“It’s a good year to be a tree.” This is what a friend from Wuhan said while discussing current events. I’m sure many others agree. The old Chinese saying, “Better to be a dog during peacetime, than a human in times of war” applies to times of illness and uncertainty too. And that’s why today’s article lays out some guidelines for staying healthy and wealthy in 2020.

1. Be Wary Of Long-Term Economic Problems

A lot of Twitter investors celebrated “buying the dip” around March 2nd and 3rd. They dumped all their cash into the market a few days beforehand, and then bragged about their genius move when the stock market temporarily bounced back.

Don’t make this mistake. Coronavirus hasn’t hit the USA hard yet, and a lot of the economic impact is yet to happen. Try thinking about this situation long-term (as in considering how things will happen for the entire year) before blindly throwing money into stocks. Right now we’re approaching first quarter dividend payments, allowing you to reinvest “house money” into depreciated assets.

Aside from that, you might want to hold off on gobbling up stocks. Keep dollar cost averaging, or up your deposits a little, but make sure you still have enough cash to weather the storm.

2. Create An Additional Income Stream, ASAP

I have contracts with companies in Wuhan and Beijing. I also live in Asia and know a lot of government officials and business people. Watching the virus shutdown industries is amazing. Tourism is essentially dead (closing hotels and putting thousands of people out of work), schools are closed (leaving many Western teachers without income), and many people are finding it impossible to get new jobs.

If this happens in American (or other Western countries) it will affect everyone.

Make it a point to find something you can fall back on. If everybody ends up sitting at home, online business is the obvious bet. Having an eBook, product, or affiliate links to plug can be a nice secondary source of income.

Even if you’re only making a couple hundred bucks a month, that money will add up and you can deploy it intelligently.

As you’re about to see…

3. Stockpile Cash Now

If you have extra cash, stick it in the bank. Getting a 1% return on investment is still better than -10% in the markets. Having surplus money allows you to sleep better at night (great for staying healthy) and lets you capitalize off investment opportunities.

I use CIT Bank and recommend them because they offer some of the highest interest rates available, and there are no monthly maintenance fees or hidden costs.

You can stick your money in a high-yield savings account, collect monthly interest payments, and then deploy those funds when the time is right.

Likewise, BitCoin is crashing and recently fell below $5,000. Since Crypto is more volatile than stocks, you can risk a lot less for bigger gains. Consider rerouting a small portion of your savings, or nonessential income, and then dollar-cost averaging it into BitCoin. $50 – $100 a week isn’t going to make or break you, but it’ll provide a nice little payday if / when Crypto Currencies recover.

(Buying An Extra 1% Worth Of BitCoin)

If you’re new to buying BitCoin, I’d also suggest signing up for Coinbase (they’re the world’s largest Crypto exchange) through this referral link. Doing so is going to net you an extra $10 in free BitCoin after your first $100 deposit.

4. Set Up A Garden Or Food Source

In the 1950’s Cambodia was a modern, developed nation with movie theaters, shopping malls, and bowling alleys. In the 1970’s famine and genocide killed so many locals that they stacked human skulls in massive pyramids three-stories high.

I really can’t imagine a situation where America faces mass starvation or anything like that, but you might want to grow a few tomato plants or have some kind of self-sufficient food supply. It’ll be summer soon, making it very easy to start a garden. There are a lot of low-effort plants you can grow, and you enjoy some nice, fresh fruits and vegetables off them.

YouTube is filled with gardening tutorials, and here’s a great article on various crops you can grow (and store) with relative ease.

Gardening is also a fun hobby and one which helps you relax or take your mind off stressful events.

At worst, you spend a few hours per week unwinding and also get to enjoy some delicious, organic vegetables.

5. Load Up On Vitamins And Make Sure You’re Staying Healthy

Joe Rogan did a whole interview with renowned viral pathologist Michael Osterholm. According to Osterholm, one of the biggest threats facing Americans is obesity. Overweight citizens are far more likely to die from Coronavirus than their physically fit counterparts.

If nothing else, this should be a wake up call for many Americans to finally realize the dangers of obesity. It’s also a good time to review your own dietary habits and make sure you’re eating healthy.

In terms of supplements or health suggestions, I don’t know if there is anything to actually help with specific viruses. And, I’m not going to recommend anything based off wild speculation. That said, Zinc is often used for fighting colds and helps boost your immune system. And there’s nothing wrong with taking Vitamin C either.

For health supplements, try the following:

• Daily zinc tablets.
• Daily Vitamin C dose.
• Juicing (this Breville model is great) carrots and ginger daily.

Taking vitamins, drinking vegetable juice, and eating healthy is going to put you far ahead of most people.

Final Thoughts

2020 is certainly off to an *interesting* start. While there is a lot to worry about, be smart and plan ahead. Doing so can help position you to end the year much better off.

Save some extra money, take advantage of asset dips (by making sure you can purchase stocks and Crypto throughout the year), and stay healthy.

If you can do those three things, you’re going to be alright.