Economic cycles include periods of growth and decline, and while recessions don’t last nearly as long as expansions on average, they can be incredibly costly for investors.
Luckily, strategies limit portfolio losses and even gains during a recession.
This article explains what it’s like investing during a recession and eight investing strategies to have during a recession.
Investing during a recession
During a recession, investors must act cautiously but remain attentive in observing the market landscape for possibilities of picking up high-quality assets at discounted prices. These are challenging environments, but they also coincide with the best options.
Stock values often decline, but lower stock values offer a solid opportunity to invest on the cheap (relatively speaking).
Investing Strategies to Have During a Recession
1. Don’t Panic And Sell
Avoid having impulsive emotions during a market decline, such as selling investments.
It’s tempting to ask yourself whether you should withdraw your money from the stock market when the market declines and the value of your portfolio drop dramatically.
That makes sense, but it’s probably not the wisest course of action.
Selling out of panic almost usually ends up being wrong. A recession is not the end of the world if you have well-chosen stocks.
Depending on how much you paid for them, you might sell them at a loss and miss out on the recovery.
Also, this is why knowing your risk tolerance and how price fluctuations or volatility will affect you beforehand is crucial.
You can also reduce market risk by diversifying and holding various investments, some of which have a low degree of correlation with the stock market.
2. Take advantage of cheap stocks.
The stock price of investments may remain low with a bleak economic outlook, which suggests that there may be an excellent opportunity to purchase stocks for a low cost.
Some fund managers specialise in seeking out undervalued businesses with solid prospects. These include reputable companies in industries affected by the recession but can withstand the storm.
3. Look for stocks in core sectors.
So if you’re considering investing in the healthcare, utility, and consumer goods industries during a recession, it’s worth investing.
Regardless of the situation of the economy, people will continue to spend money on food, power, household goods, and healthcare.
They’re one of the few industries where investors can safely save money during a recession. Utility stock prices were stable compared to other sectors, dropping by double digits or into negative territory.
4. Look for safety nets.
A financial safety net is not a savings account or an insurance policy. Instead, it consists of a wide range of risk-reduction strategies. It’s designed to protect you and your loved ones from losing financial stability or, at least in part, failing to reach your long-term financial objectives.
You want access to your funds to use them as needed, especially during a recession. The money must be available rather than held in an investment or fixed-rate savings account.
However, there shouldn’t be a fee to access it, but you don’t want your safety net to be too accessible. For instance, if the money is in your current account, you might be tempted to spend it.
Maintaining your safety net in its savings account that you can access whenever necessary may be wise.
5. Strong Balance Sheets
A sound investment strategy during a recession is to look for companies that sustain strong balance sheets or stable business models despite the economic downturns. It gives companies a better chance of surviving economic downturns and staying competitive once things start to look good again.
Some examples of these companies include utilities, essential consumer goods, and defence stocks. Investors frequently increase the exposure to these groups in their portfolios in anticipation of deteriorating economic conditions.
To enhance financial performance and maintain a solid balance sheet, your balance sheet must be constructed to suit your company’s objectives and have more assets than liabilities. Maintaining wise working capital, a healthy cash flow, a balanced capital structure, and income-producing assets can help you achieve this.
6. Diversification
Diversification is critical for any investment strategy.
Diversification spreads your investments around so that your exposure to any one type of asset is limited. This strategy is designed to help reduce the volatility of your portfolio over time, balancing risk and reward in your investment portfolio.
Hold a mix of shares and bonds. Spread across global markets, too, so you are not over-exposed to downturns in any area.
Make sure you are comfortable with your risk profile. This is the extent to which you can stomach seeing some investments fall in value in pursuing higher returns.
7. Consider Buying Real Estate
For homeowners, the fall of the housing market in 2008 was a nightmare.
The average UK home price fell by 15% during the 2008 housing market meltdown, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Some real estate investors, though, found it to be a blessing. A recession may present a buying opportunity for investment homes when home values fall.
While you weather the recession, you’ll have a regular revenue stream if you can rent out a property to a dependable tenant. You can sell for a profit whenever real estate values increase once more.
8. Remember that not every recession is the Great Recession.
While recession fears are spreading like wildfire, it’s also helpful to remember that not every recession is as painful as the Great Recession.
The most famous and longest-lasting recession to hit the UK was the Great Recession of 2008.
Rising energy costs and the housing market collapse were to blame for the Great Recession. It was the most prolonged recession recorded since World War II and lasted five financial quarters.
A recession has specific telltale signals, but some may not even become apparent until the recession has already started.
But if another recession were to come, it may not look like the Great Recession.
The times have changed, and household balance sheets are substantially stronger now than in the years following the financial crisis. Remember that recessions are an inevitable part of the economy and that not all of them resemble the Great Financial Crisis.
Summary
Recessions need not cause panic, but investors must act cautiously and remain vigilant in monitoring the market landscape for opportunities.
You can use these investment strategies to improve your portfolio amid a severe economic crisis. You can also look for industries to invest in during a recession to help you prepare for tough economic times.
I hope this guide helped you in understanding investment and recessions.
If you have any questions or concerns, you may ask and schedule an appointment with us today.
With Trendscout, rest assured that we’ll be with you at every step of your investment journey.
