For the past two weeks, I’ve felt sharp nerve pain thanks to a splinter in my right thumb. I’ve looked closely, hoping to see a tip so that I can use a pair of tweezers to pull the splinter out. Unfortunately, I’ve seen nothing.

I’m resigned to leaving the splinter wedged deep inside, letting my body hopefully one day absorb the foreign object into my bloodstream. For now, I’m treating the splinter as a reminder to never get too comfortable.

Samurai September was supposed to be a month of relaxation. I was going to purposefully write less and spend more time doing nothing when I was off childcare duty. However, after doing nothing productive for about one hour, a restlessness built inside that willed me to get busy again. Things have to change.

Here’s a recap of September 2020 so I don’t forget life during the pandemic when I’m older. To be frank, I’m most excited about doing these recaps for my family.

To help remember the pandemic time period when I’m older, I’ve decided to do a recap of some highlights and lowlights of each month. Here is my Financial Samurai August 2020 review.

I’m sure 20 years from now we’re all going to look back with wonder at all that transpired.

Overall, I feel like we’re living in the twilight zone. On the one hand, fortunes have never been greater. On the other hand, uncertainty has never been higher.

I would much rather have less fortune and more freedom and certainty. Wouldn’t you?

From now until the end of the year. I’ve decided to focus mainly on the positives. It’s too easy to get caught up in the negatives, which is why I’ve significantly reduced my consumption of news and time spent on social media.

In March 2020, I was hopeful that by August 1, 2020, we’d all have a lot more freedom. Unfortunately, the virus is still everywhere.

The good thing is that every day that passes is one day closer to a potential vaccine. Each day that passes is also one day closer to organizations figuring out how to operate safely in a new environment.

Progress is happening. People are figuring out how to get on with their lives.

Here’s my July 2020 recap so I don’t forget what happened when this is all over. I’d love to hear about how your month went as well.

At last, I finally experienced the longest month of my life: June 2020. I’m so glad the month and the quarter are behind us. But it’s also exhausting to think about what lies ahead in an even longer July as America experiences a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

In this 2Q2020 Financial Samurai review, I just want to recap some things that happened so I can reminisce more accurately when I’m older. I already don’t remember what happened in January and February without checking my notes.

Further, I’m absolutely sure 50 years from now, my grandkids will want to get an idea of what grandad was thinking during a global pandemic. I hope all y’all keep a recorded journal of this crazy time as well!

I moved from annual reviews to quarterly reviews this year, but with how quickly April flew by, I just had to write another!

April was supposed to be a terrible month based on the downward trajectory we were experiencing in March. It was easy to imagine the S&P 500 heading below 2,000. However, financially, April ended up as one of the best months ever.

The S&P 500 rebounded by an astounding ~30% from its bottom. Over 80 million Americans got a stimulus check. Over 25 million are getting an extra $600/week in unemployment benefits. And over 2 million small businesses are getting 2.5 months of payroll covered if they keep their employees with the same pay for at least eight weeks.

On the coronavirus front, although there have been tragically over 50,000 deaths attributed to the virus, the government had at one point guided us to expect over a million deaths. With much dire warning, it feels like a blessing the government got their predictions so consistently wrong.

Then on April 29, it was announced some of the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place restrictions would finally be lifted. Starting on May 4, we will finally be allowed to once again play golf, sunbathe in parks, fish, go to the car wash, buy plants at nurseries, and start doing home construction again. I’m excited to dust off my old golf sticks that haven’t been touched in two years.

Once I heard the news, I was reminded what I’ve always known since 2012, that freedom is way more valuable than money.