3 Things You Can Do Right Now to Protect Yourself From The Ups and Downs of The Economy

The days of trading with seashells and smooth rocks are long gone. That's not news to anyone living in modern society. What is news is that the days of going to work for the same company for 40 years and retiring with pension is no longer the case for Americans that work for private companies. Instead, we have 401Ks and tend to jump from company to company every couple of years, in hopes that we'll be able to retire before we turn 90. Despite knowing that we are no longer living in the boomer economy, many of us are still living as if we are in the 1980s. With layoffs becoming more and more common and the cost of living sky rocketing, we've got to do something to protect ourselves from the storm.  Below are the top three things you can do to protect yourself from the ups and downs of the economy right now.

#1 Keep your resume up to date.  You should update your resume every time your gain a new skill or get a promotion at the very least you should update your resume every 3 months. Keeping your resume up to date does a couple of key things:

• It allows you to be ready to jump when your dream job opens up, this is true for jobs both inside and outside of the company.

• It allows you to make an argument on why you should receive a pay increase.

• It allows you to keep track of the progress you're making, if you haven't gained any new skills between resume updates, you should aim to gain a new skill quickly, whether it is a certificate, an advanced degree, a new software, new soft skill, anything works as long as you're growing.

#2 Start a side hustle. Having a job is great, but unfortunately, it can be unreliable. You could walk into work on Monday and your job can be gone with no warning. Not to mention inflation, it can be hard to save and support your lifestyle. Unless you are extremely lucky, the days of working 8 hrs. a day until you retire are gone.  Rather than putting all of your eggs in one basket, why not put a couple of them in another basket? Below are the reasons you can’t afford to not have a side hustle in today’s economy:

·       A side hustle is a great way to make extra money on the side for your savings, vacations, child’s college fund, it is really up to you.

·        It ensures that if you ever get laid off, you will have at least a little money coming in to pad the fall. 

·       It gives you something to do after work rather than watch yet another Netflix series or go to another trendy restaurant when you could be using your time to build your side hustle.

Keep in mind that your side hustle doesn’t have to be like anyone else’s side hustle, some people sell soap, some people write resumes, some people work a part time job, and some people cut grass. The important thing is that you do something that you enjoy or if you don’t enjoy it, something that brings in a lot of money. PSA: I don’t recommend starting a side hustle that is direct competition to your day job. You could get fired and sued for that.

#3 Avoid staying at a job for too long. Now this isn't a hard and fast rule, many people make a habit of changing jobs every two years, to ensure that they are making top dollar, that's great if it works for you, but it's okay if it doesn't work for you as well. Some people like to stay with one company even if it means making slightly less money over the course of their

career. A good team and solid pay are worth more than a toxic environment with great pay, you'll just end up spending the extra pay on therapy. If you are one of those people that like to stay where you are and build a home, it's important that you are in an organization that will invest in your growth and allow you to move up in the company. If you are on a career path and you are being promoted and getting pay increases on par with the market, you shouldn't feel like you have to leave the company just for the sake of leaving, however, you should not allow your potential to die on the vine just because of a good culture.

If you are staying at your job for fear of the unknown, then you probably aren't saving enough. Try your hardest to lower your expenses so that you can build up enough savings to allow you to quit to get out of the situation you're in. If you're not making enough to save, then you should definitely start a side hustle, and save as much as you can.

Now that you know the top three things that you can start doing now to protect yourself from the ups and downs of the economy, if you're doing 2 of them that’s great, it's easy to make that one change, if you're not doing any of them now's a good time to start doing at least one of the things.

I'm rooting for you!

~Ms. Sunflower