.

First, figure out how much money you require for your expenses and create a financial plan to understand what is needed for financial independence. This involves breaking down your "needs" the cost of housing, food, transportation, and health care and your "wants," such as toys, entertainment, unnecessary clothing and any other expenditure not needed to live.

People who plan on working at least five more years should fund a money market account to cover at least six months of required expenditures. People in retirement or within five years of retirement should have at least 10 years of cash flow covered by Social Security, pensions and conservative investments such as bonds and money market accounts.

No one knows what the future holds, but by living life fully and reducing complexity, we can more easily face the upheavals that occur.

Carolyn McClanahan

director of financial planning at Life Planning Partners

Next, create an "investment policy" you will stick with no matter what the stock market is doing. This determines what percent of your money will be allocated to risky investments, such as stocks, and to conservative investments such as bonds. An allocation of at least 50% bonds is often more appropriate for those starting retirement.

When the stock market is doing great, it is important to rebalance your account to sell the winners and buy more bonds. Likewise, when the stock market crashes, as painful as it seems, it is important to rebalance again sell your bonds and buy into stocks. Having an investment policy to guide you takes the emotion out of making investment decisions.

Third, put in the building blocks to create resiliency for whatever life throws your way. Carry the appropriate disability and life insurance. Prepare your estate plan so your family can take over if you become incapacitated or have an untimely death. Take care of your health to reduce potential medical expenses and to live a better life in general.

Finally, simplify life and live fully in the present. No one knows what the future holds, but by living life fully and reducing complexity, we can more easily face the upheavals that occur.

By Carolyn McClanahan, certified financial planner, M.D. and director of financial planning at Life Planning Partners

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CHECK OUT:How your coronavirus stimulus check could affect your 2020 taxes, according to tax experts viaGrow with Acorns+CNBC.

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Op-Ed: Since you can't beat the market, the key is to only take the risk you can handle - CNBC

Rutuja Sawant knows the value of hard work. This spring, the senior media studies major juggled three campus jobs in addition to a full-time course load.

When UB announced its transition to distance learning, Sawants bosses at Interdivisional Marketing and Communication had to give her remote hours. The Office of Admissions couldn't.

The centers were forced to cancel all upcoming events following Gov. Andrew Cuomos March 22 executive order limiting all non-essential gatherings of individuals of any size for any reason.

As a result, Sawant is one of approximately 3,000 student workers affected by statewide regulations ordering non-essential workers to stay home. Campus-wide layoffs left thousands unemployed and some unable to pay for food or rent across the state. While campus employers like University Libraries and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are paying employees to stay home, private corporations, like Campus Dining and Shops, are not.

Some students have turned to jobs at essential businesses like pharmacies, grocery stores and restaurants in the greater Buffalo community after being laid off, but many international students and students living with sick relatives cant work off campus. This leaves many student-employees like Sawant, some of whom rely on campus jobs as their primary source of income, struggling to maintain their financial independence.

Sawant, who is originally from Mumbai, India, cannot work off-campus due to her student visas work restrictions. She now worries shell have to ask her parents for support.

I cover my own living expenses and I am worried that because of [the pandemic] I will have to ask my parents for money, Sawant said.

I prefer to be independent because being an international student at UB is already really expensive and I want to help lessen the burden on my family. I also have younger siblings who we need to save up for, so I try to cover as many [of my own] expenses as I can.

On Feb. 22, UB received $100,000 from the Gerstner Family Foundation and the Heckscher Foundation for Children to increase its emergency funding to temporarily assist students struggling to remain enrolled in school. But UB officials expect the number of students who need aid to rise as lay-offs continue.

Unemployment and underemployment rates have more than doubled since Cuomo announced the state of emergency in March, with traffic for the state departments unemployment website rising nearly 900% between March 23 and March 28, according to statistics published by the New York State Department of Labor on April 2. During the week ending on March 28, 366,403 New Yorkers had filed for unemployment up 286,404 from the week before, according to the same announcement from the NYSDOL. College students, however, are usually ineligible to receive unemployment checks because taxing authorities count students under the age of 24 as dependents of their parents. UB students who are employed by SUNY, however, are considered state employees, which means they are eligible for state employee funding.

Jerome Machynski, a junior business major, does not qualify as a state employee because Ellicott Food Court where he works is privately owned and managed by Campus Dining and Shops.

On March 23, CDS emailed student workers announcing that it would no longer employ students at its dining halls.

Machynski, who started working at Ellicott in August, said his campus dining job was his main source of income before he received the email while visiting family in New York City.

CDS sent out an email to all student-employees basically saying that all student workers will no longer be scheduled for work for the rest of the semester, Machynski said. Now we will have to find a job so quickly.

Machynski returned to his on-campus residence in Buffalo, where the number of coronavirus cases is approximately 63 times fewer than the 98,308 confirmed cases in New York City, as of Sunday. He returned in hopes of gaining employment at an essential business like a grocery store.

But Manchynski said he is fortunate compared to students he knows who are unable to apply for off-campus jobs.

On March 18, UB announced on its Library New Center webpage that all university libraries except Silverman would close. Trinity Mohr, a junior communication major and student supervisor at Lockwood, was laid off alongside dozens of her co-workers.

Mohr will receive a state employee check equal to the average of [their first] two paychecks from 2020-21.

Before Cuomo implemented social distancing laws, Mohr averaged 20 hours per week while picking up extra shifts at the Music Library and Abbott. She cant apply for off-campus jobs because she fears passing the virus along to her housemate who has a chronic health condition. The state, however, will only pay Mohrs normal work schedule until April 15, according to guidelines from the Governor's Office of Employee Relations (GOER).

I live with someone thats extremely high risk as in, if she gets the virus, we dont expect recovery, Mohr said. So Ive been spending a lot of time doing things for her and helping out. I dont have the time to pick up another job.

Still, Mohr considers herself lucky because she lives at home and receives scholarship funds that cover her UB tuition. Those scholarships, however, dont cover student fees, which cost Mohr over $1,500 each semester.

So Im concerned as to how this will affect my ability to pay for that, Mohr said. Id rather not take out a loan or use a payment plan, but that might end up being the case.

After that date, Mohr and her co-workers will live in a state of uncertainty.

Do we get ready to apply for unemployment? Do we try to take on another part-time job during this crisis?

For now we're okay, but we're in a state of limbo.

Elizabeth Napolitano is the assistant news editor and can be reached at elizabeth.napolitano@ubspectrum.com or on Twitter @LizKNapolitano.

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Student workers struggle to remain financially independent following coronavirus lay-offs - University at Buffalo The Spectrum