This widespread financial crisis have hit many countries like a tsunami wave.
A recession ahead seems inevitable, don't you think so? But life still has to go on right, especially if you are the man on the street! Here are some of my most personal thoughts of dealing with the times ahead and I hope to share them with you.
Its time to brace up and get ready before reality sets in! #1 Tighten your belts First and foremost, you have to be disciplined enough to cut down on your spending.
Refrain from buying luxury items for the time being.
Reduce the frequency of meeting your friends at the club for drinks and switch to hanging out at each other's place or at a cheaper coffee joint.
You will be surprised at how much you can save after a month! Everyone has their own ways of tightening their belts.
For yourself, evaluate on how you spend your income each month.
Classify those expenditure into "needs" or "wants".
Work out the minimum sum you need to service your "needs".
Cut down expenditure on those "wants".
Stay out of shopping malls altogether if you are prone to impulse buys and spend more time on activities that will not cost you an arm and leg.
#2 Reduce your debts and don't take any more new ones If you have taken more loans than you can ever afford to pay off, review your financial situation again! What if you lose your job suddenly? Can you afford to pay the installments every month without a salary? If you have taken overdrafts from credit cards, are you only able to pay back the minimum sum and interest while the amount you owe snowballs? This is not financially prudent enough! All these may look manageable when you have an income.
But if you lose your job, are you still able to survive after paying off these bills and debts? If possible, cut down on your debts.
If you have a car that you hardly use, probably its more economic to sell it, and use public transport.
You will have one loan lesser and you will find your finances much easier to manage.
If you have credit card debts, try to pay them off as early as you can to escape the infinite loop of recurring interest.
And never use credit to buy big ticket items if you have no money left in your account.
Banking on paying back with your next salary or bonus is very risky.
If for some reason something goes wrong, you will get yourself in greater debt! #3 Find other ways of making money Besides your full-time job, you can find something else to do on weekends to boost your income.
You can probably set up a small business at a flea market or work for someone part-time.
You can also work from home, sell things on ebay, set up your own online business, or even blog to make extra money.
Although these may not sound like a lot of money to you in the short term, but everything adds up and this extra income does come in handy to pay for some bills.
#4 Improve and upgrade yourself While waiting for the economy to get better, this is actually a very good time to improve yourself and upgrade your skills.
You may need to spend some money on courses and such, but look on the bright side.
When the job market gets better, you will be more equipped and capable of taking up better paying jobs and have a better chance of advancing your career.
Nobody likes to be in a recession, but a wise man will look at it positively, prepare himself for it, and try his best to ride through it.
These are external forces we can't control, but how we choose to deal with it is something that we can decide for ourselves.
A recession ahead seems inevitable, don't you think so? But life still has to go on right, especially if you are the man on the street! Here are some of my most personal thoughts of dealing with the times ahead and I hope to share them with you.
Its time to brace up and get ready before reality sets in! #1 Tighten your belts First and foremost, you have to be disciplined enough to cut down on your spending.
Refrain from buying luxury items for the time being.
Reduce the frequency of meeting your friends at the club for drinks and switch to hanging out at each other's place or at a cheaper coffee joint.
You will be surprised at how much you can save after a month! Everyone has their own ways of tightening their belts.
For yourself, evaluate on how you spend your income each month.
Classify those expenditure into "needs" or "wants".
Work out the minimum sum you need to service your "needs".
Cut down expenditure on those "wants".
Stay out of shopping malls altogether if you are prone to impulse buys and spend more time on activities that will not cost you an arm and leg.
#2 Reduce your debts and don't take any more new ones If you have taken more loans than you can ever afford to pay off, review your financial situation again! What if you lose your job suddenly? Can you afford to pay the installments every month without a salary? If you have taken overdrafts from credit cards, are you only able to pay back the minimum sum and interest while the amount you owe snowballs? This is not financially prudent enough! All these may look manageable when you have an income.
But if you lose your job, are you still able to survive after paying off these bills and debts? If possible, cut down on your debts.
If you have a car that you hardly use, probably its more economic to sell it, and use public transport.
You will have one loan lesser and you will find your finances much easier to manage.
If you have credit card debts, try to pay them off as early as you can to escape the infinite loop of recurring interest.
And never use credit to buy big ticket items if you have no money left in your account.
Banking on paying back with your next salary or bonus is very risky.
If for some reason something goes wrong, you will get yourself in greater debt! #3 Find other ways of making money Besides your full-time job, you can find something else to do on weekends to boost your income.
You can probably set up a small business at a flea market or work for someone part-time.
You can also work from home, sell things on ebay, set up your own online business, or even blog to make extra money.
Although these may not sound like a lot of money to you in the short term, but everything adds up and this extra income does come in handy to pay for some bills.
#4 Improve and upgrade yourself While waiting for the economy to get better, this is actually a very good time to improve yourself and upgrade your skills.
You may need to spend some money on courses and such, but look on the bright side.
When the job market gets better, you will be more equipped and capable of taking up better paying jobs and have a better chance of advancing your career.
Nobody likes to be in a recession, but a wise man will look at it positively, prepare himself for it, and try his best to ride through it.
These are external forces we can't control, but how we choose to deal with it is something that we can decide for ourselves.