The past decade has been full of many ups and downs for investors, with the climax being the nerve bending market crash that took place in 2008.  If that weren’t enough, the economy remains in shambles, unemployment is high and housing is nothing to write home about.  It is important to consider personal finance habits that will benefit us regardless of what the stock or housing markets are up to.

Over the last several years, I have written a lot about personal finance and the economy.  Based on my experience and learning from others, here are 5 Personal Finance Tips To Develop During Hard Times.  The key is to resolve yourself to make it through the tough times.  Then, when things improve, you’ll be in better shape to take advantage of new opportunities.

1) Focus on Cash Flow First

During boom times, as investors, we tend to focus on capital accumulation and growing our investments.  We look for the the best performing growth stock mutual funds, real estate deals and other alternative investments to grow our net worth.  While all of these are noble objectives, we need to realize that during bear markets and economic downturns asset prices contract and expenses typically remain the same.  Often times, this leaves us in a pinch causing many people to file bankruptcy.  This is evidenced in the latest bankruptcy statistics that show bankruptcy filings reaching a new high in August.  So, how to improve cash flow?  The formula is simple: Lower Expenses and Raise Income.  Easier said than done, right?

• Cut Your Expenses – Here is a post I wrote a while back titled ’20 Ways To Cut Your Expenses’
• Save Money Online With Digital Coupons and Freebies – another post on that!
• Increase Your Income By Learning How To Make Money Online – This is a post I wrote for beginners.

2) Get In Good Physical and Mental Shape – If our first wealth is our health, then we need a plan to maximize our physical and mental health.  I have come to believe that personal fitness is the foundation for self-esteem and success.  It’s pretty simple, the better you take care of yourself, the “luckier” your become.  I would strongly suggest the following:

• Develop a Morning Routine – Developing a morning routine has helped me in countless ways to become more efficient in managing my time and giving my energy a MAJOR BOOST.
• Get Fit, Feel Better and Get Rid of Your Foggy Head – Here is a great article by my friend and fellow blogger, Kevin, over at Invest It Wisely.

3) Set Clear Short Term Financial Goals –  It’s great to focus on long-term financial goals like retiring on some tropical beach.  However, during hard times, it’s easy to become discouraged.  One of the things I like to do is to set 3 Goals for the next 30 Days and 3 Goals for the next 90 Days.  Here are a couple of each of mine.

• Example of A 30 Day Goal – Learn How To Become a Better Blogger by reading Smart Passive Income and Viper Chill every day.  These are blogs by 2 of my favorite bloggers: Pat Flynn and Glen Allsopp.
• Example of a 90 Day Goal – Complete the P90x workout routine.  Enough Said!  If you are looking for a hardcore workout program that will change your life and body, this is it!

4) Educate Yourself by Reading Blogs – There is so much free information out there that it can become dizzying deciding which sources to turn to.  Here are a few of my favorite personal finance and productivity blogs.

• Christian Personal Finance – Great Personal Finance Blog
• Zen Habits – Leo Babauta’s Blog on Productivity and More
• Mish’s Global Economic Analysis – Economics and Markets
• Early Retirement Extreme – Great Ideas for Early Retirement
• Invest It Wisely - Kevin’s Personal Finance Blog Covering a Wide Variety of Topics
• Andrew Hallam -Another one of my favorite personal finance and investing blogs.

5) Develop The Emergency Fund! – One of the more popular posts on The Wise Buck is The Importance Of An Emergency Fund. I was going to leave this one off because I have mentioned it so many times before, you may even be tired of hearing about The Emergency Fund.  I know I am not the only blogger who talks about the need for an emergency fund.  All I can say is that the feeling of security from having a minimum of 6-12 months of living expenses put aside is worth more than any car, house or toy could ever give me and I mean that.

Conclusion

Do you sleep well at night?  Or, do you stay awake at wondering if tomorrow could be the day you lose your job?  Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one.  But we don’t want to spend our time worrying about things outside of our control.  It’s important to take care of today and focus on the things we can control to help better our financial position and well being.  All of these personal finance tips can do just that.  Of course, you don’t have to choose all of them.  Pick 1 or 2 and commit yourself to them.

If you’d like, share your comments and ideas of what you’re doing during these times to improve your financial position.

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1. Personal Finance
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3. Complete These 5 Personal Finance Objectives To Finish 2010 Strong!
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