How Has the Recession Affect You?

by MoneyNing

I read somewhere that says the recession is helping Americans rethink debt and that frugality is going to stay even when the economy turns.  How great is that?  I know.  The recession is costing us many jobs and the recession wiped out a chunk of our retirement savings but what would happen if it didn’t happen?

If there’s no recession, we (on average) would just:

  • Get more into debt
  • Become even more materialistic
  • Lose touch with the fact that not everything may go our way

Even if we won’t lose our job, isn’t that setting up for the worst ending in human history?  So times aren’t too bad right? Think positive and before you know it, the recession will be over!

Personal Finance Articles

  • CleverDude got a new job and didn’t even lose the old one! See? The economy is not thaaaat bad.
  • Frugal Dad believes not everyone have a choice in whether or not they participate in the recession.
  • My Two Dollars takes a look at our double taxation system.  What does he mean?  Don’t we just get taxed once?
  • I wrote a comparison on the trading commissions on Etrade, Zecco and TradeKing and also talked a little bit about fees in general.
  • Want to know what an investment policy is?  ABC tells all.

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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

Baker @ ManVsDebt April 19, 2009 at 7:07 am

If I’m being completely honest… The recession hasn’t affected us almost at all.

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Sherin April 19, 2009 at 7:17 am

I totally agree with your article. Recession is someway best for us to think about us and our life style. It also help us to realign our life in a structured way. Even I am not able to say how many people started personal financial planning to protect themself from future recessions.

As it is a macro factor, I am sure this will be come to normal later but will come again later. It teach us the golden word “Precaution is better than cure”.

Sherin
The Money Maniac

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Imani April 19, 2009 at 1:16 pm

No problems with the recession here either.

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Horlic April 19, 2009 at 11:29 pm

So far recession hasn’t affected my life. But, I will be more careful in my financial planning. From different points of view, I find that with this recession I do learn to manage my financial planning more carefully.

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Debbie Lacy, MoneyMindful April 20, 2009 at 8:00 am

Although some people haven’t been directly impacted, I think an overall “financial cultural shift” may be taking place as a result of the recession:

–There are many efforts underway to increase financial literacy (for example, the Financial and Economic Literacy Improvement Act of 2009)
–Credit and financing policies are changing and I don’t see us going back to a “No credit, no problem” mentality.
–Being thrifty is in.
–Due to the demise of pensions and the likely non-existent social security benefits in the near future, personal responsibility for retirement is close to 100%. With so many suffering significant losses in their retirement accounts during this recession, our retirement system is being closely examined. I think changes are required to avoid large-scale poverty rates among the elderly.

That said, I also know we tend to have short memories. I hope we’ll make lasting changes to live within our means and make wise financial decisions (personally and nationally), but it remains to be seen if the lessons from today will be taken to heart.

Debbie, MoneyMindful

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SingleGuyMoney April 21, 2009 at 7:37 pm

Thankfully, the recession has not affected me very much at all. Unless I count my 401k and the decreased value of my home. I have continued to make my usual everyday purchases including a treat every now and then. I still remember how important savings are and continue to work on building my savings balance. If something bad does happen, I’m pretty prepared for it.

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TIP guy May 29, 2009 at 12:02 pm

very well said, before you know recession will be over. for investing, there are the best times. for personal finance, we are getting back to frugal. once in a while we need clean ups. do we?

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