“Be fearful when others are greedy…”

Warren Buffett once said, “be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful..”. (I think he said this, but cannot be sure, as it had be quoted and re-quoted so many times everywhere…)

Along the same token, is the much more commonly preached investing principle, of buying low, and selling high.

I think there is a lot we can take from these investing mindset into our current evolving precautions against COVID19.

Summer is here. Sun has finally sort of arrived. Restrictions are loosening (although some are tightening again..). People are getting outside. Activities are rising. Socializing back on. Meals with friends. Family gatherings. It’s been too long. We need this reprieve.

And yet, the virus is still here, and still we have no vaccine, or proven therapeutics (not quite there yet anyway..).

Really, nothing has changed.

Other than our mindset.

It is easy, in the midst of the optimism of summer, to let our guards down, and let loose our vigilance.

For, damn it, we needed this. It’s been too long, too taxing, too emotionally straining. And for those who unfortunately also suffered dearly in health or financial hardships, they really, really need more of this loosening of some restrictions.

Because we know that life cannot wait for the solution of COVID. Life needs to evolve to live alongside it. With it.

Yes this is the “dance” that we spoke of so much earlier in this pandemic. The long dance. With a song that seems not likely to end anytime soon.

So I think it is good for our salvation to breathe a little bit, to embrace this slight relaxation we had afforded ourselves from society’s collective difficult effort since the beginning of the crisis.

But yet, the numbers are rising.

Yesterday, I saw a remarkable number of 20-something-year-old patients, some with mild COVID-possible symptoms, some with more convincing versions of the same. They are healthy, and doing well. But that’s likely the beginning of the second wave, if there is such a distinction anyway.

In a few weeks, these healthy younglings can carry the potential virus to their dear families, and the older crowd will show up. And not long after, the even older crowd.

We must remember that everything with this virus takes baby steps in 2-3 week increments. The US has already been seeing a further rise in numbers, some in areas with patterns very suggestive of likely transmissions from their recent national holidays.

So let’s check our minds a little bit.

Just like with the stock market, what you invest in today likely isn’t going to bear fruits until years later. You carry a long term horizon with your finances. We should adapt the same with our social precautions and activities on a personal level.

In finance, it is likely unwise for one to be rushing to purchase all the latest hottest stocks (although this seems to be happening all the time..). Sure, some may carry momentum forward for some further gains, but history has shown us that would not be the sound approach. Instead, buying those that have fallen, and avoiding those that could be too hot, is much more likely to yield better returns over time.

So, likewise, it would be unwise for everyone to relax their social precautions and personal safety vigilance at the same time. Even though that is likely the easiest approach to take. It is easy, when everything looks safer around us, to actually believe that it is so.

In some way, it is precisely this time period, when everyone is coming out, starved of their social activities and all too ready to mingle, that the virus can easily mount a resurgence.

In fact, I think many of us are almost expecting it, in a few weeks time.

I do not mean for us to remain so stressed and anxious about the virus and not take in a bit of emotional reprieve. I think we just have to learn to balance that out with how we choose to live going forward. Humans are social beings. It will remain very important for us to have that available to us.

But perhaps, be a little bit fearful when others are greedy.

Maybe Buffett is good not just in investing after all.