Reading Time: 3 Minutes
“Hey let’s have pasta tonight?”
“Sure”.
And so off I went, like any good husband.
In search of pasta.
Lo and behold the sight that befell me at the shops:

CLEANED OUT.
Goodness, what is going on you ask?
It’s because we are in PANIC MODE people.
Coronavirus fever has well and truly hit.
Now, I posted a couple of weeks ago on it (read here, and here) and it’s time to do an update.
Because times have significantly changed since then.
I’ll preface the below with the statement that it is my opinion only. You can agree, you can disagree but I hope you get something out of it!
~~~
Coronavirus, How Bad Can It Get?
To this question, I have no idea.
If the WHO and the leading medical experts in their field cannot put forward an accurate timeline, what chance does someone who’s scientific knowledge never extended past high school have?
But I will say this.
There is ab-so-loot pandemonium and chaos going on in Australia right now.
You can’t walk a block without hearing a few conversations about Coronavirus.
The level of media attention and focus is unprecedented – with all the major news outlets bombarding us with updates constantly.

Whether it’s the number of rising cases, the number of countries infected, the number of deaths – it’s too much.
But most of us, we get affected by the media.
It’s a self-perpetuating cycle.
And to me this translates into a dedicated effort from politicians to take affirmative action.
Because in times of need and distress, we turn to the ones who are in charge for help, our government.
For the moment, I think the government is doing OK in its efforts to curtail the spread and manage the crisis.
Will Things Get Better?
Unknown, but if I was a betting man – I would put money on “yes”.
This is because I look at the origin of the pandemic, China.
China has undergone a phenomenal social quarantine effort of closing schools, shutting offices, forced staying-at-home etc. to try and prevent the spread of the virus.
The number of new cases continues to slow.
Unfortunately, this does not provide any relief for those many new countries where infection cases continue to rise.
However, the news from China is cause for optimism that this virus can be contained.
Also, the sheer number of people infected means that it is a priority for practically every government to either prevent the virus from spreading or finding a vaccine and cure.
My strong opinion is that a vaccine will be found eventually, because as I’ve mentioned, Coronavirus is now a political problem to be solved.
At What Cost?
Exactly! No one knows.
Well, here in Australia, it’s come at a cost of no toilet paper…

But toilet paper aside, a significant cost of the Coronavirus is the cost to the global economy.
We’ve seen it recently with major markets dropping 10-15% in the space of a week.
Companies associated with travel and tourism in particular, have been crushed.
Why?
Because of the slow-down to global growth.
Most analysts are tipping recession. Or at least the potential for recession.
Personally, I think it’s because of the below main factors:
- The Coronavirus has seemingly come out of nowhere (a Black Swan) and the unknown factor is what is scary, causing people to rush to the sidelines to “wait and see”.
- After a decade long bull-run, a lot of investors are sitting on handy gains. So it doesn’t take much to book some profits and wait it out.
- Correspondingly, growth companies exceeding their valuation multiples. It’s time to take a breather.
- The rise of passive indexing and algorithmic trading (70% of total US volume) has amplified the velocity of these falls. Computers rushing to get out before other computers.
What To DO?
Who knows whether we’ll see recession or not.
We’ve seen the RBA cut rates this month, and the fed with an emergency cut.
But to be honest, rates are already so low, I feel this time, there’s diminishing marginal utility the lower rates go.
There’s more talk of Australia starting Quantitative Easing (RBA tries to buy itself out of a mess).
Whether that happens is mere speculation and conjecture at this point.
I think if (like me), you’ve been caught with the falling stock market knife – there’s not much you can do.
I mean, you would only sell if you can find something with higher returns, whether that’s in another stock, in cash, in property, in bitcoin or whatever.
And in order to do that, you need confidence that whatever you’re going into, will deliver those returns.
Do you?
What Are YOU Doing TheFrugalSamurai?
Licking my chops and grinning like a Cheshire Cat to be honest.

Not that I’m a sucker for pain and like losing money (I’m down A LOT).
But because I think we’ll be seeing more and more VALUE.
I’ve often heard people comment that the stock market is a grocery store – and you’ve just walked in and found things are 10-15% off.
Point is though, not everything is 10-15%.
Some have been slashed 50% (or more), in a WEEK.
I’m adding more and more names to the spreadsheet titled “Coronavirus Stocks To Buy?” each passing day.
Mind you, that’s only because I’ve got a bit of spare cash lying around, so as an accumulator – it’s in my interest for the market to plummet, so I can scoop it ALL up, like the greedy, fat bastard I am.
“Looks in mirror and loosens belt buckle”.
Going Forward
My honest thought is that I think a vaccine will be found sooner or later, or at least a cure or some REMEDY to the Coronavirus.
There will be more pain in the short-term, and a lot more media attention – I now wash my hands more than I’ve ever washed them, they are pristine.
But if you had to ask me whether I’m worried?
Maybe I am ignorantly stubborn – but I would answer no.
There’s always been crises and disasters and unexpected events – human beings just preserve.
The ONLY thing which would really worry me is if this Coronavirus mutates into something else.
Like that Brad Pitt movie where he has to go to Jerusalem via South Korea and there’s a whole bunch of singing and oh won’t you chop my hand off please sir?
Yeah… that would have me panicking, forget stocks, forget investing, forget toilet paper – it’s guns, ammo, tinned food and bottled water thanks.
But for the moment, I’m still on the hunt for pasta.
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30 Comments
Pyotr
Enjoyed reading this. Like the use of gifs and your approach to writing its amusing.
The Frugal Samurai
Glad you enjoyed it!
Steveark
While I am not sure corona will have any impact on the US to speak of it has reinforced my love of rural life. We all have weeks of food on hand, not as preppers but because we have gardens, hunt and fish and can things and store food in deep freezers. Our houses are far apart and nobody comes within a hundred yards of us unless we invite them to. We have our own generators for back up electricity. Hunkering down for a couple of months could be done with no planning at all. And those of us who have reached financial independence certainly don’t need to go to a job. I think it is a lifestyle that gives us an edge if something scary ever does pop up. But this isn’t it. This is just a worse than normal flu bug. There is still plenty of pasta for sale here. Now pasta company stock, it might be time to buy some of that!
The Frugal Samurai
Hello Steveark, your life sounds AMAZING. MrsFrugalSamurai and I have long discussed the rural option (as I am a bit sick of living in the city tbh). I’ve always been an outdoorsy kinda guy, urban living doesn’t have that. And yes, sounds like you guys are well prepared for ANY pandemic. Haha yeah, I was going to look into the grocery stores and other stocks… could be time to load up on stocks instead!
Chad
Thank you so so much for the information, i didn’t know a lot of these facts!!! Sharing it because everyone needs to know about Corona Virus.
The Frugal Samurai
You’re welcome Chad!
Pauline
Hopefully and praying that everything will be back to normal soon.
It’s really hard right now to go some places because of the virus
The Frugal Samurai
Yes me too, some of these stories related to it are pretty darn tragic atm.
Mat Tam
Apart from adding to your “Coronavirus Stocks To Buy?”. Perhaps you can add a “Coronavirus Stocks to Short”. Using put options can limit the loss.
Better buy a few toilet paper while supplies last!
The Frugal Samurai
Hm I’ve got a shortlist of that as well! But I’ve never liked taking the short-side, really admire the short-sellers. They have big kahunas! Haha I tried using OTM puts a long long time ago as a wealth creation strategy, cost too much!
Kathy Kenny Ngo
I think that this epidemic will be a strong test of character, economy, and resilience. We all need to survive it and we all need to get through this, hopefully, intact.
The Frugal Samurai
Very true, I still think that it is more short-term than something that will have lasting impact though!
Jon Maldia
Scary times. Thank you for putting out this information.
The Frugal Samurai
No worries, thanks for reading!
tweenselmom
I pray that this Coronavirus but somehow I’m already tired of hearing about it, but we have to. We have to hear and be updated about it even it pains to do so. But the most important thing is that we hear the accurate news.
The Frugal Samurai
Yes, there is so much misinformation out there right? And I totally agree with the point that we’re all a bit fatigued hearing about it… hoping for a vaccine to it as well, but methinks there will be!
David Elliott
I do think we will be able to get it under control. And I do think like the flu it won’t have a horrific amount of deaths each year. And as long as we don’t fixate on each one as if it’s the end of the world and realize that often times there are underlying issues for the person who dies, we will be able to make headway with this.
The Frugal Samurai
Exactly David! What I think as well, I think some of the irrationality is caused by the media fueling this storm of the unknown. But just think of all the people who blindly follow whatever the media tell them to – it’s madness!
Jackline A
I agree! Corona virus is really scary and I can understand the panic.
The Frugal Samurai
Yeah but keep your cool and you’ll be OK!
Reg
Hoping that everything will be fine soon. We can’t explore places because of the virus.
The Frugal Samurai
Damn, that sucks when you’re a full-time traveller!
WanderlustBeautyDreams
I think the media isn’t helping and just creating fear. More people with the flu have fatalities every year. I think taking precaution and going on with your daily routine is the best way to go.
The Frugal Samurai
I agree with you but what a difference a few days make! We’ve just implemented self-isolation laws here in Australia!
Pedro
Great post Mr Frugal Samarai 🙂
Not quite sure where Corona is leading. But let’s hope for the best. Hopefully, it will disappear just as quickly as it appeared.
Thanks for sharing
The Frugal Samurai
I hope so too Pedro!
Kiwi
its hard to gauge where this will go. I hope it goes in a better direction and less cases and more cures and solutions for anyone infected and we can go back to normal.
The Frugal Samurai
Yeah I think it will get much worse before it gets better though – probably 9-12months timeline at this stage is my guess!
Leonard
Maybe this is a great time at looking at low geared AReits
That have a good yield
The Frugal Samurai
I like AREITs, although I think commercial real estate will be impacted heavily by this as well.