When the market drops, everything's on sale. Unless you can sell at or near the peak, let any stocks that are going to survive ride.

+1 on the Clark Howard recommendation. Down-to-earth, usable advice.

As you do your research, remember the obvious – one size doesn't fit all. What works for me could be completely wrong for you and your circumstances. The first thing to do, regardless of the strategies you adopt, is to take stock of your own family's situation. Know on what and how much you're currently spending on a weekly/monthly/annual basis — with an eye towards "trimmable" expenditures. Sometimes an eye-opener.

These are pretty basic:

• How old are you? Close to retirement? If so, it might be prudent to adjust your 401k's investment mix to something more conservative. In my own case — retired for 5 years and 63 y/o — I'm more preservation- and income-oriented vs. 10 years ago when I was more risk/growth-oriented. Regardless of your age, you may feel like more conservative is the way to go for awhile.
• Do you have sufficient liquid emergency savings (other than long-term 401k-type) for unforeseen expenses or, say, huge increase in home heating costs?
• How's the debt load relative to your income? Lots of high-interest credit card debt? Might be wiser to take a discretionary, say, $2000 and payoff 12-18% interest rate credit card debt vs. putting that amount into a 4% money market (unless you have no other emergency savings).
• Are there optional monthly expenses that can be trimmed? Like the 300-channel top-tier cable package with high def, DVR and premium movie channels? Currently paying for home newspaper delivery when TV news and/or internet news sources will do? Back the end of '05, when I told my wife — the queen of gift-givers — how much "we" spent on gifts that year, even she gulped hard.
• Maybe teaming up with friends/neighbors/family to buy certain food items or other consumables in large bulk from Costco or similar (I admit to being a Costco junkie) and splitting the cost. Some stuff, modest savings; other stuff, big savings.
• Speaking of food, would a backyard garden be feasible?
• Would your employer/your job be vulnerable during an economic downturn, such that a job change to a more stable situation is advisable before things turn ugly?

Parting shot: Inflation is where everything becomes more valuable except money.

I try to play by a set of basic rules:
Spend less than you take in.
Live within your means.
If you can't afford to pay cash for something save until you can.
Avoid debt.
Use cash whenever possible.
Put something of each paycheck away as savings.
If you find yourself in debt pay it off ASAP. Even if it hurts.
Know the difference between a 'need' and a 'want'.
Don't keep up with the Joneses.
The Joneses are living large by living on debt.




Another one.

If you placed all the economists end-to-end they still wouldn't reach a conclusion.

Thank you all for the insights and links.

Although my retirement isnt that far away, I really dont have much money to invest in risky portfolios. I also spend very little on myself (e.g. I make/fix my own office furniture instead of buying). But I am not that strict when it comes to spending on the wife and kids.

Expanding our pantry is one of the strategies we have followed lately. We try to hunt for deals and so forth.

I will read and print useful stuff from clarkhoward.com and financialsense.

Thank you all.

Know the difference between a 'need' and a 'want'.


hehehehe

I know the difference so very well. This is why websites selling EDC stuff havent got much of my money, inspite of my drooling all the time.

I like to keep an eye on urbansurvival.com including the free daily update (especially).


to XBANKER: Excellent advice!!!

I am no expert, in fact I am a theorist mostly, but here goes:
Keep it as simple and diversified as you can and you can't go wrong. It is called a diverified portfolio for a reason. You do not want to invest in only one stock. You also do not want to put all your worth in one form. Invest in some things that have inherent value such as gold, silver, and platinum. Keep these things on-hand in a safe place, and a secret. The values of things that change independently of each other can be a great asset. Eliminate the middle man whenever possible. Why pay commission to a broker when you don't need a degree to broker? Buy when values (demand) are low and sell when values (demand) are high. Keep it as tangible or as liquid as you can. Maybe these are two different things, I'm not sure. An off-shore account in a powerful, neutral country might be a good idea in case TSHTF here in the US and the banks get commandeered or whatever it's called. I don't know.
In order to reap dividends, you must have some money invested in stock. Also, for local barter if the economy gets killed, you should have a supply of surplus consumables with as indefinite a shelf-life as possible, such as canned goods and ammunition. If you value it, so too will others. If others value it, so should you, and so have some to trade.
Another economic safegaurd to have, probably the most important one of all, is a basic, marketable skill that most people in today's world take for granted to the point that they would always rather pay for it, such as mechanic, electrician, and even gardener.

I also found this site

http://www.betterbudgeting.com/index.htm

That's what all the brokers try to tell you to save their own behinds. This market is nowhere near the bottom. It's on the verge of a long and ugly slide into the abyss.

Have you been through hard times? If not, it can seem scary.

I have, framed, a copy of my social security statement that they send you in the mail from time to time.

It accurately shows my Social Security wages for all the years that I've worked.

The reason it's framed is because in tax year 2000 I had a good - very good - working year.
By tax year 2002, through some statistical fluke, my social security earnings were EXACTLY 10% of what I made in 2000. It wasn't until 2005 that I got back to 50% of what I made in 2000, and it's only been in the last 2 years that I've gotten within 25% of my Y2K income.

There's a few things that I've learned having been through a few recessions (but never a depression, thank the great spirits).

First of all, don't use debt to buy anything that won't be worth more than you paid for it in 10 years.

For us, that means we can't buy a new car with debt, because we can't pay cash for it. If you think that old clunker is "too expensive" to fix up, or it's burning too much gas, look at it this way. You can buy a new car, and make payments on it, and spend FAR MORE in a year than even an engine replacement and tranny replacement on an old car.

Next - cash flow, cash flow, cash flow. It's so important to manage your cash flow.
This is a painful, miserable job, but you gotta do it. Keep track of what you spend. There's 2 ways to do it. a) Give yourself a cash allowance and when you're out of cash, you're broke. or b)Put everything on a charge card that you MUST pay every month.

Don't subscribe to anything - not television, not magazines, not newspapers, none of it. I like Tracfone because it's a simple, pay for what you use deal. No monthly charges.

Inflation Hedges
Inflation is horrible, worse than anything, because it makes saving miserable. There's not much you can to to avoid inflation, buying precious metals is a slight offset, but even that can be a less than great investment. One hedge you can do is to manage your commodity buying (fuel oil) with locked-in pricing, but that's not a long term solution and all futures contracts have a high negative risk.

In general, debt makes inflation worse, so the less you have the easier it is to manage.