Banks are estimating 65% odds, people are dumping us Treasury bonds, there is reporting of a purposeful weakening of the dollar, and I’m seeing the first price hikes enacted. Any suggestions for how to prepare for the shitstorm that’s coming?
Beans and rice in 5 gallon food safe buckets.
Same with all staple foods. Flour, cornmeal, oil, salt, etc.
I mean, good for having some staples, but that’s not really planning for a recession. That’s more planning for an extended natural disaster or full on collapse of society.
You’re far better off spending your money on things that will improve your likelihood of staying employed (or getting new employment) through the recession, the price of those staples will be affordable as long as you have any income.
Getting a secondary job in a less-likely to be impacted industry and getting trained up now, or taking specific courses at a local college focused on a secondary skillset will be the most useful.
Right now, nothing, really. There’s a lot of confusion and volatility at the moment, so I’m trying to keep a cool head rather than react blindly. I’m going to keep my head down at work, keep contributing to my 401k like normal, not make major unexpected purchases, and maybe re-up on some bulk staples. If shit keeps getting worse, I’ll adapt from there
I was already trying not to spend money on anything, so I’m pretty set.
The only thing I did recently was buy a replacement device for one I had that was crapping the bed and would need to be purchased soon anyways, but decided to buy something now before it completely died just in case prices sharply rose in the next few months.
Other than that, nothing really. I am putting away as much money as I can in savings, avoiding large purchases/being generally frugal, and taking good care of my things so they last as long as possible. Life’s not perfect, but I’m making as soft a cushion as possible in case things do get worse.
Not to say the future is set in stone or that we shouldn’t be worried, but even the Great Depression only lasted about a decade, and it’s still crazy to me just how quickly the last one went by. I have a place to live, enough money put away that I could probably last it out that long one way or another if I was laid off tomorrow, and a generally supportive community around me where people look out for one another.
But I’m lucky, I know not everyone else can say the same, so I hope you’re all doing alright out there.
Not a whole lot I can do beyond what I already have done for unrelated reasons:
- mortgage is on fixed interest.
- car loan is mostly funded by some extra money I have coming my way.
- employment contract is pretty solid and includes a hefty severance package if ended prematurely.
We’re in a similar boat:
- low, fixed-rate mortgage - we got lucky in the timing.
- cars are paid off, but one is overdue for being replaced. Soon, it’s going to start costing more to keep running than it’s worth.
- have severance, but with the mortgage, and cost of gas & electricity, it won’t last long.
Also, we have no other debt. We’d be fine if the market weren’t on a slide.
I just replaced my car, mostly due to upkeep costs. But while I can manage the car loan as it stands right now, once my grandparents’ house is sold, almost all of my share will go into the car loan.
The severance obviously won’t last forever (6 months-ish), but I live in a “socialist hellscape scandinavian country” (Glenn Beck told me so, I didn’t know how awful I had it until I accidentally watched Fox News in 2008), so even if it takes me a while to land a job I’m not too worried. Plus I have plenty ty of c9ntacts in my current field of work, so even if things were to go to hell, I’m sure I’ll land on my feet.
I live in a “socialist hellscape scandinavian country”
You lucky bastard. You looking to adopt an older married couple?
It’s wild some people don’t take mortages in fixed values. Especially when it’s already low.
And if rates goes lower, you can renegotiate your fix one.
