retail investing is tough

​These are tough times, to say the least. If you are self-employed like me and can't make money or even plan to make money because of the lockdown things, look grim. I took a look at my RRSP and wondered how to invest in recouping the losses. I came up with more questions than answers. 

Have we passed the panic stage selloff? Not sure. People are buying up what they seem to think are bargains, but what is a bargain stock at this point? What happened in the past?  What would a market recovery look like?  Take a look back on the last two bear markets. One started in 2001 and lasted until 2003. The other began in 2008 and ended in 2009. The crash of 2020 bear market could last a while and could drop another 20 percent before it is done or may more. These are times never seen before. 

The crash in 2000 saw a drop of 45% from peak to bottom. 2008 saw a 48% drop. Neither crash saw entire cities shut down. Mind you. The banking system was virtually shut down in the US for a moment in time. There is a possibility that the market may drop another 20%. or..... more. Look at the graph above for the Hong Kong flu. It took some time to recover. 

 What will start the recovery after this crash? What companies will be the 1st to lead us out? What companies are generating income from this situation, who is hiring, What companies oversold, and their earnings will not be affected? So many questions and we have time to research. People have lost billons on this crash and some have cash ready to deploy. 

Covid 19 is changing everything. It is the 1st time in my lifetime that the world is so focused is on healing. The world is turning fear and panic into healing and taking care of one another. Humans are resilient beings; I am sure we will recover.  I hope we keep up supporting one another during this time.