Roundup: Homelessness, Saving, and Recession

With all the negative financial news lately, I thought it might be important to highlight a story I read about famous people who had once been homeless. Many of them are in the entertainment business and the story, which is a list of famous people and their homelessness experience, underscores how perseverance and hard work can take you from the depths of financial difficulty to the heights of fame and fortune. Where you start doesn’t dictate where you end up (much like where you end up may not actually be the end).

QueerCents is starting a new series, Turning Spenders into Savers, which is a task I think each one of us should try to undertake. With the economy in the state it’s in, saving money and being frugal is the easiest and best thing you can do right now. Trying to time the market and trying to gamble to recover some of your investment losses is a fool’s errand, saving money is what will pay dividends.

JLP had a chat with a friend about his rapidly dwindling 401(k) and made two excellent points. The first was that his friend should do nothing, stay the course, and stop checking his 401(k). The second was accurately addressing the perception his friend had about “losing $6,000.” It’s a good post to read if you’re feeling panicky.

Finally, Dough Roller talks about how to survive a recession. Keep saving, hedge your bets, and try to reduce your expenses.