October 24th, 2008
Recession Proofing Your Life
Right now there is a lot of talk about a recession. The financial buzzword that is out there this month is “Recession” and for good reason. It has become increasingly vital that as American citizens, we begin to understand how we can properly safeguard ourselves against the risk of a potential downturn in the economy. Obviously there are no real guarantees in life, but there are numerous healthy and advantageous steps that can be taken in order to mitigate your losses during any financial turbulence that should occur in the near future. Here are some steps that you can take to recession proof your life.
Clean your finances up.
It is time for you to get serious about your financial health. Look at your budget this month and start cleaning everything up. Decrease your debt slowly but surely, and work to find friendlier credit lines and ways to increase your cash savings and emergency fund savings. By reducing unnecessary expenses and increasing cash savings, you can safeguard against the occurrence of becoming financially strapped.
Focus on creating a financial plan.
If you have a plan, focus on it. If you do not have a plan, put together a one year, five year and ten year financial plan and tweak it over time to ensure that it is meeting your needs.
Make yourself invaluable in your profession.
If you become invaluable at work, it will be much harder for you to find yourself laid off during a recession. Some people are laid off without any warning, but if you can increase your role at work in any way, do so now and you may be spared.
Figure out a way to earn real money.
Can you further supplement your income in any way? If so, now is the time to start thinking long and hard about these opportunities. Consider obtaining a second job, or some other form of part time work that will allow you to increase your bottom line. This is the best way to prepare yourself for a recession, in case you have no idea where you’ll be when the economy takes a turn for the worst.
Think ahead and plan accordingly.
Above all, keep in mind that “this too, shall pass.” Think about the future and work on learning from the past. Think ahead and plan accordingly and you should have no difficulty overcoming the recession with the shirt still on your back. A recession does not automatically mean that your finances have to go south, but the more prepared you are, the better off you will find yourself when the waves die down and things go back to normal, so keep that in mind when recession proofing your life.
There is no way for you to completely and fully protect yourself from a dip in the growth of the economy, but there are plenty of ways to ensure your survival during this period with as little turbulence as possible.
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Hi
Some good advice in this post. I think that trying to obtain some kind of second income is especially important as it will soften the blow if you lose your main job. At this stage it is still hard to say exactly how bad things are going to get, but better prepared for the worst!
Neil