Here Are 15 Pieces Of Advice For Life In Trump’s Economy

The policies and potential economic shifts under a Trump administration are a growing concern for many Americans. This article provides 15 pieces of advice to help you navigate these uncertain times, focusing on financial stability, entrepreneurial opportunities, and community support. It’s about preparing for potential challenges and making savvy decisions to safeguard your future.

Relying On Employers: Why It’s a Risk in Trump’s Economy

Federal employees are beginning to realize the implications of recent political shifts. Many who have worked in the corporate world have already witnessed stagnant wages and increased workloads. With potentially fewer federal protections, relying solely on employers could become increasingly precarious. Trumpian policies may exacerbate these issues, making it essential to explore alternative strategies for financial security.

If You Can, Leave the Country

I know people don’t like to hear this, but America is going to be a nightmare soon. The US economy will tank and the dollar will likely become worthless if Project 2025 comes into play.

The social safety nets so many of us rely on are about to go the way of the dodo. We never had it “good” here like others do in Europe with socialized healthcare or housing, but it’s going to be so much worse now.

If you have the means to do so, leave. It’s for your safety and your financial future. You can’t set yourself on fire to keep others warm. With that said, you can always come back once the kleptocracy is in place.

Start a Business Doing What You Do Now for an Employer.

This is what I call your “core business” concept. You will need to start your own business freelancing the skills you already have or freelancing skills you can learn quickly.

Freelancing businesses, at the very least, can act as a financial supplement for what you do now. At most, it can actually turn into a much, much more lucrative business than what you’d get from an employer.

You don’t need an MBA to run a business. You can make serious bank by doing the following things, which often are regularly “hire” jobs:

Accounting/bookkeeping
Housekeeping and cleaning
Tutoring
Scooping dog poop
Petsitting
Marketing
Web design
Cooking custom meals
Writing (duh!)
Video editing
Sales

Hiring someone was originally meant to be a way to dissuade a person from going into business themselves. Somewhere along the way, it became the default.

The average profit a business has from every employee is roughly $10,000. Some companies, such as Fannie Mae (the home lender) makes $1.5 million per employee. Businesses want to see employees, not other employers.

If you own your own business, you end up dealing with a lot less bullshit. You have to be your own boss and you have to find clients (which can be a bitch), but you never have to worry about not being respected.

Owning a business also means you call the shots (and get a write-off) for how you want to get your benefits. I personally choose daily schlup wear as a benefit of being self-employed, along with affordable health insurance and dental insurance.

I have yet to have an employer who offered those benefits without berating me daily. It’s nice to be able to call the shots.

Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate.

Now is the time to talk to your own network of people. Collaboration is what will come in clutch when it comes to your ability to launch a business successfully. After all, we all have to pay for success: either money or labor.

If you have a person who can sell shit to a turd burglar, you can hire them on commission to sell the services you provide. If you have a brilliant marketer, tell them that you’ll work with them on commission or work with them to get your own followers.

If you have a high schooler looking to write, get them on your blog. If you have a college kid looking for a video editing internship, sign off the papers so that you can get that movie made.

Trade, trade, trade, and the money will follow.

Get a financial buffer, now.

Now is not the time to invest money. It’s the time to save. When everyone is talking about investing, that’s when you should save money. Wait until the market crashes to get greedy. Use those savings for your daily needs.

I don’t care what you have to do to get it, but make sure you get at least $500 that no one knows about in an account or location you won’t touch. That money can and will save your life in an emergency.

Pare down your lifestyle and learn to live with family, in compounds, or with clusters.

You do not want to be alone in a Trump world.

I repeat: you do not want to be alone in a Trump world.

If you can, move in with your family members or move with a bunch of friends in a large house, or move in with your friends in a multi-home compound where everyone knows everyone.

I have friends in all three situations, and they are often better for it. More people in your home means that you have a financial buffer, a safety net, and more people to care for you if something goes wrong.

Don’t forget your animal family members. They count, too, and can sometimes be the glue that keeps you sane. I ought to know; my cats prevented me from killing myself multiple times.

You can no longer trust the police to be affordable as a service nor can you trust them to do the right thing. Home health aides are going to cost an arm and a leg. Food prices will fluctuate, as will clients.

The more people you have, the more income you have. The more people you have, the more skills you have between everyone and the more connections you have.

Your family, chosen or otherwise, will be your greatest strength or your greatest weakness. Choose wisely while you still can, because you might not have that luxury in the future.

Have a financial plan in place just in case tragedy strikes.

Health insurance only goes so far these days. Do you have savings for major medical treatments? Do you know how to negotiate medical bills? Do you know how to get to another country for long-term medical tourism and care?

If you don’t, learn before you have to learn it. If you are worried that bankruptcy will take your house, put it in another person’s name or in an irrevocable trust. Figure out your will or trust before it’s too late.

Oh, and another thing? Ramp up your insurance. Insurance is going to be your big financial buffer in case of problems that can’t be solved with a quick loan or $500 out of your wallet.

If you are worried about fleeing the country with money, buy art and jewelry.

This was a trick that I found out from my mother, who had many friends flee Romania during the time of Ceausescu. People would fill tires with small art pieces and wear expensive jewelry when they left the country.

Jewelry is important because you can trade it for money at any given time. The price of gold is high. It’s a good bartering tool that you can literally carry on your back without people giving it a second thought.

You can also transfer money from an American bank account to a different bank account — but that’s assuming Uncle Sam won’t freeze your bank accounts during the reign of Trump.

Remember that they can take your home, your car, and your followers, but not your knowledge.

This was another lesson I learned early on. My mom and my grandparents were always heavy on warning me about the temporary nature of possessions. It was a regular theme of the stories that I’d hear at home from my elders.

My grandfather told me about how many people survived Nazi Germany because of their knowledge. My mom would tell me how many people survived the Communist takeover of Romania because of their knowledge and skillsets.

Education is currently being downplayed in America, if not outright derided. To be fair, our schools no longer seem capable of teaching people much of anything — nor do our students seem to give a rat’s ass about what they should learn.

For other people, a lack of education is going to be their downfall. No education (or no skill) in a particular field means you’re ripe for scams, overcharging for minor repairs, and more.

There are several skills I would make a point of learning right now, including:

Basic car repairs, such as replacing a tire, car troubleshooting, and oil changes
Sales and negotiation
Basic home repairs (how-to’s)
Marketing
Accounting, bookkeeping, and basic laws
Basic first aid and basic medical knowledge
Animal and plant care
Anything related to technology

Here’s why these skills matter: every single person needs these to function and most of us pay for them. The more knowledge you have, the more useful you are and the more you can sell and trade those skills for goods and favors.

With that said, learning anything from history to botany to toxicology will prove to be useful in these times. I can’t name how many times random knowledge I knew came in handy while I was in poverty. Learn, learn, learn.

Every book, be it a book on housekeeping or a book on at-home science can help.

Stockpile food, bleach, power tools, vinegar, salt, batteries, medicine, pet food, and water if you can,

If you can’t, well, I understand that vibe too well. However, food shortages and price spikes are going to be the norm. You do not have to suffer too much from it. Here’s how:

Bulk buy with friends and split the goods equally. If you want to make the most out of a Costco membership, this is how to do it. Just, you know, make sure the bulk price is cheaper than the individual price.
Have a household food stockpile. We have a second fridge where I currently live for this purpose, plus a whole room of canned goods. I also will be stockpiling my energy drinks and kava shots for work because I can’t function without them nowadays.
Coupon as much as you can. There are apps out there that allow you to get clued into major sales in your area.
Compare prices from store to store. A zucchini in Whole Foods (erm, Whole Paycheck?) is not going to cost the same as a zucchini from Wal-Mart. It will, however, taste the same. Act accordingly.
Consider buying a subscription to your main food staples. I save money on Monster Energy Drink and kava by subscribing to them on Amazon. I’ve also seen people save big on pasta, spices, and even high-end beef by subscribing to services that specialize in goods.
Learn proper food storage to maximize your ability to store, eat, and reuse food. Food poisoning will be a bigger risk in the future as more of Trump’s food guidelines get pushed through. Food storage and sanitation will be key.

Talk to your elders about how they saved money in the past.

A friend of mine had a granny who survived the Great Depression. She taught him many tricks on saving money, some of which shocked me — such as reusing bacon fat or using hydrogen peroxide as a mouthwash.

While their numbers are shrinking, there are still quite a few people who survived World War II out there. There are also people who grew up with Great Depression parents who still can remember those old tips and tricks.

My other friend’s grandpa recently taught him how to forage for mushrooms in the woods. It may seem “extra” now, but these tips can help you survive when others will fail.

Use the upcoming lack of business regulation to your own advantage if you can.

A lot of those business regulations that are going the way of the dodo are also major impediments to starting up in-demand businesses. For example, if I had a degree, I’d likely open up a legal firm because I know legal work will be in-demand and pricey.

The lack of regulation means that fields like healthcare, law, food production, and more will likely open up their doors for people who couldn’t afford or weren’t qualified to do anything there before.

A lot of successful businesses thrive because they got their start in the legal grey area. The lack of regulations might help you get your start if you were barred beforehand.

However, I’m going to point something out: you still need to be good to your clients and do things ethically. Fucking up, particularly in a significant way, can open you up to lawsuits, verbal attacks, or worse.

So, if you go this route, make sure that you know what you’re doing — and that you won’t ruin lives in the process.

Keep your ear to the ground when it comes to bad bosses, bad companies, and grifters.

Online reviews haven’t been reliable for ages. Companies and individuals have started to clamp down on their online reputations, with some people going so far as to sue Yelp reviewers who left bad marks on their profiles.

So, what do you do? How do you let people know which companies are worth working for? It’s simple. You talk. You tell others in your field not to work for certain people. You post about it, truthfully, if you are within right to do so. You can also post it anonymously on Reddit.

Over the past 10 years, many of us have witnessed our friends and loved ones fall to right-wing grifters. Knowing what grifts are going on is the best way to inoculate against indoctrination. Stay aware of the grifts and social movements around you.

Brace yourself for more scammers and crime.

Sadly, bad economies always come with a spike in crime and scammers. This is something you’re going to have to brace yourself for. If you can, get a home alarm system or start brushing up on scammer techniques.

If you have elderly parents or kids, make sure to school them on new scams, too.

Really scan your group to see if there’s anyone who needs to go NOW.

On a similar note to the one above, now is the best time to cut out people who are abusive to you. Domestic violence also spikes during difficult economic times. If you’re in an abusive relationship, now is your time to leave.

Trump and Vance are looking at ending no-fault divorce. They are also debating whether birth control will be on the chopping block, too. If you have been debating a divorce, now is the time to divorce your spouse.

Your best shot at leaving is right now. In 10 months from now, you likely won’t get as many resources to help you. It may also cost more to leave. So, please, break up before it’s too late.

Remember that opportunities happen at the worst times.

While upward mobility is not what it once was, all is not lost. Opportunity knocks every day. There’s a ton you can still do to help yourself or others, but only if you answer that call.

So, if you can, keep hope and jump on the opportunities as they come. You’ll be surprised at how far you can go.

As we navigate the complexities of a changing economic landscape, remember that preparation, community, and adaptability are key. By taking proactive steps to secure your finances, develop valuable skills, and build strong support networks, you can weather the storm and create a more resilient future for yourself and your loved ones. Stay informed, stay connected, and stay hopeful, for even in the most challenging times, opportunities for growth and prosperity can emerge.