So if you have a cruise cancelled, would you vacation elsewhere this summer?

[bigrednole]

It's highly unlikely we will be able to vacation anywhere else this Summer. If canceled, we will reschedule over Thanksgiving.

[navybankerteacher]

2 minutes ago, clo said:

In '08, and I agree with you that our belief is that this is going to be far worse, our IRA lost 40% of its value. We did no travel for 18 months, sold our motorhome, rarely went out to eat. And we came all the way back. 

Yes - coming back is definitely in the cards;  it will likely take as many years as bouncing back from 2008.  I am glad not to have any significant cruise line, airline or hospitality holdings in my IRA (which already is a good deal thinner than it was a month ago).

[clo]

1 minute ago, navybankerteacher said:

Yes - coming back is definitely in the cards;  it will likely take as many years as bouncing back from 2008.  I am glad not to have any significant cruise line, airline or hospitality holdings in my IRA (which already is a good deal thinner than it was a month ago).

Almost coincidentally we met with our Fidelity adviser when the market had just started down. Out of curiosity I asked how long in '08 did it take to reach bottom. Three months. If you were in all stocks it took three years to recover. If you were balanced as we were then and now it took 18 months which was our experience. Based on nothing, we thing now those are optimistic numbers.

[George C]

1 hour ago, slidergirl said:

True.

I guess when one lives in The Big City, those kinds of activities are the norm.  When one lives up in The Mountains, we tend to do things differently 😀  I enjoy The Big City environment once in awhile - heck, I had a birthday trip planned in April to go to Las Vegas and eat at Jaleo and Bouchon, but alas.   I'm still holding out for my 3 day trip to Los Angeles in June to go to the Hollywood Bowl to see Andrea Bocelli again.  But, in the meantime, I'm going to be doing as much solo time as I can out in the boonies, camping.

 

My 2 friends who came down with COVID-19 caught it on a ski holiday in Bulgaria.  Yes, Bulgaria.  They had their 2 kiddos with them.  The kiddos are OK.  My friends are feeling like they have a bad case of the flu.  They are in their 30s. 

 

We go to lots of concerts in Dallas area and was lucky enough to see Andrea Bocelli  about ten years ago he was totally amazing . Last time I went “camping “ was in 1969 while in basic training in the army . We were suppose to see Chris Botti today put concert of course was postponed.

[slidergirl]

1 hour ago, George C said:

We go to lots of concerts in Dallas area and was lucky enough to see Andrea Bocelli  about ten years ago he was totally amazing . Last time I went “camping “ was in 1969 while in basic training in the army . We were suppose to see Chris Botti today put concert of course was postponed.

I saw Bocelli last summer, also at the Hollywood Bowl.  Totally amazing, yes!  He used a concert choir from a local college (Cal State Fullerton) for his backup.  Way back in the day, I was involved with choirs at our school, CSF and Chapman.  I got chills listening to those kids back him up!  Too bad about Chris Botti.  I got to see him last summer.  Our little town has an excellent summer concert program, bringing in name acts once a week.  It's always a good mix of musical genres.  Hopefully, we'll get those agin this year.

 

I grew up in a Girl Scout family.  My mom was heavily involved up to the national level.  I camped since I could remember - I know I spent 2 weeks at camp when I was 7 (mom got permission for me to go earlier than usual).  So, it's in my blood.    

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, clo said:

Almost coincidentally we met with our Fidelity adviser when the market had just started down. Out of curiosity I asked how long in '08 did it take to reach bottom. Three months. If you were in all stocks it took three years to recover. If you were balanced as we were then and now it took 18 months which was our experience. Based on nothing, we thing now those are optimistic numbers.

 

I remain an optimist.  I have no memory of how long my portfolio returned to "even".  And, then grew.  I don't follow the daily reports.  My concern is:  at my age, should I consider dedicating some of my secure assets in chasing the rather attractive prices of companies X, Y, and Z?  Stock investing is a long term investment, I think.  How "long term" am I?  My crystal ball is very cloudy.

 

I am confident that there will be a "better day tomorrow".  When that "tomorrow" is...

Edited March 22, 2020 by rkacruiser

[clo]

35 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

My crystal ball is very cloudy.

I like to say "I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know how long we're going to live and what it's going to cost."  We also had an experience with Bob's late mother when she had to move into assisted living. She had an apartment and two meals a day and it was $5k/mo and that was 10 years ago. $100k/yr is what we're planning for.

[Bookish Angel]

We don’ travel in the summer so it is not an issue. Will probably do a week or two in the Outer Banks for Thanksgiving if the virus has waned.

Edited March 23, 2020 by Bookish Angel

[clo]

1 minute ago, Bookish Angel said:

We almost never travel in the summer so it is not an issue. Will probably do a week or two in the Outer Banks for Thanksgiving if the virus has waned.

And then there's this:  https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/most-of-the-outer-banks-is-now-closed-to-visitors/article_c53c1160-689c-11ea-b4b4-93b170ca14f6.html

 

We're struggling with to go where we're neither at risk or puttng others at risk. So far have only found the Black Rock Desert in our rv.

[George C]

14 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I remain an optimist.  I have no memory of how long my portfolio returned to "even".  And, then grew.  I don't follow the daily reports.  My concern is:  at my age, should I consider dedicating some of my secure assets in chasing the rather attractive prices of companies X, Y, and Z?  Stock investing is a long term investment, I think.  How "long term" am I?  My crystal ball is very cloudy.

 

I am confident that there will be a "better day tomorrow".  When that "tomorrow" is...

We adjusted our portfolio a few times luckily sold a bunch when Dow was at 25,000. Now buying some at least , picking stocks with high dividends but agree it’s extremely cloudy. Luckily spending a lot less now since we normally spend hundreds each week in restaurants now do a fraction of that on take out food since all restaurants are closed except for takeout in our area. 

[clo]

1 hour ago, George C said:

Luckily spending a lot less now since we normally spend hundreds each week in restaurants

LOL. Living in Reno a couple of times a week we would go to a fave place, sit at the bar, have a good lunch and a glass of wine...and play video poker! So, yeah, we're definitely saving money. And I love to cook so we haven't yet ordered take out. Day 9.

[lenquixote66]

13 hours ago, Bookish Angel said:

We don’ travel in the summer so it is not an issue. Will probably do a week or two in the Outer Banks for Thanksgiving if the virus has waned.

We never travel in the summer because we live 10 minutes from a beach front community with wall to wall restaurants and all kinds of summer activities.

[clo]

10 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

We never travel in the summer because we live 10 minutes from a beach front community with wall to wall restaurants and all kinds of summer activities.

Which may be closed. I totally understand that people are having a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that possibly for the next year that life as we've always known is over.

[George C]

We normally stay home in summer, we do two cruises, go to NYC and Denver but not during summer. We have a nice house with a swimming pool and hot tub in backyard, we can use our pool about 6 months out of the year. 

[pacruise804]

On 3/20/2020 at 5:12 PM, lenquixote66 said:

I cannot walk anywhere due to disability.I can hold my wife’s arm and walk about 10;feet.However,I am in bed all day and night except for meals and bathroom activities so I need to get some fresh air.

Absolutely nothing wrong with getting some fresh air 🙂 Do you have a balcony or nearby park?  Hopefully soon we can start opening windows too - we had a temperature drop today into the 30's and even had some snow 😮 

 

On 3/20/2020 at 8:17 PM, lenquixote66 said:

My best friend and his wife were diagnosed with the Corona Virus today.

💔I hope they both recover well.

 

16 hours ago, clo said:

I like to say "I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know how long we're going to live and what it's going to cost."  We also had an experience with Bob's late mother when she had to move into assisted living. She had an apartment and two meals a day and it was $5k/mo and that was 10 years ago. $100k/yr is what we're planning for.

My mother was in a skilled nursing home the last few years of her life (MS) and it was amazing to see the jump in price when her mother went to the same home a few years later.  Assisted living/end of life medical costs are definitely hard to know how much to factor.

[pacruise804]

If travel is permitted this summer my son has a scholarship opportunity in OK that we hope to attend.  While it isn't official yet we assume our May cruise will be canceled.  Possibly day trips to local parks/hiking trails and end the day at local restaurants to support the small businesses.

 

If we are still on social isolation, we can hopefully still stock up on local produce and do some canning.  Either way we should be tackling some home projects - so more of a stay-cation.

[pacruise804]

On 3/20/2020 at 5:01 PM, clo said:

 

 

When we get back from the store we wipe down all our purchases with disinfectant. Then we wash our hands. You may want to do that with stuff your daughter is bringing home. It's nice that your son will serve at the food pantry but then he's bringing 'cooties' home to the rest of you. Perhaps he could do back office, behind the scenes stuff. Not as much fun but safer.

 

 

 

I'm not sure there is much back office work for a 15 year old 🙂 They did have good protocols in place.  All volunteers certified they were symptom free and not exposed (for what that's worth) and washed hands upon entering the facility before touching anything.  The volunteers filled the client's carts and clients stayed in their vehicle so it acted more like a drive thru.  There was an option for those who felt comfortable to stand next to the car so they could talk and pray with the clients, but the 6' distance was maintained.  Bags were loaded into trunks so very minimal person-to-person contact.

 

Someone needs to meet the need and our family are at lower risk than some of the other volunteers. I'm proud of him being willing to step in so others can step back 🙂 

 

I was pleased to see that at least in the parts of PA, OH, and IN we traveled the isolation measures were being taken seriously.  There was very little non-commercial traffic on the roads, gas stations were empty (of people) and clean, and the restaurant parking lots were almost completely empty.  We stopped at a local chain and not only had they closed the dining room, you could only get service from the drive through.  

[clo]

1 hour ago, pacruise804 said:

Assisted living/end of life medical costs are definitely hard to know how much to factor.

The place we're looking at is defined as "senior living" and you get an apt., 25 meals a month, light housekeeping weekly and more. But any "assistance" you need is ala carte, i.e., meds, bathing,etc. And they're moving into memory care but not end of life. $100k/yr isn't the cheapest but it certainly isn't the most expensive. We want to do it while we're young enough to enjoy all the activities, on site and off. In case you want more info https://www.eraliving.com/communities/wallingford/ .  It's more appealing to us than cruising and we can still travel. PS: we have no financial interest n the company 🙂

[clo]

1 hour ago, pacruise804 said:

Possibly day trips to local parks/hiking trails and end the day at local restaurants to support the small businesses.

I saw that Marin Co. (across the Golden Gate Bridge from SF) has had to close all their beaches because people wouldn't stay home where they've been told to be. And there are no restaurants open, except some for curbside pickup, in CA, NV, OR and WA. So what you describe already sounds alien to us out here. We're on day 9 of 'social distancing' and go only to the grocery stores.

[pacruise804]

Clo, the day trips would be in the summer after social distancing has ended (if it has ended by then).  What I described would not be possible in PA now either.

 

We do have restaurants open for drive-thru and take out only, but my comment was about supporting businesses after the shut down has ended.

[clo]

Regarding vacationing elsewhere here's an article specific to our area but relevant to all travel.

 

https://www.rgj.com/story/life/outdoors/recreation/2020/03/22/recreation-destinations-tell-people-stay-away-over-covid-19-concerns/2895800001/?utm_source=rgj-Daily Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_briefing&utm_term=list_article_headline

[lenquixote66]

3 hours ago, clo said:

Which may be closed. I totally understand that people are having a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that possibly for the next year that life as we've always known is over.

In my opinion the pandemic will end in 2021 or possibly never.

[clo]

22 minutes ago, pacruise804 said:

(if it has ended by then)

We've gotten such a late start I wonder about when the curve will begin to flatten. And I'm guessing flatten doesn't mean end. We have one week in late July to get together with family and I have the feeling that will be canceled. Other than that we have no other travel or socializing planned. Period. We have a FCC good for travel through the end of '21 so hopefully then.

[clo]

7 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

In my opinion the pandemic will end in 2021 or possibly never.

I guess history shows that you either die or become immune and that's how it ends. And I think it's important for people to understand that getting a vaccine isn't a sure thing. I'm not being pessimistic, that's not my style at all, but realistic.

[lenquixote66]

Just now, clo said:

I guess history shows that you either die or become immune and that's how it ends. And I think it's important for people to understand that getting a vaccine isn't a sure thing. I'm not being pessimistic, that's not my style at all, but realistic.

I feel as though none of this is real but we are all characters in a science fiction movie.Does anyone else share this feeling ?