Inflation.. Market Crash.. Rising Oil Prices.. Real Estate crash.

Being bombarded with these terms on all social media handles can be detrimental to our mental health. As much as we would like to keep emotions out of the equation when it comes to money, as human beings, it’s next to impossible to completely ignore the pop of notifications that hum on our phones.


Here are a few techniques that have helped me personally to ignore the influx of bad news on social media:

Spirituality and Mindfulness.
Many of you may balk at the idea of someone bringing in spirituality while talking about finances. My experience has been that spirituality imbibes self-awareness, which in turn can be a great tool to control our emotions. You need not be a religious guru to be spiritual. You also need not learn long scriptures, and holy books to be spiritual and mindful.
All you need is a few minutes of looking internally on a daily basis. This could serve as a reminder of your personal goals and long term vision- and it’ll help you clear out the clutter that social media pushes into your brain.
Now you may ask — how does this help with my personal finance?

All it’ll do is help you control the fear of losing huge chunks of money while there is a crash or the fear of increased prices and the dent it would have in your budget. It’ll not help you make that money but It clears out your mind to think rationally.

This brings me to the second point -

2. Do not take hasty actions.
The market is falling.. The demand is low. Let me just sell and cut my losses.. NO!!
Do not do this blindly. Now I don’t say, don’t cut your losses.. but sit and think about the fundamentals of this particular investment. It could be a house, it could be stocks, etfs.. anything in fact.
Sleep on your decisions.. This has been one of the best advice be it for money or any other important step in life.

3. Be Prepared ALWAYS.
And not just start preparing during a recession..
If you have a solid plan, the recession should already be part of that plan. After all, there will be many times in history when the market has crashed and there will be many times in the future when this will repeat.
We as retail investors or simple people trying to make money by investing, should bake these uncertainties into our calculations.
An Emergency Fund is a must-have at any time — Be it bull or bear market or inflation.

4. Have Patience.
We as a generation lack patience compared to our forefathers. I know this is a blanket statement but one that is necessary to be put on the table at this date.
Any good thing needs patience.. Take the example of an Olympic Gold medalist. He/She would have years and years of sweat and hard work poured into the sport — landing him/her at the final gold medal.
We see only the cherry on top and not the years of hard work.
The same philosophy applies to investments too: The Money has to work hard for years for you to see/reap the benefits, that years would include both the ups and downs.

5. Keep Learning
One thing that no market crash, no real estate crash can take away from you is your skills.
YOU are your biggest asset. So invest in yourself.. when i say invest, you don’t need to invest money only. That could be one of the things.. but invest time to improving yourself every day.
Medium is one of my ways of investing in myself — where I try to polish my writing skills. Each skill can benefit you in some way — today or down the line. Your skills will also eventually be your saving grace when everything else crashes.

Keep that fear aside, take social media with a pinch of salt and BE STRONG!
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