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🏦 The Recession Playbook

🏦 The Recession Playbook

A recession gameplan, a 5-minute fix, and one myth worth deleting.

April 01, 2025

Hey hey,

It’s Tuesday—aka the beige cardigan of weekdays.

Perfect time to make one money move your future self will high-five you for.

Today’s lineup:

📉 How to prep your portfolio without panic
🧠 The debt advice you should probably ignore
⚡ A 5-minute move to save more this week
📊 One stat that could change how you invest

The Recession Playbook for Your Investments

Here’s the deal: the economy’s acting like it just saw its ex at the grocery store—awkward, unstable, and full of surprises.

Is a recession guaranteed? Nope. Could it happen? Sure. But this isn’t about fear—it’s about being financially bulletproof just in case.

And while some headlines are screaming “RECESSION IMMINENT,” here’s your cue to not panic-sell your retirement fund for canned beans and ammo.

Let’s break it down:

1. Zoom Out, Don’t Freak Out
Markets dip—it’s what they do. Historically, recessions happen every 7–10 years. But guess what? They recover.

Over time, staying invested usually beats trying to time the market (which, spoiler: most people are terrible at).

2. Diversify (Seriously, Do It)
Stocks, bonds, ETFs, maybe even some real estate. Spreading your money across different assets helps soften the blow when one area tanks.

No need to YOLO your life savings into AI stocks or gold bars.

The ultimate meme approved diversification strategy

3. Play the Long Game with DCA
Enter dollar-cost averaging (DCA): the grown-up version of buying the dip without the guesswork.

Invest a fixed amount regularly, no matter what the market’s doing. It smooths out the bumps and takes emotion out of the equation.

4. Build That Emergency Buffer
Recessions = layoffs, surprise bills, stress eating. A solid emergency fund (3–6 months of expenses) keeps you from selling investments at rock-bottom prices just to stay afloat.

Bottom line? A recession might be coming. Or it might not. Either way, you’re not sweating it—you’re set.

Money Myth

“Debt Is Always Bad”

Some debt is like that friend who crashes on your couch but also pays rent. Think mortgages or student loans with low interest rates. It’s credit card debt that’s the gremlin here. Don’t confuse the two.

Quick Win

Unsubscribe from impulse: Take 5 minutes and unsubscribe from marketing emails tempting you to spend.

Gotta save that valuable inbox real estate for the important stuff, like our emails 😉

Less noise = fewer dumb purchases. Bonus: your inbox becomes 17% less annoying and you have more to invest.

Money Stat

Over the past 10 years (2014 to 2024), the S&P 500 has delivered an average annual return of 11.3%.

Translation? Despite market ups and downs, staying invested over the long term has historically yielded solid returns. $1000 invested 10 years ago would have nearly tripled.

Your Challenge

Pick one thing to audit today: your budget, your investments, or your emergency fund. Just one. Small steps > financial paralysis.

Even a 15-minute money tune-up can build momentum—and your future self will thank you for not ghosting your finances.

That’s all for today—try not to get fooled too many times.
—Tommy,
Your favorite financial voice of reason

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