Lessons you learned from the recession?

ghoti said:
Still not impacted by the recession. Household income continues to climb.
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Really... so how do you figure that...
My increase was 6%.. it doesn't even cover the increased petrol costs and e-tolls impact.
Electricity goes up, the price of food is insane, and ever-increasing. But the salary remains the same.

Not all of us, like you, live in the Eastern Cape, and not all of us, run a company that gets money from overseas, and calls it coochie-coo when the Rand/Dollar exchange rate goes to the dogs.

EDIT: My bad... I saw your reply is about your own personal situation. But still, not nice to brag on the forum.
 
Koosi said:
Really... so how do you figure that...
My increase was 6%.. it doesn't even cover the increased petrol costs and e-tolls impact.
Electricity goes up, the price of food is insane, and ever-increasing. But the salary remains the same.

Not all of us, like you, live in the Eastern Cape, and not all of us, run a company that gets money from overseas, and calls it coochie-coo when the Rand/Dollar exchange rate goes to the dogs.

EDIT: My bad... I saw your reply is about your own personal situation. But still, not nice to brag on the forum.
Click to expand...

6% increase? Nobody likes a braggart.
 
Our company had a bit of a dip in new work approx. 2009-2011, but mostly due to the perception that there was a recession, ironically. A lot of projects were held back as people preferred to sit on their cash. Doesn't seem to be any shortage of work in the local software industry at the moment, though, but what is noticeable is that the cost of living is increasing faster than normal, although a lot if this is attributable to bad government policy and it's effect on the exchange rate - E-Tolls, Eskom, fuel price dollar rate sensitivity, unbridled unions, political foot in mouth syndrome, etc. I think the middle class is really under pressure, more so than post 2008. It's going to take a long time to adapt to energy costs which have been rising almost exponentially.

The weird thing about recessions is that they tend to be about perception. Investors are more cautious, there is less expansion in the economy, people spend less, and it all snowballs, even though there is little change in underlying factors.
 
garp said:
Our company had a bit of a dip in new work approx. 2009-2011, but mostly due to the perception that there was a recession, ironically. A lot of projects were held back as people preferred to sit on their cash.
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That actually killed one company. I think they had fundamental problems, but would have survived if not for customers one after another freezing projects.
 
Koosi said:
Really... so how do you figure that...
My increase was 6%.. it doesn't even cover the increased petrol costs and e-tolls impact.
Electricity goes up, the price of food is insane, and ever-increasing. But the salary remains the same.

Not all of us, like you, live in the Eastern Cape, and not all of us, run a company that gets money from overseas, and calls it coochie-coo when the Rand/Dollar exchange rate goes to the dogs.

EDIT: My bad... I saw your reply is about your own personal situation. But still, not nice to brag on the forum.
Click to expand...

Well if you are going to be like that nobody likes a whiner as well.

I keep looking for new business opportunities. I continue to network and increase my income streams. I literally have 3 jobs and work till 10pm most nights. I never get a day off from some of my responsibilities. There is no such thing as easy money. Well at least not that I have found. These things didnt just fall into my lap. I saw opportunities, worked my ass off and made them happen.
 
I was in the US at the time. Working for a public company had a bunch of risks I had not counted on. My shares and options plummeted in 2008, despite the fact that the company did just fine - the share price can swing massively even when the company has consistent financials. They recovered, but for a few years this side of my income was nearly non-existent.
 
There is no such thing as a guaranteed interest rate... if the sh.t hits the fan and you're over exposed you are going down...
 
Stick to your plan and when you fall get back up, you have now learned one more lesson that will help you. Some of the best advice i ever got was that you eat an elephant 1 spoon at a time.
 
I remember hearing a news report on the radio end of 2012 (or was it 2011?) where some economist declared that the recession is now over. Two weeks before Christmas. :whistle:
 
Straight answer - I learned to save money whenever you can because you aren't always going to be in the position to save and you might need the money.
 
Dont make unnecessary debt...and... pay off the debt you have as soon as possible.
 
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