How to Prepare for a Recession: 6 Steps You Can Take Now

It’s an unhappy fact of life: Sooner or later, the economy’s going to take another dive.

Sorry, but another recession is bound to happen. And when it does, your future self is going to thank you for thinking ahead and getting ready for it.

Oh, wait, you haven’t done that? You’re totally unprepared for the next recession?

Well, don’t feel bad. Two-thirds of Americans are in the same boat, according to a 2017 GOBankingRates survey. It found that most Americans’ finances are woefully unprepared to withstand another recession.

In the last U.S. recession, millions of Americans lost their homes, jobs or businesses. With that in mind, we’re here with six steps you can take to protect yourself from a recession and mitigate the damage it can cause you.

Recessions: Like a Bad Penny, They Keep Coming Back

Like we said, economic downturns are simply a fact of life.

Technically, recessions occur when the economy declines for at least six months in a row. That typically leads to serious job losses and huge stocks market drops. Our most recent downturn was called the Great Recession because it was the worst one since the Great Depression.

The Great Recession ended in 2009 — 11 years ago.

Historical data shows the U.S. averages a recession every six to seven years.

So we’re probably due for another one in the next few years. Nobody knows when.

And it doesn’t matter who’s in the White House. None of this is intended to be a political statement of any kind. The fact is, these same truths would apply whether Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden were president.

6 Tips for Recession Preparation

Here’s how to prepare for a recession.

1. Start Hoarding Your Pennies

Could you live off your savings for six months? For a year? Don’t feel bad — I know I couldn’t.

Start socking away a little cash to give yourself a financial cushion, an emergency fund in case you get laid off. Once you have an emergency fund goal in mind, figure out how much of each paycheck you’ll need to set aside to reach your goal in three months, six months, a year.

Stash and Acorns are two popular apps that offer easy, automatic ways to start saving and investing. They’re really useful for tricking your brain into saving more. You’ll invest without even realizing you’re doing it.

Stash sets up automatic stock market investments for you. It lets you invest as little as $5 into a set of simple portfolios reflecting your goals and your tolerance for risk. You can set it up to pull a specific sum of money from your bank account at regular intervals.

Once you connect the Acorns app to a debit or credit card, it rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and funnels your digital change into an investment account. You can have it automatically round up all your purchases, or only the transactions you choose.

2. Get a Side Gig

Losing your job would be a painful blow to your bank account unless you’re able to find new employment quickly.

That’s why it’s best to diversify your income if possible. The simplest way to do that is by starting a side gig.

Thanks to the growing gig economy, there are lots of ways to scratch up some extra cash nowadays. Craigslist is an easy place to sell your services under the “Gigs” section.

And if you don’t trust Craigslist, check out TaskRabbit or Fiverr — to name just a few.

3. Be a Superhero at Work

If a recession forces your employer to cut back, how can you position yourself to keep your job?

Non-essential employees get laid off first, so focus on making yourself indispensable. Don’t sleep on opportunities to acquire new skills or more responsibility.

4. Stay in the Hunt

Do you like your current job? Cool.

Just don’t get lulled into complacency. Be ready to look for a new job if you have to. Start with this:

• Update your resume and your LinkedIn page.
• Keep networking. Start networking before you need a job.

5. Pay Down Your Debts

Every month, you make payments toward your credit card debt. But you never seem to make a dent. It’s because of those sky-high interest rates — as much as 24% interest. It can feel impossible to get ahead.

But MoneyLion could help you find offers to cut your interest rate by 70% as soon as tomorrow. 

Here’s how it works: MoneyLion can match you with new loan offers at a lower interest rate — as low as 5.20% APR*. That’s 70%* lower than the average credit card interest rate. And it’s the key to finally getting ahead.

You can use this new loan to pay off all your existing credit card debt, then you’ll be left with one (cheaper) monthly payment that will help you get out of debt faster.

If you have a credit score of at least 620, you could get up to $100,000. With no collateral. And terms go up to 144 months.

Worried you won’t qualify? Take two minutes to check online and see if you could cut your credit card interest rate by 70%.

*Based on creditworthiness. Average credit card interest rate is 24.72% as of 8/14/23, according to Forbes Advisor’s weekly credit card rates report.

6. Adjust Your 401(k) or Your Investment Portfolio

When the last recession caused the stock market to plunge, Americans’ retirement savings took a beating. The nation’s 401(k)s and IRAs lost nearly $2.5 trillion in the last half of 2008 alone.

Take a look at your own 401(k) account. Are you too heavily invested in stocks? Consider your age, too. If you’re nearing retirement, put more of those funds into bonds.

Just don’t get carried away with that strategy. Before making any changes to your 401(k), keep in mind how many years you have until retirement. If you have decades of working ahead of you, keep your retirement funds in stocks so you don’t miss out on the market’s long-term growth.

The upshot of all this: No one wants to see an economic downturn, but it’s inevitable that another one will come along. If you take these steps, you might be able to sail through the next recession in style.

Mike Brassfield ([email protected]) is a senior staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.