COVID Vaccine on the way: 3 Essential Money Tips to Prepare

The fight against COVID has finally seen a breakthrough. A COVID vaccine has been created which provides 90% immunity to the disease.

For ethnic minorities and Muslims the other good news is that the couple that founded BioNTech are a Muslim-origin Turkish couple who came as migrants to Germany. More on this later.

There are cautiously optimistic signs that we may well be heading back to a normal world by spring next year.

But don’t let that fool you. COVID has left deep marks in our economy and has presented both new opportunities and threats that we all need to be aware of/take advantage of.

If we do not take steps now, the opportunity cost is significant over the next decade. However a few wise moves over the next few months and you could set yourself up very nicely.

In this article we cover off how you should be preparing:

1. Your stock market investments
2. Your career
3. Your wider investments

Stock Market Investments

We have seen the stock markets react euphorically to the news and climb rapidly.

In the short term this may present interesting trading opportunities and we know personally the allure of “get rich quick” that you can get in times like these.

However, our recommendation would be not to trade the market because of the excitement and hype unless you are following one of these two strategies:

1. You have been tracking some companies for a while now and really like them, and this market turbulence has reduced the price to make it a cheaper entry point than before. Zoom might be an example of this. It fell 20% as a result of the news but fundamentally it is a great company with a promising future in a world of work that has permanently changed.
2. You are an experienced swing or day trader and know what you’re doing when trying to exploit short-term market fluctuations.

The reason why we advise this is because if you are not experienced or well-researched, you’re just taking a gamble – and historically that doesn’t work out well for most people.

However, if neither of those strategies apply to you then there is still hope.

How to get started in stock investing during COVID

Here’s a couple of things you can immediately do:

1. You can start researching sectors that are likely to be bouncing back or growing over the next few years (and are likely currently cheap). These include airlines, travel companies, cruise companies, and the hospitality industry. All of these have taken a battering and will bounce back over time. You should pick a few top stocks that you put on your watchlist to invest from these sectors. Look for financially robust companies with strong growth potential and dominance in their markets.
   Because you are researching with a view to hold for a long time horizon, you don’t necessarily need to worry about rushing in and taking advantage of the current market volatility. You can invest at leisure.
2. For those who are thinking at this point “I have no clue how to do that”, you can learn step-by-step about how to screen stocks and research them by taking our popular Halal Investing Course here. It is currently open for registration until 21 November 2020.

You can buy any of the stocks mentioned via a stockbroker like AJ Bell*.

Your Career in Light of COVID

The post COVID economy might slowly start looking like the world we knew over a year ago, but it will never be quite the same again.

More and more businesses will go remote-only. More businesses will employ people overseas as a result (because if the employee doesn’t need to go to an office – why restrict to just UK employees?).

Online shopping is likely here to say which will result in a decimation of many historic high street fashion brands. This trend is something we are already seeing and will only accelerate as a result of COVID.

As more people shift online, there will only be an increase in the demand for high-skilled technology workers.

What does all this mean for you?

Well it means that:

1. you need to start upskilling yourself if you do not have any skills in the industries and technologies of the future. Check out this shortage list from the Government and see what you’re interested in and start taking online courses and reading into those topics.
   The good news is there are so many free resources online these days that you can pick up pretty much any skill and learn it to quite a high standard just from home for free.
2. If you are in an industry that is looking like its on the decline, reskill yourself while you still have time and look to transition into another industry with a more promising future. Lockdown has given you a great opportunity to retool yourself in a risk-free way. Take advantage of it.
3. If you are of an entrepreneurial bent, then there are large fractures emerging in the economy that you can take advantage of. Many businesses of the future need very little capital to start with – so don’t let that stop you.
   However, you might need funding as you grow. Once you’ve developed your idea and moved past idea stage and have some initial traction, please do submit your pitch deck to us and we’ll consider your business as an investment for our angel syndicate IFG.VC.

Your Wider Investments

Let us return to the point made earlier in this article. The Turkish couple behind BioNTech – Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci – will inshAllah over the coming months have led to the saving of millions of lives, returning people’s lives back to normal, and righting the world’s economy.

Business, innovation, entrepreneurship, science. None of these are dirty words in Islam. In fact, they’re encouraged.

If you are an entrepreneur – you should aim to emulate Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci and create large businesses like they have – not for purely money-making purposes but for the possible beneficial outcomes they can bring about.

For the rest of us – we can invest in the Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci’s of tomorrow. That’s our way to have impact with our money and to be part of creating a stronger, more vibrant Islamic economy.

You can search out your own budding entrepreneurs in your own areas and support them with investments, or you can join IFG.VC, our angel syndicate where we share each of the investments we are making every month with the members. We have actually invested in a bunch of medical technology startups founded by Muslims and ethnic minorities including Clinova, Thinksono, and Glamorous.AI.

Conclusions

Our sincere belief at IFG is that careers, money and investment should not just be about making money. We must all consider carefully the impact our careers, money and investments have on the world.

And if we can, we must shape our careers, money and investments in ways that increase the positive impact around us.