Let the Powers That Be Worry About the World—you worry about your wallet. Some economists are predicting the first U.S. recession since 2001’s slide, when the stock market dropped as much as 30 per­cent, personal income fell sharply and more than 2 million jobs disappeared. It’s nice that Washington wants to throw some stimulus your way, but don’t bet everything on that $600-per-taypayer check. Here’s how to pro­tect yourself from bad times.

Set up a Plan B.  That is, position yourself in a home based business. You wouldn’t fire yourself, would you? Of course not. Do it while you have a job. It costs a little to get started but you save all that rent, salaries, etc.

Face the facts. Don’t become an Ostrich and stick your head in the sand. Become an ant, not a grasshopper. Procrastination is deadly at this time. Waiting on good times to return is not plan.

While our dollar is weakening, other countries currency is holding its own. The U.S. has finally almost done itself in. What I am getting at, don’t count on a return to business as usual as you know it today. 

Start now and don’t waste a minute. However while you set up your new home based business, do the following: 

Protect your job. Stay visibly busy. The first employees to go during a recession are the high-maintenance slackers. Come in early, leave late, eat lunch at your desk and try to figure out how you can make your boss’s life easier and more profitable. Update your resume with all your current skills and accomplishments, even if you’re not planning on job hunting. You can, post that resume, absent your current employer’s name, at online job sites like Monster.com, just to see what else is out there. If you’re ready for a change, Health-care and sales careers are the most promising and protected during downturns.

Protect your pocketbook. Make paying down your debts a priority. Kill the credit-card balance as quickly as possible, even if you have to give up new clothes and nights out to do it. You can even draw down your emergency savings account to pay off the credit card, as long as you keep the card balance at zero after that. Then you could use the card in an emer­gency until you rebuild the fund.

Are you aware that any credit card will have $1500.00 max and you can repay it at $15-$20 a month? There is a way to get a good start on a home based business. You can be your own boss, have time with your family, take trips you have dreamed of, get the same tax breaks the big companies do. Make for yourself what you have been doing for your boss all these years.

Apply for a home-equity line of credit, so it’s available for emergencies, but don’t use it. Consider refinancing your home mortgage while the Federal Reserve is holding rates down, especially if you have an expensive or risky loan now Don’t be shy about holding cash in safe, stable, boring spots like FDIC-insured bank certificates of deposit.

Protect your psyche. Remind yourself that recessions are a normal part of a healthy economic cycle, and resist panic. To stay calm, write a list of all the extra ways you could make or save money in a pinch: share a car or rent out a room of your house. When you have options, it seems less scary.

But, remember this, you can’t expense yourself into a profit. Income has to prevail for savings expenses to be important. What that means is, don't focus on cutting expenses only. Keep an open mind. Look for income opportunities as well.

Don’t feel guilty about disappointing our nation’s leaders if you use the stimulus package to put your financial house in order. When that government check comes, probably sometime in March, don’t spend it. Use it to pay down your credit-card bill, or put it to work in your retirement or college-savings account. Think of it this way. if you’ve got debt, you’ve already done your patriotic duty by buying all that stuff.

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