Economic turmoil can be bad and we need to avoid its severe consequences whenever possible. People who depend entirely on their job are facing the scary prospect of losing their only source of income. As companies are dealing with low sales during financial crisis, they need to reduce costs and in some cases, it is necessary to lay off some employees. Workers are among the first who are facing the dire effect of slower consumer spending. If we do lose our job, it is important for us to find a way to stay afloat. The first thing to do is to make sure that we have an alternative income. A good practice is to ask ourselves what will happen to us when we lose our job since months previously, when the economic situations had started to go awry. Finding an alternative job can be a rather difficult thing to do during a difficult economic situation, especially if no one is hiring and many companies are laying off their employees.
Fortunately, we still retain our experience, knowledge and skills. If possible, we may provide teaching lesson and consulting sessions for others who need our expertise. If we have a hobby, we should know how to profit from it. As an example, if we like to bake, we may consider selling cheap, nutritious and tasty cookies. Female workers who know how to knit can make affordable sweaters and blankets, which are cheaper than those found in shops. If possible, we may also file for unemployment benefit, which is given by specific state. However, we must be deemed eligible based on a number of requirements. If we are qualified, it would be a waste not to get this benefit. The process may take awhile and we should be patient in undergoing all the processes. So, we may still need to pay quite a few bills with our own money, before the first unemployment check arrives. For this reason, we should apply for such benefit as soon as possible.
When we lose our job, it is clearly the time for us to tap into our savings account. It’s a key component if we want to make sure that we are able to stay afloat without the availability of primary source of income. It is commonly recommended that we have at least 6 months worth of extra cash in the savings account. This should give us enough time to look for other jobs or start a small business to sustain our family. If we don’t have cash reserve today, then we should start to cut expenses and save aggressively each month. This small task should be quite handy and bring us a lot of benefit when we lose our job. Our little effort now can be quite handy later, especially when we need a lot of money to cover our expenses. Overall, we need to cut back our spending when the economy starts to slow down and we need to do that more aggressively once we lose our job. It means that out 6-month worth of savings account can extend to 8 months or more.
