1. Get out of debt as quickly as possible. Having debt at a time like this is an extremely dangerous way to manage your finances. Take any excess income you can and start paying down your most expensive debt first and do as fast as possible.
2. Raise extra money anywhere you can. Go through your house when you do a deep clean and take anything including CDs, books, toys, broken electronics and anything else you can find and sell them on eBay. You might be amazed at how much money will be able to raise doing this.
3. Consider getting a second job. If you have a part-time income coming in, it can be used in conjunction with your savings to pay down your debt as quickly as possible.
4. Understand what is happening in the world today. We are in the late stages of an experiment that was started in the 1970s after President Nixon closed the gold window. This type of experiment has been tried many times in history and has always led to hyperinflation. If we don’t have hyperinflation this time, it will be the first time in history.
5. Currencies all around the world today are fiat currencies. This means they aren’t backed by any assets and are simply a reflection of the world’s faith in the global financial system. This faith has been shaken and currencies all around the world are falling in value. This is the reason the price of food continues to rise even as the price of everything else starts to fall. There is a finite amount of food in the world and a finite amount of land on which to grow it.
6. Buy precious metals. Gold and silver have been the ultimate stores of value for almost 6000 years. The politicians and the bankers cannot materially alter the supply of gold and silver for a very long although they can act against the price of these metals in the short term. Your best defence against the monetary experiment that we are seeing all around us is precious metals. You can buy them on eBay in single job lots or you can buy them from a dealer if you have £1000 or more to spend.
7. Grow your own food. There is nothing as satisfying as eating potatoes and carrots from your own garden. If you don’t have the space, you could grow your own herbs and other foodstuffs in window boxes.
8. Become a savvy shopper. Buy food in bulk that you use regularly to get a better price.
9. Cutback on all non-essential expenditure until the economy turns around. Baton down the hatches and dig in for a few dozen months.
10. Understand that this time too shall pass. There will be a good time around the corner soon and if you make some preparations now, you’ll be very well prepared to take advantage of the upturn when it comes.
