Kin’s Money

Financial planning is tricky at the best of times. None of us have a crystal ball. If we did we would all be millionaires, and that wouldn’t work out at all, because someone would still have to pack the shelves at the supermarket.

Those that did predict this economic downturn might be doing ok. Those that couldn’t do much about it might be suffering.

Right now that’s us.

I’ve been watching the “crisis” (can a crisis last a couple of years?) unfold and wondering when it would hit us. With Hubby in the construction industry, it was more of a when not if scenario.

And it turns out, the when was this week. Yes, the week before Christmas.

Still, the stars have somehow aligned, we have sold a car, Mr Rudd’s Christmas bonus arrived, and the company managed to pay out the employees and their leave entitlements. Combined with our plans in place for just this eventuality and we may be able to survive for 3 months without work.

Of course we are taking steps so this is not necessary. Hubby is on the ball with looking for work, and we have a few creative ideas to bring money in in the meantime. There is even a “worst case” plan in case things are worse than we thought and in 3 months time neither of us have any work. It’s drastic, but a plan none the less.

12 months ago people looked at me funny when I said I was making plans in case Hubby got laid off. I remember the 2000/2001 dot com bust which left us in the same situation, though fortunately without 3 children to support.

This time there is a silver lining. Mr Rudd is planning to spend his way out of this “not-quite-recession”, and most of his money is going into construction. Now Hubby has a bit of experience in his new career, we can look at larger companies more suited to that type of work, and less likely to suffer the same fate.

Not of course we’d turn anything down. In fact part of our plan involves me working harder than was originally planned next year. It may delay both our study for twelve months, or perhaps only mine, as Hubby’s is more important for him to be able to get a job. That will be a decision we’ll have to make as the study expenses get closer.

Still, at least we have a plan.