GGD Newsletter For May 1, 2020

Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Ms. GGD and I have spent the vast majority of the last month inside of our apartment, practicing social distancing. As a result, we've had the opportunity to preview many of the elements of early retirement (e.g. sleeping in late, forgetting/not caring what day of the week it is, creating our own schedule, etc.). At the same time, we've been unable to experience many of the aspects of early retirement that we are most looking forward to (e.g. traveling to new places, eating exotic foods, trying new activities, etc.). It has been a truly interesting experience.

New On GoGreenDollar:

Treat Stocks Like Real Estate During A Market Crash:
For over a decade, the stock market has been in an almost constant state of growth, experiencing only a few minor hiccups along the way (I'm looking at you 2018 and 2015...). Now that we've entered a bear market after such a long period of growth, is it finally time to panic? What exactly should we do with our investments when the market crashes? The answer is simple, really. Just treat your stocks like real estate.

Monthly Financial Update (Full Breakdown):
We've got some good news and some bad news. Bad news first. Remember last week when we said we suffered a "massive -10.56% fall" in our net worth? Well turns out, due to a slight clerical error, the actual drop was even larger than we reported! In the month of March, our actual losses on paper totaled -12.38% and brought our net worth down to 57.3% of our retirement goal, ouch! But here's the good news. Although our portfolio hasn't fully recovered back to its previous peak, this past month we did take a tremendous step toward that end. Our investments grew by 14.84% bringing the total to 65.8% of our retirement number!
 
That's it for this month's Newsletter. If you have any questions or would like to suggest a topic for the site, send us an email or comment on a post and we'll be sure to follow up.

As always, stay tuned for more content. We'll keep writing as long as you keep reading. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and/or Twitter. Talk to you again soon!

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