How are you preparing for a recession?

[jpdx]

It seems like a recession is all but inevitable. How are you preparing?

I'm not asking about investment opportunities, rather, how are you planning to cut costs or generate additional income? Share your ideas here.

[nemesis]

Not sure how a recession changes from our regular routine.  We try to live below our means and try to spend more on things that will go up in the long run, like real estate, stocks, etc.

If you are a true mustachian, you should have nothing to change for the recession.  I have plenty saved from frugal living over the many years and now have a nice cushion for a worst case scenario.

[Bloop Bloop]

Nothing changes. I'm self employed so I have to scout out work/clients. Still the same, but just with a bit more remote work rather than office work. I don't believe in many forms of consumer consumption so I'm not going to be spending on things I wouldn't usually spend on just to help the economy.

[Crease]

DW and I run a pretty tight ship already so not much would change. We are a single-income household (mine) while DW is all-in with her startup company. If I lose my job here in New York and struggle to find something else, I could see us packing up and heading over to Indonesia for a while to focus on DW's company. We have property over there, and would both qualify for national healthcare thanks to her citizenship.

[Schaefer Light]

Not sure how a recession changes from our regular routine.  We try to live below our means and try to spend more on things that will go up in the long run, like real estate, stocks, etc.

If you are a true mustachian, you should have nothing to change for the recession.  I have plenty saved from frugal living over the many years and now have a nice cushion for a worst case scenario.

I tend to agree with this.  If I thought my job was at risk, I might dial back the investments a bit in order to build up a bigger emergency fund.

[Metalcat]

Same as usual.
DH and I both have skills that are highly valuable during a recession, and DH has experience that is becoming highly sought after by multiple government departments as he happens to be uniquely experienced in areas relevant to the current crisis.

DH and I both have the capacity to make a lot more money than we do, but we traded off higher incomes for better career resiliency in the long term. So we've engineered our lives to be recession proof as opposed to leaning into the prosperous times.

We love our work though.

[alcon835]

The Recession changes almost nothing. Putting a bit more money into the market, beefing up the emergency fund a bit, and setting aside cash that we can use if the right opportunity drops.

[soccerluvof4]

Healthy cash position so incrementally buying on the down turn and going to live off the remainder of cash as needed. Also expenses are dropping with everyone doing less things that cost $ so that helps as well.

[drunkenNoodles]

Same as usual.
DH and I both have skills that are highly valuable during a recession, and DH has experience that is becoming highly sought after by multiple government departments as he happens to be uniquely experienced in areas relevant to the current crisis.

DH and I both have the capacity to make a lot more money than we do, but we traded off higher incomes for better career resiliency in the long term. So we've engineered our lives to be recession proof as opposed to leaning into the prosperous times.

We love our work though.

What kind of work do you and DH do?

What higher-income jobs did you trade for your current careers?

Kudos for making these excellent choices!

[Metalcat]

Same as usual.
DH and I both have skills that are highly valuable during a recession, and DH has experience that is becoming highly sought after by multiple government departments as he happens to be uniquely experienced in areas relevant to the current crisis.

DH and I both have the capacity to make a lot more money than we do, but we traded off higher incomes for better career resiliency in the long term. So we've engineered our lives to be recession proof as opposed to leaning into the prosperous times.

We love our work though.

What kind of work do you and DH do?

What higher-income jobs did you trade for your current careers?

Kudos for making these excellent choices!

Well, let me clarify that we didn't exchange high income jobs for low income jobs, we traded very high income for just high income.

DH works in policy for the federal government and I'm a healthcare professional with a range of skills. I also work for a finance firm and I do consulting. On top of that, I'm starting training for certification in two additional disciplines, both of which increase in demand during bad times.

With DH's skillset, he could make double in the private sector, and I could make a fortune if I had bought a clinic early on in my career.

However, despite the massive increase in incomes in good times, those career choices would have left us extremely vulnerable in down times, and would have been very demanding and unforgiving jobs regardless of the economic climate.

[wenchsenior]

Same old same old.  If by some incredible chance 15 year mortgages go to 2.5%, we might refinance again. It would have to go about that low to make it worth it.

If real estate crashes, maybe we'll buy a third house.

But probably not much will change.

[slackmax]

I don't worry about a recession, except that in the last one, prices went UP, when they are supposed to go DOWN. Tuna went from 59 cents for a 6 ounce can,  to  79 cents for a microscopic 5 ounce can.

The price of oil plunged 50% and so did gas prices, but motor oil stayed sky high for some reason.   Beer prices went up 10% in one year and stayed up forever. 

I don't think they will drop the size of a tuna can, but maybe they will jack the price up 20% or so.  Time to stock up on tuna! 

[economista]

I'm not worried about my family unit at all - I have an extremely secure job with the federal government that isn't going to go away and our agency is even protected from budget cuts because we aren't part of the normal budgetary process (for example we weren't hit by sequestration in 2011 at all). My husband's income is SSDI disability, so that isn't going to change either. For us it will just be business as usual, although we have discussed trying to tighten our belts a bit so we have extra savings to plow into the market while it is down.

I am worried about my extended family members who live paycheck to paycheck in high-turnover, low-wage fields. My sister started this week by getting laid off. She and I had a long discussion yesterday about why it is important to have an emergency fund and what her immediate future is going to look like.

I am also worried about the overall community and the impact this will have on low income families, particularly the children in low income families. *But I'm an economist who studies income inequality and social mobility, so of course that is where my focus is going to be*

[jpdx]

OP here. I agree with the consensus and that's actually what made me think to start this thread. We already live frugally and can't think of many ways to reduce costs further!