Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 341 posts

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#191

Post by jwalton »

dwg wrote: post #176
davedx wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your advice might be okay for good times (investing, buying land, houses). But in hard economic times, the global economy will be doing badly and therefore most investments will too, even housing (see 2008). Going into debt that you then invest is doubly risky: you have debt, plus you have a risky investment. Saving cash is actually indeed the best way to prepare for hard times.

I apologize for being blunt, but you have it backwards. A the adage goes: buy low sell high. In what people equate with "good economic times," prices are high, but in hard economic times everything is on sale! That said, firstly and foremost we should all make sure to have enough savings to ride out hard economic times—including personal ones. That is, enough to pay our monthly expenses for a year or so, in case we b…

> but in hard economic times everything is on sale!

In sufficiently hard economic times, everything is on sale because no one has any idea what will still be around tomorrow and what is going to drop to zero.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#192

Post by oDot »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #171
tarsinge wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? While strict vegetarian might not be the best it seems there are still more health implications to account for when eating meat.

hundreds of millions of indians are vegetarians just fine, people who talk like this have usually read too many anti-vegetarian memes

Or are just aware of the individuality of food.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#193

Post by majewsky »

itake wrote: post #188
sofixa wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For many, an investment in a car can ultimately be cheaper than most other modes of transportation. That's a joke, right? It's entirely dependent on one's location, and i think for more people here on HN the inverse would be true ( I'm assuming the majority of users here live in or around big cities, where tech was traditionally concentrated). In well developed big cities ( so excluding the many failures at urban d…

I live in Seattle. To get to work in Bellevue, I have 1.15hr commute by bus + walking. When I lived in SF, I had a 1.5-2hr Caltrain/bike commute to Palo Alto. Missing a train would cost me 45 min. A car getting stuck in the tracks or a suicide would cost 1-2 hours. A car currently saves me 2hrs, enabling me to have more time to cook healthy food myself and visit the gym with cadence. Imho, a car pays me in dividends.…

I'm guessing GP was thinking of non-US residents when making their claim (although I'm very skeptical of the implication that non-US-based citydwellers make up the majority of HN).

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#194

Post by nightfox0205 »

I am assuming you already have X amount with you (as cash or equity) First thing : create emergency fund and move money equivalent to your six months expanses.increase amount periodically as your pay scale increase. DO NOT TOUCH this fund other than emergency.

Insurance: it depends which country you stay but you should have medical insurance.

Gold/Silver: Gold/Silver use as a hedge. If you have these metal in your wallet good.

Paper money : if you can, invest money in currency basket.

Digital : keep some coins secure.

Expenses: Reduce non essential expenses.

Health: Keep yourself and your family healthy by doing daily workout or yoga.

Silks: learn new skills. Make yourself valuable.

Survival mode : Always on it. Learn to analysis situation and act.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#195

Post by mbg721 »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #171
tarsinge wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? While strict vegetarian might not be the best it seems there are still more health implications to account for when eating meat.

hundreds of millions of indians are vegetarians just fine, people who talk like this have usually read too many anti-vegetarian memes

To be fair, vegetarianism isn't unhealthy (or necessarily healthy--you could still eat Oreos all day), but leaping into a rapid dietary change out of fear might be. Vegetarianism works in India because there's an established tradition of cooking varied foods that meet nutritional needs and are tasty. Stereotypical American vegetarianism is 1/3 rabbit-food, 1/3 gooey cheesy pasta, and 1/3 synthetic meat-substitutes.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#196

Post by marcusverus »

dwg wrote: post #176
davedx wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your advice might be okay for good times (investing, buying land, houses). But in hard economic times, the global economy will be doing badly and therefore most investments will too, even housing (see 2008). Going into debt that you then invest is doubly risky: you have debt, plus you have a risky investment. Saving cash is actually indeed the best way to prepare for hard times.

I apologize for being blunt, but you have it backwards. A the adage goes: buy low sell high. In what people equate with "good economic times," prices are high, but in hard economic times everything is on sale! That said, firstly and foremost we should all make sure to have enough savings to ride out hard economic times—including personal ones. That is, enough to pay our monthly expenses for a year or so, in case we b…

> A the adage goes: buy low sell high.

Don't forget the other adage--Don't time the market.

> That said, firstly and foremost we should all make sure to have enough savings to ride out hard economic times—including personal ones. That is, enough to pay our monthly expenses for a year

Having a year of expenses is good practice in general. I'm not sure that qualifies one as ready for actual hard times at a societal level--not just a stint of unemployment, but global depression, accelerating price inflation, or even general European war and the rationing that could follow.

> Too much savings in the bank however—and this I believe relates back to the point being made by the original commenter—is actually not good. That money is losing value, and therefore so are you.

There are ways to save that protect you (somewhat) from inflation. Like short term bonds (ex: from treasurydirect.gov).

> Another way is taking on debt, if that debt is the sort that generates a profit. We're not talking about car loans here (unless of course your a car dealer).

Unless there is some full-proof investment scheme that you're aware of, this would essentially be gambling. If you take on debt and your profit-generating scheme fails (which is certainly possible in the "hard times" scenario that OP has envisioned), then you're worse off--you've got debt to service, on top of everything else.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#197

Post by layer8 »

oDot wrote: post #91
dmje wrote: post #74

Diversify in as many areas as you can. In income terms, diversify away from a single source by learning new skills, training up in areas you're a bit rusty in, learning totally new ones. In savings or investments: diversify where you put them, spread them around so you're not dependent on any one scenario. In eating: eat more interesting and cheaper things. Become vegetarian, if you aren't already. In exercise: drop…

Diversification is indeed the best strategy, but please do not become vegetarian on a whim. Consider the health implications it involves.

Also, isn’t becoming a vegetarian somewhat the opposite of diversifying?

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#198

Post by dan-robertson »

reqres wrote: post #149
dan-robertson wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And in both cases the impending recession was not as imminent as the posters likely expected.

COVID-19 induced a recession all around the globe

That is technically true. Though the duration and severity did vary (and the definition of recession also varies around the globe). For example the U.K. consider the recession to have lasted 5 quarters whereas in the USA recovery (in some macroeconomic statistics) was faster with the economy being considered to be in recession for just two months. I don’t think a two-month recession is particularly concerning though a repeat of the GFC would be.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#199

Post by philipov »

davedx wrote: post #139
astrange wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I avoid personal debt like the plague. If that means living in a small house, and driving an old car, then so be it. Going into debt that you can pay off and will make you a profit is good - because making a profit is literally the thing that gets you through bad times. (That's why having savings be 100% cash is riskier than investing - you are 100% guaranteed to not have it go up.) And recent years' zero-to-negati…

Your advice might be okay for good times (investing, buying land, houses). But in hard economic times, the global economy will be doing badly and therefore most investments will too, even housing (see 2008). Going into debt that you then invest is doubly risky: you have debt, plus you have a risky investment. Saving cash is actually indeed the best way to prepare for hard times.

"Going into debt you then invest" is probably the exact wording used by pathological gamblers to justify betting their house at cards. In older times, that's how people gambled their way into slavery.

"I'll borrow some money to buy the seeds I need to plant my crops" and then the harvest goes bad and you have neither food nor money to repay the debt. Suddenly the wealthy neighbor you borrowed from is taking your land to pay for it.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#200

Post by spyremeown »

senectus1 wrote: post #26
iExploder wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in case of fixed interest rates I guess so... yachts for everyone!

I was thinking more of using the debt to fortify. Maybe metals... or property.

>I was thinking more of using the debt to fortify. Maybe metals... or property.

"just trust me bro"

Post reply on HN