The escalating news of the last 24 hours regarding coronavirus and the actions our leaders and society are taking to mitigate the spread of the virus is concerning to all of us. The various announcements are unprecedented for a health situation, but they did occur before, all the way back during WWII.
The cause of the crisis is an infectious disease that has impacted most of our planet. We’re all trying to process the situation – what it means to us personally, our community and beyond, and it’s natural for our minds to speculate about what it could become. The situation is unnerving to say the least.
Control what we can control.
Since we haven’t faced this before, Odyssey is dealing with the facts as we know them and avoiding rampant speculation or fear mongering. And we encourage you to do the same.
In the words of Dr. Anthony Fauci, NIAID Director, Infectious Disease expert, and advisor to six Presidents, “How much worse (conditions) get will depend on our ability to do two things: To contain the influx of people who are infected coming from the outside (i.e. Europe) and the ability to contain and mitigate within our own country (i.e. avoid large gatherings of people).”
We all need to work together to minimize the spread of the virus by 1) taking care of our own health/hygiene, 2) avoiding anyone who is sick, 3) staying home if you become sick, 4) avoiding large crowds.
Please call us if you have questions or have had material changes that affect your plans and financial needs.
Things will likely get worse before they get better, but the quicker America (the world) contains/slows/stops the spread of the virus, the sooner the recovery can begin and the sooner we can return to normalcy.
Remember, the economy has been strong up to this point. If a recession occurs, it will be a result of the virus, not poor economic fundamentals. Which means it is possible the economy could recover more quickly – as soon as the virus is contained/stopped.
Your Odyssey Team. We are here for you.
As your financial advisor we felt it wise to provide you with a brief update on our firm’s plans regarding our operations and personal health related to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19). This information is intended to inform you about the steps we are taking and will take if necessary.
Odyssey continues to operate our business as usual. We continue to proactively offer financial advice and host client meetings. We are also reacting to your concerns – whether you want reassurance about things in general or to talk about your specific situation.
HEALTH - The health of our team, our clients and our friends is of utmost importance. We are taking precautions to ensure we do all we can to keep healthy and we encourage you to do the same.
If you are considered a person of “higher risk”, you should probably also consider limiting your exposure to people and/or public places (older people and people of all ages with existing severe underlying health conditions are considered at higher risk).
If any of us becomes ill with signs of a cold or flu, we will not come to the office out of an abundance of caution.
MEETINGS – Our office is open and available for meetings. We are cleaning and disinfecting regularly and welcome you in. We continue to host face-to-face meetings, but if you are limiting your public exposure, we are happy to offer phone calls and/or video conferencing instead. Just let us know your preference when scheduling a meeting.
If you are feeling ill, have a cold or don’t feel right, please stay home. We can reschedule your meeting or arrange a call or video conference instead. Please let us know if this occurs.
OPERATIONS – If any of our team needs to stay home, we are prepared to continue operating our business. We have access to 100% of our digital systems online. As long as one person is healthy and able, they will continue to open the office and support the others who are remote by handling any physical needs - paperwork, files, printing, copying, scanning, etc.
We will continue operating and taking care of your needs regardless of our physical location, but if end up needing to be at home (for whatever reason), we will close the office and notify you of the situation to keep you informed.
What is Next?
If you are of faith, pray. Our community, nation, and world are in need. Here at Odyssey we will continue to monitor the situation and update you if anything changes on our end. We ask that you let us know if anything changes on your end too. We care. Together, we’ll get through this.