Recession-Proof Your Finances
Experts predict an economic downturn within the next few years. Here’s how to make sure you’re ready.
A recession is coming. I don’t have a crystal ball to predict the exact date, but still, I can tell you with absolute certainty that one will occur, because that’s just how the economic cycle works: After periods of growth, there are recessions. And with the stock market’s current and historic bull run of nearly 10 years, many people are predicting that we should all be bracing ourselves (and our bank accounts) for a downturn within the next few years.
Let’s start with the bad news: There’s only so much bracing you can do.“You really can’t make finances recession-proof, particularly if you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, which is investing for the future,” says Liz Weston, a certified financial planner and a columnist for NerdWallet (who, incidentally, graduated from college a few years after the recession of 1981–1982).
“Humans are generally bad at sticking to their investment strategies and become their own worst enemy when things get rough in the markets.”
Before working yourself into a full-fledged recession-focused panic attack, here’s the…
