Historically, recessions have come and gone.   

I, personally, have experienced at least ten recessions in my short seven decades of life.  Some recessions lasted just a few months, others went on for years.  One recession resulted in a 25% unemployment rate where I was living.  I gained different economic insights from each of those recessions.

The value of a recession is what a person learns, or what a person becomes, as a result of the recession.   

Those who comfortably weathered recessions in the past had one thing in common … they had cash savings, sometimes called “rainy day” money. 

In order to save “rainy day” money during "sunny days," workers had to spend less than they earned.  In order to spend less than they earned, they had to produce enough money to survive and have some left over. The left over money would be invested in a savings account or the stock market where it would continue to grow until needed for retirement ... or a rainy day.

Since the days of DOUBLE DIGIT INFLATION of the late 1970's and early 1980's, the average worker in the USA has not been getting wage increases equal to inflation, which resulted in a loss of buying power ... and two income families ... and no more "rainy day" money.  Logically, we all sense that something about the economy is not working the way it should.

Don’t you agree that … that which did work … no longer works … at least not to the same degree?

Our logical minds complain that we should have been able to build a “rainy day” reserve using savings accounts and stock market investments.  Unfortunately, saving accounts and stock markets are not working the way they have done in the past.

We need economic tools that reflect our new economic conditions.

Rather than losing money with savings accounts and stock portfolios created by not spending money, we need to learn to create secondary income streams using time and money we are already spending. 

Secondary income streams function similar to the “script” programs that schools have been using for decades. In “script” programs, profits from sales are returned to a school.  In “secondary income stream” programs, profits from sales are returned to the individual.  

Rather than speculating in the stock market, should we consider learning how to make money from the “back side*” of the stock market?  Perhaps we should learn more about producing dividend like income based on personal purchasing power. 

You can read the first two chapters on my eBook on this subject by clicking on this link www.symbiosis4u.us/eBooks/DNA.pdf  The first two chapters should only take about twenty minutes if you read 400 words per minute.  The balance of the book is available for free ... just ask. 

Recessions come and recessions go.  At least, that is what has always happened in the last century.  Will that be what happens in this century?  I don’t know.  I do know that every recession has caused some changes, in some areas of the country, that became permanent.  What will be the permanent changes resulting from this recession?

*The “Back Side” of the stock market is similar to the way Warren Buffet invests.  Warren Buffet doesn’t buy stock, he buys companies.  He is not concerned with the increase in stock prices so much as the long term dividends (profits) produced by the companies he purchases.  For example, he bought Mrs. Fields’ Cookies stock (all of it) in order to make money in the form of dividends, not increased stock prices.  While we do not have Warren Buffet’s buying power, we can benefit from a similar process.  That process is what I call the “Back Side” of the stock market.