In the recent months, there have been more news about corporate laying off staffs due to the worsening of the global economy. Most of us won't feel it unless it happens to you or someone you know. Few weeks ago, I received a phone call from 2 ex-colleagues, and both of them had been retrenched as the unit closed it's Singapore operation. However, they should be able to tide over this difficult period as they have been prudent and without major debts, apart from daily family expenses.(which the payout should be able to last for sometime). Nevertheless, I feel for them as few years back, I was layoff due to organisation restructuring. In the new year, there will be more job lost coming as Singapore has many MNCs, and once the revenue target is not met, the axe will come. Not a good way to start the new year, but this is fact of life.
In this post, I would like to penned down few thoughts to prepare us for the coming New Year 2017, which will be filled with lots of uncertainties.
Savings and Investment
Basic principle of savings still apply, one should always save a percentage of your salary, in preparation for raining days. And one day, the rain will come, it is always good to be prepared. Once you have a reasonable amount of savings, one should look at how to grow the money. There are reasonable number of blogs out there on investment, which I shan't discuss here.
Debts
Economic cycle is getting shorter, and since the GFC, many organisations have been looking at ways to improve their operating margins, and laying off staffs is always the first tool to use. It is a fact of life now, nothing is constant, thus we need to prepare ourselves. It will be a stressful situation where he/she is jobless, and still servicing huge amount of debts. These debts come in the form of housing and car loans, which is the major debt for most of us.
Health
When one is still healthy and employed, and if you are the breadwinner, you should have enough insurance coverage. This is to ensure that if your health takes a turn during your jobless period, at least, you have some coverage to tide over.
Networking
Networking during your career is important, and is like point 1 above, you build trusts, and this is like savings account, it builds up over time. When I lost my job, I was lucky to know few close folks whom I have known for many years, and manage to get 2 jobs offer within 3 months period. I am really thankful for those friends whom have lend me a hand, and also lady luck, who has been very kind to me all these years. Last week I have to tap into this saving account and referred one of my friend to another who has a position open in his company. Hope this turns out well.
It is not all that gloomy if you are prepared, let's have a enjoyable 2017!!!
How do you handle a recession
