The coronavirus isn’t changing any trends – it’s accelerating existing ones

Covid-19 will bring many welcome changes – and many unwelcome ones. But it won't fundamentally alter the course of human existence, says John Stepek. These changes were all already underway. They have merely been speeded up.

London Tube commuters © Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
There could be less commuting © Getty

We’ve heard a lot of talk about how Covid-19 will change our lives. I don’t have a strong view on this. I’m not convinced that this is epoch-defining – I’m hoping that one hundred years from now, 2020 is not noted as an especially important year. But nor do I think that we’ll go back to “business as usual”.

However, there is one point I’d like to emphasise. Covid-19 isn’t a turning point. It isn’t forcing us to change tack on anything huge. Instead, it’s just giving a big shove to the trends that were already in motion.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
John Stepek

John Stepek is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News and a former editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He graduated from Strathclyde University with a degree in psychology in 1996 and has always been fascinated by the gap between the way the market works in theory and the way it works in practice, and by how our deep-rooted instincts work against our best interests as investors.

He started out in journalism by writing articles about the specific business challenges facing family firms. In 2003, he took a job on the finance desk of Teletext, where he spent two years covering the markets and breaking financial news.

His work has been published in Families in Business, Shares magazine, Spear's Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Spectator among others. He has also appeared as an expert commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight, Daily Politics and Bloomberg. His first book, on contrarian investing, The Sceptical Investor, was released in March 2019. You can follow John on Twitter at @john_stepek.