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So About The Economy...


Everything's expensive right now: Food. Gas. Rent. 

The stock market's looking slumpy.

We're apparently on the verge of a recession/possibly already in a recession.

Given these circumstances, we probably won't be able to max out our retirement accounts or fully pay off the student loan this year. They seemed like reasonable goals a few months ago; now, not so much.

To help prepare for possible economic turbulence, we've been making some adjustments to our finances:

1. I reduced my retirement contributions by about half. I'll still get the employee match and I'm still putting in a decent chunk of my salary (20%), but we need more liquidity at the moment. 

2. We're bolstering our savings account. We still have an emergency fund, but we hacked out a pretty big piece of it to bring the student loan balance down to ~$10K. I'd like to have a little more cash on hand in case of layoffs at my company (since my industry will definitely feel the effects of an economic downturn).

3. Tangentially, I've been casually scoping out the job market to see what's available. I lack even an iota of enthusiasm for a job hunt, but it's best to be prepared and I need to know what's out there.

What about you? How are you feeling about the current state of the economy, and are you making any financial adjustments during this time of uncertainty?

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  1. The Student-turned-DoctorAugust 10, 2022 at 3:59 PM

    I feel awful, but not all of that is rational. I'm making a lot of little swaps right now, in addition to not going anywhere other than work or the grocery store except on foot, but that is my continual effort to protect myself against COVID-19. An example of a little swap: I like to drink seltzer, but I figured out that a can of seltzer is about 50 cents, and it's cheaper to make tea and keep a pitcher of it in the fridge. But it's exhausting, and I really hope things stabilize at some point.

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