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What Have You Learned? (Pandemic Forged Savings Strategies)

kcfield
  |     |   52 posts since 2012

While the pandemic has had a significantly negative impact upon savers; it has also provided an opportunity for savers to rethink their approach and to develop savings strategies that are stronger and more resilient in the long run:

1) What have you learned about savings as a result of the pandemic? Has it impacted your philosophy and outlook about savings and finance?

2) Have you changed your approach and/or strategy with respect to saving as a result of the pandemic? If so, please share the specifics.

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18


Choice
  |     |   318 posts since 2020
Rates started south in February 2019...remember when the Fed was being “beaten up” to lower rates faster!  I’m in a holding action...to those still working I advise those to compensate for lower rates by increasing savings!  Petty cash is going into ibonds.  If rates go negative...bank of mattress
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13
111
  |     |   176 posts since 2019
Would you double down on that advice if rates go negative?
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1
July2022
  |     |   16 posts since 2018
Being a History major, I heard many stories from relatives and friends about the Great Depression, so I have always been a saver. When china was scrambling to build hospitals I moved to roll a 401k into a Traditional Ira, whereupon I bought shares of Duke energy. I know it might have been considered fool hardy with folks around here, but history was working for me again...Duke has always paid a dividend every quarter since 1925...95 years and even through the Great Depression! With Covid It was a matter of weeks or months before it was going to wreck things here. by Feb 14th I was rolled out of the 401k and into the Traditional IRA...about the time Italy and the economies around the world were melting down. Duke give me about teh same interest every month as my Achevia 4.2 apy does...or at least till about 2024. As to saving, I didnt have to cut expenses too much, I was already out of debt because any kind of debt scares the hell out of me. My biggest saving came from missing out on dining out 3 times a week...haven't eaten out since March 7th 2020....lol Im a better cook for it too!...Pizza, chicken fried rice, etc etc...youtube to the dining room table rescue!
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16
GreenDream
  |     |   97 posts since 2019
You didn't say exactly when you bought (just when the rollover was complete, on feb 14th) so I hope you didn't buy into Duke before the 22nd (the 21st was the high point at $102.43, it's only ~$100 a share today). If you waited a couple of weeks after the rollover, the price would have dropped a bit (it was ~$92 on the Feb 28th) and continued to do so until Mar 20th, which would have been the best time to buy (that's when it hit a low of $68.40) though you'd have to have some amazing good luck to have hit the target so precisely.
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GreenDream
  |     |   97 posts since 2019
"Rates started south in February 2019" - choice.

Sorry, but that's simply not true. Every month in the federal reserve, the economy and CD rates forecast post, Ken kindly publishes charts of rates for savings, Money Markets, and CDs. And you can see, in all the charts, that rates were still climbing in the first half of 2019 (well past Feb) peaking in the Jul/Aug 2019 time frame for most of them* which is around the time Fed cut their rate on Aug 1st 2019 (from 2.5% to 2.25%) that rates began their decline.

* "most of them" being the Savings, MM, & shorter term CDs charts. The longer term CDs peaked a little sooner, in the Apr/May timeframe,
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