I first posed the question on Twitter in some of the email chat rooms I frequent to find out how everyone was coping with the new normal but the response was rather limited. Perhaps this will give you a taste of what others are experiencing and, with some luck, we won’t need a follow-up piece over the summer.
As you all know and are experiencing, our normal lives have been supplanted by the global pandemic. Stay home, wash your hands, and when you must leave for food and medicine, wear gloves and a face scarf. Oh, and thank a healthcare worker, food delivery person and all the people behind the scenes keeping everything clean.
The question relevant to us here is how has this affected your interaction with the financial and commodity markets? After all, they are still open, despite the empty NYSE trading floor, and that means, thankfully, we all have jobs. They may be different, such as no in-person client contact, but technology allows us to make adjustments to keep things going.
I’ll start with my own situation. I’ve actually been working at home already for the better part of 20 years. It started with carrying floppy disks back and forth to the office in the 80s, dial-up and then a dedicated T-1 line in the 90s and finally the Internet. Software caught up with communications and voila, a home office emerged. I never set foot in a company office again until just last year.
I started a new job that required my on-site presence in an out-of-state office with a serious weekly commute back home. So, for me, having to work at home again full time was actually a step up to where I’d rather be. I am more productive and can take a nice lunch break in my own back yard with my own home cooking (leftovers, of course). I also am back to my zero-minute daily commute instead of a two-hour round trip to the office.
Basically, I have all the tools I had before plus a link into the office network for more proprietary data and charts. Throw in email, Microsoft Teams (chat) and GoToMeeting and we are at full work capacity.
I realize that I am luckier than most when it comes to forced working at home. Some people do not have large enough screens, proper interoffice communications or even the physical room in a small apartment to set up a functioning home office.
Anyway, while my story may not be typical, it does show that you can really work at home efficiently, as long as you have a job that does not require onsite customer visits. My only problem is that junior is home from school and needs plenty of attention, including home schooling. Therefore, my furloughed wife handles a majority of the home schooling and the rest is put on a schedule so we can share the load.
Here is a brief sample of some of the comments I received from other traders and analysts out there.
I am an investor from India and here we are under near total lock-down (21-day nationwide lockdown that started on 25th March). Financial Institutions such as banks, stock exchanges and stock brokers mostly running on skeletal staff at the present time.
Until a few months ago, I used to manage a small portfolio at a boutique investment management firm. While I currently invest for myself, even at my earlier company, investing / discussions with clients go on with the only change being that the calls come from home instead of the office.
The tools I use are all mostly online so I can shift the work space without much disturbance. Even earlier, we had remote desktop for the systems which had proprietary software and one which was available only at the office.
What has changed? With the kind of volatility we are seeing, I have always believed that physical meetings added more value than online. Otherwise, nothing much has changed given how much we are connected via Slack / WhatsApp and other tools available at the disposal.
– Prashanth K
There is nothing different for me since I’ve worked from a home office for years. No adjustments necessary. I still have access to all my trading and analysis tools (TradeStation and HGSI).
Here is some advice: With the frenetic state of the world and the markets the past few weeks, anxiety and tension has become the new norm. Get in some exercise daily, even if it’s a walk around the block a few times. Eat a sensible diet. If working from home, ease your isolation by talking/emailing/tweeting with fellow traders and colleagues.
Most importantly, don’t watch the non-financial news (e.g., CNN) during the day. It’s mostly gloom and doom and that will increase anxiety and tension.
– Dave S
As a fundamental value investor I’ve switched from using enterprise value and free cash flow as a primary metric and reverted back to looking at book value. It’s a factor that has been lost over recent years. Amazing how many “strong” companies I own have negative equity due to recaps, such Autozone. It’s now a sell (editor’s note – this is dated information)
– Chris S
I’ve been using my time in a better way compared to real life with less time spent in transit or getting ready for work. All of my tools are available at all times, so I don’t have to go anywhere but my desk.
– Ricardo C
I’m trading strategies to take advantage of an elevated VIX that will come in – selling Apr 17 Puts & Calls, Apple, JNJ, COST, MSFT. Only companies w/ strong balance sheets! (editor’s note – again, dated information)
– Brent N
I had hoped for more feedback from out there, especially from people who had to make major adjustments to switch to the home office. Feel free to send them in to me at editor@cmtassociation.org. We are fortunate to be in an information and technology-driven industry.
Stay safe.
