While doing a little preparatory work for upcoming e-mails, I stumbled across the note below. It was my intro “hiya” note from the top of the tip of 28 Dec 07…
“2008 is likely to be the worst financial year in a long time. Sorry to be so gloomy in betwixt the festivities, but with the credit crunch biting, house prices teetering and the economy wobbling, the outlook for 2008 isn’t great. There’s nothing any of us can do about this except sort out our own finances to make them as strong and efficient as possible.
How to protect yourself. Ensure you’re not paying over the odds for anything (you’ll see the money makeover article below) and plan for the worst but hope for the best. For example, if applying for new credit, there’s now more chance you’ll be rejected at each subsequent application, so ensure the deal’s suitable for the longer term. Of course I’ll try and point out every opportunity that helps.
Help your friends and family too. Collective consumer action is the best weapon we’ve got. Please spread the word about the site and especially this e-mail; suggest people start to read it as a New Year’s resolution. All they need do is go to moneysavingexpert.com/tips”
Reading that back, I think I possibly underestimated! Yet what’s strange is I feel the real financial gloom has only actually hardened in the last four months or so; and I find it tough to remember that was already the sentiment a year ago.
Now the question is quite how much worse will 2009 be?