Being in recession doesn’t mean that you cannot provide for yourself. It only makes it harder to do that. But it can be done. Here are five earning tips for a recession.

Hold on to your job.

This one might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised by how many people make a mistake in this area. Recessions almost always mean layoffs making it an especially bad time to lose your job. Be excellent in your work and show your superiors that you are vital and needed in your company. It is important to stake claim to your position and let your actions do the talking. If your bosses see that you are indispensable, hardworking, and well trained, they will think twice before laying you off.

Also, you might want to rethink asking for that raise. Yes, times are hard but asking for a raise during layoffs is rarely a good idea. It will make you look like a selfish opportunist and even if management grants your request, it’s not going to endear you to your co-workers who are fighting to keep their jobs.

Take Advantage of Emerging Markets

Go to where the money is. And the money is in internet based programs and activities. You can try earning freelance cash through internet ads, writing for web content, or engaging in an affiliate marketing program. But be wise and do not merely depend on the internet for your earnings. This is merely to complement your earning and not pay for your bills.

Brush Up on Other Skills

Update your resume because you need to be prepared just in case you might need to go job hunting again. Do you have other skills that you can do besides the ones you utilize for your job? Perhaps you’re great with graphic design, web site development, freelance writing. Find alternative sources of income aside from your job. In times like these, every penny counts.

Careful Decision Making

If you have your own business or enterprise, be careful in your decision making during recession. Layoffs do not need to be equal in all departments. Lessen cutting down on jobs that have to do with research and development and sales – these are your important people. It’s also good to listen to your employees. They may have good and novel ideas on how to deal with recession and asking for their opinion also brings up employee morale.

Look Long-Term When Investing

Many experts say that a recession is actually a good time to buy stocks and bonds. Review your investment portfolio – have you invested in companies that are stable and are sure to survive long term, after the recession? If the answer is yes, then stick to your investment.

Likewise, when buying new stocks, don’t focus too much on the stock prices and immediate returns, rather look for stable and secure companies to invest in. Food, energy, and health are sectors that are indispensable even during recession and make good targets for long term investing, even during a recession. You might not see quick short term returns, but these types of investments should serve you well over the long haul.

Experts say that we are now in recession. What exactly is recession? Recession is an economic condition where there is negative growth in a nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is evident in decreased sales, job layoffs, and personal income.

The first thing you need to do in this situation before even thinking about investing is to save up on cash. Set up an emergency fund account so that you have cash to back you up should anything unfortunate happen.

We are said to be experiencing a bear market. What does that mean? A bear market is defined as a prolonged period when the stock market is down by around twenty percent. During this time, most people and investors are selling instead of buying and investing.

How should you invest during recession? Is it not risky to invest in a bear market? You should ask yourself these questions: Will the economy turn and rise again? Are stable companies going to be in business even after the recession? The answers to these questions are the answer on your investing strategy during recession.

This should be taken advantaged of. Having low prices of very good and stable companies with steady revenues is good for you. When investing, stock prices are not as important as the stability and longevity of the company you are investing in. If the company is secure and will likely outlast these economic conditions, you should buy stocks at these low prices. When the economy turns for the better, you will have investments in solid stocks and will begin to enjoy the fruit of your good decision.

Value investing is also a good idea during this recession. Value investing is investing for the long term and invests in companies rather than stocks. Its most famous proponent is most probably Warren Buffet. Stocks rise and fall but you can pretty much predict companies that will last long by judging from their history and management decisions. If you want to go into value investing, read up on annual reports, study the news and current events – look for companies with good history and steady revenue that if offering shares to the public.

When value investing, ask yourself if you want to have the stock for at least ten years. If you do, it’s probably a good investment. During bearish markets and recession, small but potentially stable companies are probably up for grabs at low prices. If you are a businessman on the lookout for investing, you could try to buy out a small and stable company with good management. This would be a good investment in the long term.

Do not let fear get in the way of making good decisions during recession. Put your earnings where it will benefit more in the long term. Ask for financial advice from experts rather than experimenting on your own. Research and read.

We are living in very volatile economic conditions, given that the U.S. economy is most probably in recession. Most people are worried about rising commodity prices and getting laid off at work. Fear is the general emotions and most probably what drives most personal and business decisions.

However, in a recession, it is important to keep calm and continue to make rational moves and decisions. Yes, recession and the current economic conditions will affect companies and individuals, but it is survivable.

Here are some tips on how to recession-proof your life:

1. Save up on cash. During fragile economic conditions, cash and liquidity is important. You need to have a reserve fund to protect you from sudden events and circumstances. It is important to have cash worth six months of living expenses so you can ride out your circumstances.
2. Another way to recession-proof your life is to save on gas and fuel. Fuel prices continue to rise and spending $500 a week on gas is hardly economical. Gather your friends and start car-pooling. Moms and wives could gather together and have weekly grocery shopping sessions. This would save on gas and errands expenses.
3. Eat at home. When earnings are tight, lessen dining out. Preparing your meals at home saves money rather than spending on Big Macs and Starbucks lattés. This could also be the start you needed to get back on your diet program.
4. Another way to recession-proof your life is to make sure you have steady earnings. And the best way to do this is to keep your jobs. Layoffs will start in the first quarter of next year. Do you best to show your boss that your position in the company is crucial and that he or she should keep you. Show excellence in your tasks and responsibilities.
5. Find alternative source of income or earnings. You can use the internet to your advantage. Put up a blog and start generating from ads and affiliate marketing. It may not replace your monthly salary but every dollar earned is a dollar saved.
6. Deal with your credit card debts. This is important not only during recession but in all economic conditions in general. Paying credit card debts make your credit history good and will help you to have an easier time when you are applying for loans. Also, when you have all your credit card debts paid up, your monthly earning can go to savings rather than paying interest rates.
7. If you are laid off, do not be afraid to avail of government welfare. Avail of unemployment benefits while actively seeking a new job. Dust off your resume and update it with recent job experience.
8. If you have no plans of retiring soon, do not touch your retirement fund. In efforts to recession-proof your life, you just might empty out your funds for a comfortable retirement.
9. If you have your own business, one way to recession-proof your business is to diversify. Create new services or products to lure in more earnings.
10. Investing in stable companies is a good long term decision. You may not get immediate huge returns but having stock in a company that’s going to be in it for the long haul is the way to go to recession-proof your life.

We know that the stock market is down – we are now in a bear market situation. Layoffs will start happening in first quarter of 2009. But what exactly caused us to get to this point? What really caused the recession?

First off, let us define what recession means. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), recession is a “significant decline in economic activity spread across the country, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales.”

Recessions are cyclical in nature and are not caused just by the immediate events preceding it. In this case, what happened a few years back should also be taken in consideration. Recessions are also caused by irrational exuberance. Alan Greenspan coined this phrase when he was describing a stock market bubble. In layman terms, greed and frenzy over a certain industry causes investors to buy during bull markets.

Let’s look at how irrational exuberance contributed during the 2001 recession. Before the entry of the new millennium (2000), the Y2K scare caused investors and business people to invest and buy more in computer hardware and software to make their computers “Y2K compliant”. The stock prices of tech-oriented companies began to go up because of increased earnings and so investors started investing money in those companies. But eventually, in 2000, the revenues of computer companies fell back to normal – the stock market began a frenzied selling of stocks and that’s what happened in 2001 recession.

The 2001 recession has a hand in what economic conditions that we have today. The interest rates were slow to rise during the time that the market was picking up in 2004. This led people to buy more homes and get more mortgages because the interest rates were so low even when they could not afford it. Many started investing in real estate. When the interest rates were hiked, the housing prices fell and homeowners realized they bought homes they didn’t have the money for, so many foreclosed. Because the foreclosure rates were increasing rapidly, this caused alarm to the banks who bought mortgage-backed securities because losses would come soon.

Lending became tight and the stock market fell. This led to a credit crunch – meaning, there was an increase in costs for bank loans and a decrease in loan availability. The banks became apprehensive in loans because they wanted to protect their assets from toxic loans.

When this happened, banks and other financial institutions began defaulting because they were unable to their financial obligations. Thus we see what happened to Bear Stearns, AIG, Lehman, and other such banks and financial companies.

Being in recession, the next year is expected to bring layoffs and increased prices in commodities. Earnings and income are expected to decrease. Credit purchases are expected to increase.

Welcome to RecessionEarning.com! You’d pretty much have to be in a coma to not realize the economy is in trouble. However, that doesn’t mean you have to sit by and watch your investments and bank accounts take a nose dive along with everyone else’s.

The purpose of this blog will be, as the name suggests, to help you earn, even in the midst of this recession we find ourselves in.

I will also be doing several consumer reports on products within this niche. There are quite a few products, systems, and programs out there that promise to help solve all your financial problems and fulfill every monetary dream you’ve ever had. I won’t be endorsing or condemning them, I just want to provide you as much information as possible before you decide whether or not to buy them. You can check out the first one, on Recession Rescue System 3 right now and more will follow along shortly.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the site and here’s to your financial success during these rough economic times!
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