Inflation has been dominating the media over the last year. It’s hard to tell what is the inherent cause of it as there could be a myriad of reasons.
For example, one could point to the supply chain problem worldwide which is causing the rise of goods from overseas. Another person could say that the pandemic has caused a lot of economic damage to countries around the world, hence the inflation.
There are hundreds of theories out there from scholars, armchair economists, and others as to why inflation has gotten out of hand. I might probably look into such matters at another time.
My goal with this post is to give you reasons on how you can probably ride out the current wave of inflation that is impacting a large segment of the population. Let’s dive in.
Learn a Profitable Skill
If you are working at a job and just passively living your life doing the same thing every day 365 and you are not seeing any result. You are going to need to switch things up a bit.
Relying on your job or in the worst case your boss is going to cause problems down the line. Don’t rely on your job as a crutch, you will get wiped out. If your income hasn’t increased over the last few years to match the rise of goods and services, you need a new strategy.
You are going to have to learn a profitable skill, I have a bias towards computer skills as I have noticed the wide array of opportunities available if you have the right skills.
For example, you have persons who are currently earning an extra US$3k a month launching online digital marketing businesses.
Some are even going full-time. If you are not tech-savvy and don’t intend to be, you can learn physical skills that can still be profitable such as plumbing, electrician, etc.
The major downside with physical skills is that you are oftentimes constrained to your geography. This can cause problems when you cannot earn an income with it consistently.
That’s why I am bullish on online money, it’s the future and if you haven’t started learning from yesterday you are probably too late.
Start a Side Business
Similar to learning a skill to earn income, having a side business can carry you quite far. If it’s a business that is recession-proof, that would make it even better. Starting something is better than not starting anything in the grand scheme of things.
Don’t let certain outside factors deter you from not going ahead. In an environment where inflation is rampant, costs can rise pretty quickly so you have to be realistic on what you want to do and how you are going to achieve it.
If your business handles preorders and is not serviced-based, this can be a bit more manageable as you can always have the cash to invest and grow your business. It’s hard to give a broad stroke on what type of business you should start.
Similar to skills a lot of factors can come into play such as geography, local market, demand, profitability, and a myriad of other factors.
Practice Money Management
Money management is a skill not most persons are taught. It’s a skill that takes discipline and time to master. You cannot become a mastermind of money management in a year if that is even possible.
A large part of money management is not about maximizing upside as to what you can buy. It’s about minimizing your downside as to what cannot afford.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “death by a thousand cuts”? If not, that’s precisely why money management is often necessary. It’s not large purchases that often trip us up but the thousands of small little purchases that take little thought.
Due to the fact that we were habitually conditioned to purchase them. This habit can be in part by the constant bombardment of marketing which we face daily and the ease of use to purchase an item.
Another reason why money management is necessary is that it helps you to manage your life as if it’s a business. This might seem like a lot of work but it’s not. Being able to track that you are overspending for the month by a factor of 30% and it’s made up of purchases that don’t add value to your life, will leave you thinking of strategies on how to change that.
The hardest thing about money is not making it, it’s keeping it. I have seen persons who are far wealthier than I am who are more miserable and stressed over money because they’ve managed it so poorly.
You don’t have to be a business major either or need a financial consultant to start money management. You have apps that you can use and spreadsheets that you can download online that can suit your personal needs.
Don’t Over Consume
Coming off the money management topic, this could have easily been added to it. But I need to touch on it a little more, don’t purchase things that you don’t need.
We are living in a world of overconsumption and our civilization is currently stripping the world of its natural finite resources to keep us comfortable and pamper our greed and need for more.
I am guilty of this as I had my own experience of gluttony, but I was aware of it and still had limits. It becomes a problem when someone is no longer aware is living akin to living in front of Walmart at that point. Don’t get caught in this vicious cycle.
Practice Investing
Investing can prove to be a rational edge against inflation especially if you know where to look and have an instinct for the market. Having cash on hand at all times can be a bad strategy especially when the currency is losing its value.
At that point, you may want to tie up your money in some sort of equity that can yield returns depending on your risk appetite.
Depending on what type of individual are you and your relationship towards risk, it’s important to have a diversified portfolio. If you are new to the idea of investing, you can research it on the internet or get a professional to help you.
That’s one of the ways financial savvy individuals can stay afloat whenever there is a downturn and the lower working class have to go to work relying on their hard-earned money to ride out the storm which is losing its value daily.
If you don’t want to invest in stocks or any exotic financial instrument, well, do it the old-fashioned way which is still one of the battles tested ways by purchasing or investing in a property.
Changing Careers
If you are stuck in a career and basically living paycheck to paycheck, it’s probably a sign that things need to change. You might need to change your career or get a new boss who will value you more.
Always be sending should be your mantra, don’t stay comfortable in one job.
It’s counterproductive in the long haul, everyone’s situation is different but I have seen enough that the easiest person we can fool is ourselves by playing the victim and not doing anything to help our situation.
It’s easy to play the victim and trick ourselves as to why we are still working for this or that company when there are opportunities elsewhere.
Don’t let the uncertainty deter you, opportunities are out there especially if you understand computers. You don’t even need a degree anymore to get a tech job, you just have to ensure that you know what you are doing.
In summary, we are living in a strange time and a lot of changes are happening. Inflation is on the rise and digital wealth is being created. I didn’t even touch on the whole cryptocurrency movement which is common around the younger population.
There are so many things happening, you just have to stay curious and keep following us as we have a lot of interesting content coming down the line.
