Recession Proof Your Life And Refuse To Be A Victim
October 24, 2009 | Posted by Brad Chaffee 
Are you guilty of blaming the recession for your current situation? If so, you are not alone. It’s so easy to shift the blame to something you have no control over, rather than take responsibility for not doing what you could have to prepare—something you do have control over.
How Should You Prepare?
The answer to this question is surprisingly an easy one. The quick answer would be to become more self reliant with your finances. This just means that instead of constantly relying on a good economy to make you “feel” secure, become secure by planning for a bad one.
So many people have completely lost touch with this very simple principle. Don’t believe me? Look around you—times have changed. Check out this statement by a very wise and experienced 90 year old woman sent to me by one of my readers:
“I think people were better off during the depression when people lived off the money they had in their pocket, instead of living on credit. Back then there was no such thing as credit cards. Back then if you did not have money in your pocket you did not eat. When you were hungry you were never too good to work just about any job. You treated every dollar like it was your last, no single dollar/penny was ever spent without much consideration.”
Talk about learning from history. This woman experienced far worse than what we are dealing with today. Don’t you think it is high time you considered adopting the same approach? If you did, a recession would have a minuscule effect in the grand scheme of things.
If you listen to the chatter around you, it doesn’t take long to hear a variety of complaints. People complain about Government spending, yet 7 out of every 10 Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Expecting the Government to spend money wisely, while flushing yours down the toilet, makes absolutely no sense.
Where Should You Start?
I am sure you have heard the saying, “Save up for a rainy day.” You could start by taking that phrase literally.
Here are some strategies to help you become recession proof.
- start a Total Money Makeover.
- spend less than you make.
- stop borrowing more money.
- put yourself on a zero-based budget.
- stop buying stuff you do not need.
- have adequate and necessary insurance in place.
- save a starter emergency fund.
- pay off all of your debt, except for the house.
- complete rainy day fund by saving 6 months of expenses.
- save for retirement.
- pay off your mortgage.
- build wealth, live debt free, and give.
Believe it or not, becoming debt free can help tremendously. Without debt payments you surely would be less stressed during this hard economic time.
KEYWORD: Prepare
Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance!
The bottom line is that you cannot continue to blame the Government for causing the recession, and ignore your own failures when it comes to your lack of planning. Set the stage for your own life instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you.
YOU are responsible for YOU!
In closing I want to share with you a line from the movie Pursuit of Happyness, where Will Smith is sharing a teachable moment with his son.
“You gotta dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you, you can’t do it. You want something? GO GET IT…Period!”
Do you want to become recession proof? Make it happen…period! If you are unwilling to do all that is necessary to succeed, then you cannot complain about failure due to your lack of preparedness. Stop sitting on your hands and take the proper precautions to help get you through the tough times. One thing is for sure, recession or not, tough times will always be a part of life.
This post is derived from a post that originally appeared on Enemy of Debt: What If You Were Recession Proof?
Brad Chaffee is the Enemy of Debt, and a regular contributor here at the Self Reliance Exchange. Brad has also become debt free by paying off $26,076.75 in just 20 months. Learn more about Brad by reading his bio. You may also contact him here.
photo credit
Categories: personal finance, the economy | 
Tags: personal responsibility, recession, self reliance | 
2 Comments »
Here is my simple idea – live like you’re in a recession all the time. Now is a good time to get used to it. Don’t change your frugal approach, no matter what the economy does. Then, when things get better, you’ll be able to build much more wealth than the “off again, on again” crowd that surrounds you.
We can blame the government lending, bailout and stimulus policies for the economy, but how we prepare and respond is all our doing. How we learn from all of this is also all our own doing.
We don’t have a truly free market, but we do have free choice as to how we interact and respond to the marketplace.
Clair
I agree completely Clair, that is why the quote from the wise woman sent to me from a reader hit a chord with me. It’s amazing how much different people think today than they did so many years ago. You would think that common sense would ALWAYS be common sense, but I guess not.