It has been a while since the news of Covid-19 first circulated in Indonesia. Initially the government and many Indonesian people underestimated the real threat of Covid-19. The threat of the virus was made into memes and the government still thinks there is not a single patient in Indonesia. Covid-19 is considered as a virus that will die from the tropical climate and hot temperatures in Indonesia, without noticing that many cases in neighboring countries around Indonesia.
All suddenly changed when President Jokowi announced the first Corona case in Indonesia in early March 2020 and followed by other cases in the following days. And now, Covid-19 is a hot topic of discussion in the office, home and social media. Most Indonesians are starting to realize that Covid-19 is a real threat and can have very bad consequences for the nation’s economy, especially the economy of Indonesian families in general.
The main question is : Are You Prepared For A Recession due to Covid-19 threat in Indonesia?
Many Indonesian households don’t have enough savings to get through this if the recession lasts for months. Sadly, some Indonesians may only have enough money to eat if they work today. The government might have plans for emergencies but this is a very bad thing to depend on the government for the basic needs of our family.
Last year, I started realized the danger of not having sufficient funds if economic conditions deteriorate when I read about various matters related to financial independence and retirement early (FIRE). Since then, I push hard to have an emergency fund and invest a large chunk of my income each month.
My personal “Pursuing FIRE in Indonesia” project only started for about 1 year and then came the global market crash due to Covid-19 pandemic and oil price war. I just started consolidating my investment when all it come and I had to change the strategy and prepare a bigger reserve fund.
Most of my investment are in stocks and mutual funds, with the largest portion in Indonesia and a small portion in the form of SGD. I just made a variety of investments in the form of paddy fields and banana farm. My top priority is increasing my emergency fund, extend it from 3-6 month into 6-12 month.
I read various opinions and debates about the procedures in handling Covid-19 issue, both the central and regional governments. I think that most of social media status is more about never end debates and discourse, without realizing that the main focus should be on personal and family preparation. I know there are some other things that can only be handled by the government, but it should not negate our preparation on the personal side.
What should we do for the recession? You can read many thought and advice to be protected and prepared, such as :
- Are You Prepared For A Recession? Here Are Four Steps To Protect Yourself
- How to Survive a Stock Market Crash?
Here are some tips compiled from the article :
- Prepare an Emergency Fund. It’s usually recommended to have 6 months of expenses saved. This can take a while, but the most important thing you can do is to start
- Spend Less. Frugal live is important for pursuing Financial Independence and it is increasingly important in times of recession
- Pay off debt and credit cards [is possible]. both can be source of large expenses and reduce our ability to finance our lives
- Secure stable employment or start looking for additional Income. It will be hard to find job on recession as many companies go bankrupt or laid off their employees
- Keep Investing. Recession is a bad thing, but, if we have sufficient emergency fund and liquid asset as a backup plan, the decline of the shares value could be a golden opportunity to increase our investment portfolio.
Finally, we need to prepare ourselves because our fate and life depend on it.
