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Ask HN: How are you preparing for the recession?

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Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for the recession?

#81

Post by pomatic »

sjducb wrote: post #78
mr_gibbins wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's good to know (no sarcasm intended) - I was intending on holding onto my modest stash of diesel for a few months at most, but probably worth finding out a bit about how quickly it goes off!

Diesel goes off fairly slowly. One year old diesel can be put into any modern car. Two year old diesel can be mixed 50/50 with fresh diesel and put into a modern car 10+ year old diesel can go into a tractor or an old (pre 2005) diesel car.

Water ingress into stored diesel is calamitous. See also ‘diesel bug’.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for the recession?

#82

Post by rchaud »

noobrunner wrote: post #17
savanaly wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree except for the part about "buy low, sell high." Timing the market is a fool's errand, and it gets no easier during a time of recession.

I am shocked. No one has yet said 'Buy Crypto' :)

These days we're more likely to see comments of the "HN is hostile to crypto" variety.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for the recession?

#83

Post by rchaud »

cwmoore wrote: post #26
sc00ty wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate on why it's a good idea to start a business in a recession?

Because investing in everything else is suboptimal and the new business can be ready to make money when the market inevitably returns to strength.

How long does it take on average for a new business to become profitable? Years if I'm not mistaken. The markets won't stay depressed for that long.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for the recession?

#84

Post by rchaud »

nojito wrote: post #10

It’s already here. However recessions have been getting shorter and shorter every time they occur.

Recessions only seem short if the KPI is stock market indices. It's easier for the Fed and Treasury to prop up financial markets than it is to pass bills that help Main St recover.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for the recession?

#85

Post by zrobotics »

pomatic wrote: post #81
sjducb wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diesel goes off fairly slowly. One year old diesel can be put into any modern car. Two year old diesel can be mixed 50/50 with fresh diesel and put into a modern car 10+ year old diesel can go into a tractor or an old (pre 2005) diesel car.

Water ingress into stored diesel is calamitous. See also ‘diesel bug’.

Yeah, algae growth in diesel fuel can be even more catastrophic than putting stale gasoline into a fuel system. It can infect the rest of the system. A family member is a farmer, and 3 years ago had a semi develop algae growth in the fuel system. The tank needed to be removed and power washed, the entire fuel system needed to be extensively flushed. This ended up costing thousands.

In general, I wouldn't recommend storing fuel for the average person beyond a gallon for lawnmowers. It isn't worth the safety hazard, and the only way to actually save money is if you are using & purchasing enough that you can contract your fuel purchase (sign a contract to purchase $x by y date) for bulk delivery.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for the recession?

#86

Post by ironlake »

MichaelBurge wrote: post #33
toomuchtodo wrote: post #6

1. Keep 6-12 months of expenses in cash on hand. Cash. Not SPY, not I bonds, not HELOCs or lines of credit. Cash. When you are in financial peril, you don’t want to deal with a closed credit line, deeply depressed assets, or locked up instruments. 2. Don’t lose your job. 3. Network in case #2 doesn’t pan out. (lessons learned from the 2001 and 2008 crises)

With #1, you count money in a checking account as cash right? Even though it's technically a line of credit that happens to have an insurance policy attached? Or do you mean strictly physical cash under the mattress(or in a safe)?

>Even though it's technically a line of credit that happens to have an insurance policy attached?

Dear god. If your federally insured bank goes belly up and the federal government doesn't fulfill it's promise to make you whole, what will make the federal paper under your mattress have any value? Libertarianism is a cult.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for the recession?

#87

Post by ironlake »

I was in tech for 2001 and 2008 recessions.

In both cases, the short answer is I got lucky. In 2001, I happened to be in an area that did not have a lot of exposure to the dotcom bubble. In 2008, I had just started at a new company after fleeing a sinking ship. Being in a big corporate environment gave me a place to hide.

Companies will use a recession to trim fat, tell you how lucky you are to be employed, and make you work harder for the job you have. Notice how little they cut from the ranks of middle management zoom wranglers. Remember how you're treated and move on as soon as the job market improves.

As with any time, cash helps. Having a partner that works helps. Community is important.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for the recession?

#88

Post by ramish94 »

mikercampbell wrote: post #58
ramish94 wrote: post #53

If history is any indicator, starting a company during or shortly after a recession has yielded some massively successful results. Not only does it crowd out parties that would enter easily during good times, you also have access to incredible talent on the market due to a high supply. Yes, access to capital is definitely more strained, however PG has said that technology progresses more or less independent of the st…

Count me in. I've got ideas and am Fullstack.

Nice! Feel free to contact! mailto:ramish@ualberta.ca

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for the recession?

#89

Post by altdataseller »

ddorian43 wrote: post #70
MacsHeadroom wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unironically, my friends who ran up their credit cards to buy Bitcoin during the last recession are rich and secure now because of it. They thank me for turning them onto it. Unfortunately for me, I followed conventional advice. I saved a cash emergency fund and only allocated ~20% of my investment budget to Bitcoin. The cash inflated away and I have orders of magnitude less Bitcoin than my friends.

You can do it now again if you're feeling risky...

Bitcoin hasn’t crashed at all. It’s still at similar prices it was early 2021. Let it go to under $5k then I will load up
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