education and career
keeping your head in a recession
WSA adsense code -->Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
From my vantage point, it looks suspiciously like a recession is inevitable. In the UK, we haven’t had one for about 15 years, so given the boom and bust cycle we’re about due anyway. Given the increasing globalisation of recent years I expect the rest of the world will be joining us.
Now, I know that all the central banks have been pumping money in to try and resuscitate the financial system, and several banks have been partly nationalised. As far as I can tell, this is an attempt to prevent complete financial collapse (want to know what that looks like? try Iceland), not to completely stave off a recession. Only an idiot thinks that things can keep growing and growing uniformly.
Thing about having boom and bust economic cycles as we do is that there have been recessions before. The bust section is not as much fun as the boom section but it’s not the end of the world. I’m not old enough to have really been affected in the early 90s, but I know that some of my parents friends were caught in negative equity (as I may well be) and several others were made redundant. But, they had skills and education, and were not out of employment for long.
I’m thinking that in a recession it’s more important than ever to follow the basic rules of personal finance, plus
- keep up with industry news
- have a cv nicely polished
- keep learning and extending skills
- diversify your income if you can
- bump up the emergency fund
Finally, be realistic. In many recessions, one or more industries permanently downsizes. If you’re working somewhere that was looking fundamentally shaky a couple of years ago (say, US car manufacturers) chances are excellent that it’s only going to get worse.
If there’s no real future in what you currently do and you’re more than a couple of years from retirement, much better to get off the sinking ship first. Develop transferable skills, find a new career, be open to other possibilities. Remember, you’ll probably be fine, even if your current job isn’t.
Similar Posts:
- weathering the current financial storms
- house prices, bubbles, and investment returns
- deciding whether to stay or go at work
Tags: Discussion
7 comments for “keeping your head in a recession”
Post a comment
subscribe
use a reader
I do agree with you on the following tips: * keep up with industry news
* have a cv nicely polished
* keep learning and extending skills
* diversify your income if you can
* bump up the emergency fund
One should think more than working for someone, and think more enterpreneur..
Thanks
I agree. I’ve just been keeping my head down and waiting to see how the cards fall. This post is full of excellent ideas …
It could be tough for many, myself included, but I’m hoping that we all learn some lessons from this, about buying stuff on credit, having such high expectations etc.
Let’s hope that’s a positive thing we can take out of all of this.
All the kings horses and all the kings men…
Is that referring to the political scrambling that’s going on over here in the US?
I fear the similiarities between Humpty Dumpty and politicians. But the limmericks came from somewhere right?
Good tips. And making yourself invaluable at your current work is a good way to make sure you are not going to be made redundant when your company starts culling people.
keep up with industry news
have a cv nicely polished
keep learning and extending skills
diversify your income if you can
bump up the emergency fund
GREAT POINTS!
They just mentioned on CNBC about an hour ago that a sure sign of the recession in the UK is that AC/DC is back on the top of the charts I guess they were the last time you all had one.