Anti-Recession Tips to Shoring Up Your Portfolio

Let face it, if the economy is down, it also means it can be hard on your portfolio. Economic slowdown had happened before and it could happen again. Some government officials claimed that we are starting to bounce back from recession as the chart showed, but it's far from the truth. However, some investors instead of panicking saw the recession as an opportunity to pump up your resources and shore up your portfolio to make it anti-recession and weather the economic slowdown.

Below are are some tips to shore up your portfolio during a recession;

Aim for Quality.
Unpredictability, that's one thing that markets abhor. This is predominant especially in the way most investors behave when faced with companies that produce predictable figures. This is also the reason why investors are staying away from companies that don't perform as expected. Smaller companies are always fall in this category.

And to start shoring up your portfolio, invest on companies that shows predictable growth because this points to better earning quality. These usually large companies, big players in an industry and have proven staying power regardless of any economic situation and have plenty of money to run and continue their operations. And try to avoid companies that heavily rely on investors.

Invest in Health Care.
Invest wisely. You have a better means of shoring up your portfolio and continue to enjoy a healthy performance if you trust and consider putting your faith on the services below.
- Drugs
- Medicines
- Pharmaceuticals
- Health Services

Health care industry consider as a recession-proof industry, and also not to mentioned that pharmaceuticals and health services are mostly pays huge dividends.

Stick Where the Crowds are.
Stick where the crowds are. Crowds are consumers, and consumers are the lifeblood not only on every business but also on economies. Without their support and buying power, economies are going down. And if you are an investor and looking to shore up your portfolio, try to invest where consumers bloom. This means putting your money on industries that cater the consumers basic needs, such as;
- Food and Beverages
- Personal Care
- Household Needs

Consumers have been proven to continue spending on basic needs even during economic slowdown or recession.

Diversify.
If you want to shore up your portfolio and avoid the negative effects of a recession, consider diversifying. But before you consider to diversify, study carefully the pros and cons of the industries that you wish to invest in. Focus on industries and firms that behaved so well even under pressure, especially those anti-recession industries, which continue to grow even during an economic recession.

Personal Anti-Recession Steps and Input for Effective Tax

Economic recession is not just a decline of the economic activity for a certain period of time, as the default-like reply of most economist whenever you ask them what's the definition of recession. And that just a pretty picture that they want to portray, a picture-book on recession definition.

Recession, however can affect individuals and families on a more personal level, lost their jobs, crash their savings. And what happens during a recession is that it's not only cities that can be affected but countries as well.

And to help you implement an effective tax and personal anti-recession, below are some steps that you can do:

Start saving now.
Have you heard the saying 'Do not put all the eggs in one basket', it also means that if you want to invest your money, diversify it. And if you have a nest egg stashed somewhere, good for you. Increase it with more savings, and start it immediately. Implement tax and personal savings steps in order to fight the effects of recession.

Cut back on spending immediately.
If you think you need everything that you buy, gather your last few weeks' worth of receipts and rate each item according to necessity. Chances are, there are a few things there that you will realize now that it's not really important, it just a waste of money and you didn't really need to buy that thing.

If you see the same pattern in most of your receipts, that's a sign that you ought to cut back on your expenses and seriously implement a budget or spending plan. For example, if your a member of certain gym/club and you're not that active or you just go there once or twice a month, or sometimes just once in two months, then consider canceling your gym membership. Clean your running shoes and take up running or home exercises instead, do a window shopping, buy items on sale from their regular prices. And put off any large purchases such as cars, television, video equipment, furniture, paintings, etc.

Take big chunks out of your debt.
If you have debts in some form such as loans, credit cards, mortgage, etc., try to pay off as much of your debt as possible. So, the earlier you do this, the better it will be for your finances. A bad credit rating during a recession, is just not something you want to have. If your debt can get you down, it will also do the same thing to your credit score.

Clearing your debts is an excellent anti-recession step because it helps save you money in terms of interest. It will also give you peace of mind and the personal satisfaction of being in charge.

If you consider investing, ask a professional.
An experienced financial adviser can help you understand the kind of options you have, given your own resources and the type of risks you are willing to take.

Recession can make investing much more of a challenge, particularly for the new players and newcomers. That is why you'll need all the help you can get in order to find the best places where to put your money in.

Know your deductibles or tax to be paid.
Review your tax code for the types of items that you can include in your deductibles. Remember that not all expenses can be used as deductions. Only if you can prove them 'ordinary and necessary' will the tax man consider them.

Keep all receipts for deductions.
Audit or no audit, it pays to have documents that support your tax claims, especially if they refer to deductions. Get organized regarding your files, particularly those that pertain to your business or work. Keep things where you can readily access them and use for reference later.

Consider leasing your business vehicle.
If you want to give yourself better tax performance, a good anti-recession tip to follow is to lease that car of yours. This will help get you better deductions compared to what you'll receive if you purchased the vehicle.

When in doubt, always consult a professional.
Before implementing these steps, you might want to consult a basic taxation guide or see an accountant or bookkeeper. They can guide you on what you can and should do based on your own unique circumstances. Ask how you can get a tax rebate check.

The above personal anti-recession steps that you just read will usually work smoothly but some input involving taxes might have certain limitations.

Career Move During Recession

Career move during an economic downturn or recession it's not really a bad idea after all, especially if you had already felt the effects of the said economic recession, or worst you'd been laid off. So why not shift career instead, beside it's one of the ways to cope with recession.

And the truth is finding jobs nowadays is not a piece of cake and lots of people doesn't likes the idea of changing career or choosing jobs during a recession. However, there are still few risk takers, who take change without hesitation and find their dream job during an economic downturn.

Yes, nowadays there's no such thing as 100% secured job, even just to think that maybe someday you'd loss your job is scary. But there are still industries out there that needs more workers, all you have to do is to search for wanted jobs on any job listings and job boards in your area or even on online job search engines. Moreover, most people are still confident that even if they get fired, the demand is so great that finding another job is not that difficult.

And even during recession, you can still find the right job for you. Listed below are some careers that are proven to be recession-proof.

Government
One of the best choice during the time of recession is working for the government. This is because many stable jobs and even part time jobs can be found in the federal government. And in any crisis that may occur, the government are the first to act and operates.

Military
The military are always hiring, particularly during wartime and war related crisis. And serving the military also means that most of your living expenses will be covered, not to mentioned your country will be proud of you.

Healthcare
Job hunters with background of Information Technology such as nurses, doctors, caregivers, medical assistants, x-ray and health information technicians, health care aids and staffs are said to be a good fit to the healthcare industry. The above list particularly nursing and medical assistants are an information-driven career, that make their jobs a recession-proof.

Education
No matter how bad the economy is, teaching jobs will always be in demand and there's still a great shortage of teachers. Even the economy is down, children will continue going to school. And also more adults, with or without jobs are always thinking to further their education, so that they can find a decent job or some who choose to continue to study so that they can add more job descriptions on their resume.

Auditing and Accounting
During a recession, individuals and firms are more probably doing their best to save and get more deductions, especially on taxes. And lots of companies and business people monitors their books, that make auditing and accounting jobs more in-demand.

Security
The needs for security workers among big companies during the recession is so high, not only to stop the crime, but also to defend their company from angry protesting and laid off workers as well.

Pharmaceuticals
Pharmacists and quality assurance analysts who are working on any pharmaceutical laboratories are also safe during recession. And as long as sick and unhealthy people still believe in their physicians to prescribed drugs on them, and drugstores are still open then this jobs are in demand.

Environmental Sciences
Lots and lots of people are already aware about the environment. And the trend about eco-friendly methods and products are so high, so this means that choosing a career in environment-care-related industries can be fruitful.

Energy and Utilities
Energy consumers may cut back and try to save, but energy consumption will not stop even if new methods are already discovered. That also means that jobs like maintenance and utility administration are proven to be more stable during a recession, and as long as people will still light their homes and continue on using energy-related services.

Hope that the above-listed career choice and job descriptions will help you on your career move during recession. Also, the highlighted Career Move During Recession listings can be done as part time jobs.