The findingDulcinea Blog

What Are People Spending Money On in the Recession?

Call me crazy, but I think there are positive things to draw from this recession. True, I never worked for Lehman Brothers. I don't have a mortgage or build SUVs for a living. But I live in New York, I work in media and I used to enjoy professional hair dye. I'm by no means impervious to the effects. But I do think we can learn from the crisis as we adjust to the times.

I made some adjustments of my own. My old column, "The Way to Work," became “The Way to Keep Working.” It was when I wrote about the “Recession Depression" that I realized staying happy means making sure the quality of your life doesn’t sink too low. So I recommended five things to keep spending money on during the recession and asked our readers to opine on my choices. It turned out that readers had a lot to say on the subject. So we decided to launch a full-scale inquiry. I asked for feedback through Facebook, Peter Shankman’s Help A Reporter Out and the Qwidget commenting tool. And that’s when I really started to see the silver lining.

What I found was an eager, articulate, positive and brave community. "Things You Can't Live Without During the Recession: Readers’ Choice Edition" gathers what people are saying about the things they love. Good wine. Good food. Running sneakers. Coffee. Gummy bears. Someone even e-mailed me to tell me that she couldn't do without a solar-powered birdbath in her backyard.

The indulgences that people are allowing themselves are not outrageous. Rather, to me, they help to define everyone’s individuality and humanity. A year ago, people were concerned that materialism was driving this country to ruin. Now, we’re working toward a happy medium. We’re finally ready to put some meaning into where our money goes.

Rachel Balik
Senior Writer

Recession-Themed Shopping: Stimulate Your Taste Buds, Stimulate the Economy

The recession may be a bitter pill to swallow. But in the adversity inherent in an economic downturn comes opportunity for marketers looking to sweeten our lives with recession-themed products.

Among the products whose (figurative) stock is rising: FinancialCrunch.com, home of “Sweet Assets.” Mentioned in an earlier post on the findingDulcinea blog, the site allows consumers to slake their recession-tide cravings with a whole portfolio of confections including “Short Change,” a box of chocolate coins (above); “Nest Eggs,” a hollow milk chocolate egg filled with dark chocolate coins inside; and the “Stimulus Package,” guaranteed to provide happy returns.

Wash it all down with some bright green “Stimulus Soda.” The blue raspberry/pineapple-flavored concoction, which the makers dubbed “the nation’s first bailout brew,” tastes a bit like a Sweet Tart, according to NBC Chicago.

For weight-conscious folk looking to get a sour-sweet recession-themed punch, Design Glut’s Dow Jones handkerchiefs put the DJIA’s performance over the past five years right around your neck. Or place an online bid for some preppy-chic Lehman Brothers swag.

After all, bailout is the new black (or way to get into the black, at least).

Anne Szustek
Senior Writer

For sweet financial news during this recession, check out my daily column, Chin Up in the Downswing. To wrap your head around the subprime mortgage crisis, see our Web Guide to the Global Financial Crisis. To wrap your head in curlers, see either the year 1955 or findingDulcinea’s Web Guide to Beauty.

What Are the 5 Things You Can't Live Without, Even During the Recession?

Photo: Anthony Devlin/AP

We’ve done a series of features on the recession that aim to tackle the concerns that ordinary people are having in a climate of layoffs, foreclosures, scrimping and saving. One of the most popular, “What Are the 5 Things You Can't Live Without—Even During the Recession?” had our friends opining to us about their own five things. What about hair care? What about entertainment, travel and hobbies?

So we asked our friends and family to join us on a Facebook group, where many are now sharing their five things. But our curiosity has taken us well beyond Facebook. We want to know what all our readers are spending money on in the recession, even if they’re not on Facebook!

So we’re asking you and everyone you know to tell us your five things. You’ll find a question in the middle of the article. Answer it, then list your five things. Chat with other users about their list using the Qwidget, our comment tool, and stay tuned for next week’s follow-up article: “People’s Choice: 5 Things Worth Spending Money on During the Recession.”

In the meantime, for more tips and sites to better your career, bank balance and overall well-being during the recession, head to our special section, “The Way to Work,” where you’ll find articles like our latest, “The Way to Keep Working: Networking During the Recession.”

Liz Colville
Senior Writer
Audience Development

Sifting Through a Bowl of Capital Crunch: Understanding Finance

Four years, five apartments and one city seven time zones away ago, I was thrust into the arguably geek-chic world of financial media after success on a three-hour writing test taken in an un-air-conditioned Istanbul Internet café—on an evening when the temperature was in the mid-90 degrees Fahrenheit come midnight.

My smattering of style guides and key dates in recent Middle Eastern history, in addition to a commitment to deodorant, got me the gig. But once there, I was in a swirl of currency buybacks and value-added. Did you know the latter is used as a noun as well as an adjective? Example: “Due to the value-added it gains from processing, cereals are subject to an 18 percent value-added tax in Turkey.” Talk about a capital crunch.

That economic conundrum was solved by mixing bulk oats with yogurt and honey—two signature products of my country of residence at the time. For my job, however, financial glossary sites such as Investopedia and InvestorWords made palatable the alphabet soup that can emerge from terms like EBITDA and P/E ratio.

In the time that has ensued since my appetite for financial info sites was first whet, I’ve added financial news sites Seeking Alpha and Minyanville to my usual bill of fare. And OANDA.com’s historical exchange rate calculator is an indispensable little nugget whenever I need to explain to readers in dollar terms the worth of a euro or pound figure.

I myself have a little financial column that launched on Tuesday, “Chin Up in the Downswing.” It not only helps to bolster my own personal stock, it just might make you (or your bestest investor friends) realize that even in this unsavory recession, positive economic and financial indicators are released every day.

Or at the very least, it’ll help wash down your daily serving of Capital Crunch. Financial Crunch is likely sweet as is.

Anne Szustek
Senior Writer

Follow “Chin Up in the Downswing” on Twitter. For general financial information and guides to financial sites, see findingDulcinea’s Web Guide to Personal Finance.

Turn Career Woes into Wins—Even in a Recession

While sending out our daily newsletter today, I was struck by our two lead stories of the morning: “How to Survive a Layoff” and “Recession Making Even Undesirable Jobs Attractive.” While most job talk is dire of late (check out TechCrunch’s Layoff Tracker), I found both these stories quite hopeful. A layoff is no joking matter. But it can be a philosophical matter. To inspire you, here are some “best of” articles tackling job terminations and transitions from around the Web.

“The Way to Work: Exiting Gracefully” has advice for leaving a job that anyone can learn from, noting that you should always keep emotions to a minimum as you exit. No matter how bad it seems, you may need your old contacts in the future. So leave a good impression.

Bankrate advises on the financial quagmires of the layoff in “What to do once you’ve been handed a pink slip.”

If you’re looking to make a good impression on future employers, “your blog is your resume” says Fast Company reporter Robert Scoble in the article “If you are laid off, here’s how to socially network.” Make your blog work for you. That goes for the rest of your online presence, too.

AllBusiness has advice on how to be prepared for layoffs, and what to do if they affect you. The article also has tips on how to change tack once faced with the prospect of unemployment.

Financial Nut puts the emphasis on the resume. Even if you haven't been laid off, think about how to update your resume now and how to build it out. Financial Nut also stresses the importance of networking with friends, family, colleagues and strangers.

Whether you were laid off or are just looking to explore a new career, get more help from our Career Transitions Web Guide.

Five Must-See Lectures

TED.org, which is full of free lectures.

You no longer have to attend expensive conferences or tune in to a live broadcast to experience the intelligence and expertise of the world's brainiest economists, reporters, authors and entrepreneurs. Below are five recent talks that will enrich your mind from the comfort of wherever you and your computer are sitting.

1. Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers: The Story of Success

The author of "Blink" and "The Tipping Point" returns with "Outliers," an inspiring look at how upbringing, personality, fate and thousands of hours of hard work commingle to create the world's most successful people. This lecture is that book in a nutshell.

2. This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money

In audio rather than video format, this talk between This American Life producer Alex Blumberg and NPR's business and economics correspondent Adam Davidson is credited around the Web as one of the best explanations of the subprime mortgage crisis and how it connects to Wall Street's recent failures.

3. The New Yorker Festival: The Next Generation of Fashion

At the 2008 New Yorker Festival, three top graduates from three design schools talk about their own work, their inspiration, and the future of fashion.

4. TED Conference 2008: Samantha Power: Shaking Hands With the Devil

At the 2008 TED Conference, Power, who heads Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights, gives a lecture on genocide based on her book about Sergio Vieira de Mello, a UN diplomat who worked with dictators to protect human rights and was killed in a bombing in Iraq in 2003.

5. FreedomFest 2008: Charles Murray: "Real Education"

Murray, author of "Human Accomplishment" and "The Bell Curve," discusses his book about the American education system, including proposals about how to improve it.

Liz Colville
Senior Writer
Audience Development

Site of the Day: Wallstrip

While Wall Street hardly seems like a laughing matter these days, Wallstrip might surprise you. The site produces informative and surprisingly entertaining videos showcasing the latest in “business” news. Find Wallstrip episodes on everything from market news and stock spotlights to the “business of love” and the “Hollywood Recession” community to discuss videos and news with other members, and vote for the video “stocks” you think are on their way up (or down).

Wallstrip

Check out findingDulcinea's Site Spotlight section for more sites of the day.

The Election's Over. How Will the Media Cope?

Once our commander in chief has been chosen, media coverage of politics will undoubtedly continue, with pundits scrutinizing every last presidential detail en route to the January inauguration. But once we’ve had our fill of White House fodder, what will we shift our focus to? There are many worthy subjects in need of media attention. Here are a few options:

Africa’s Humanitarian Crises

Darfur has become a popular celebrity cause, but according to New York Times journalist Nicholas D. Kristof, world leaders are still too slow to respond to strife in the war-torn region—most recently, the late October attack on a refugee camp in North Darfur.

In Somalia, violent clashes involving Ethiopia and sectors of the Islamic Courts Union have reached a boiling point. Clouded in religion and politics, the conflicts are decades old, but now have distinctly anti-American undertones. Late last month, a typically peaceful area of northern Somalia was hit by five suicide bomb attacks within 15 minutes. Blame fell on a group with possible al-Qaida affiliations.

Piecing Together the Economy

Whether we blame Fannie and Freddie, Wall St., Reaganomics, President Bush or Alan Greenspan for the economic downward spiral, the bottom line is that it must be fixed. To Steven R. Weisman of The New Republic, “This has been the Great Incomprehensible Recession of 2008. Incomprehensibility was at the root of the problem, and it is at the root of our difficulty getting out of it.”

Bolstering Environmental Awareness

Will environmental policies fall by the wayside in the wake of economic hard times? In Europe, the global financial crisis has already threatened “plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions” in Germany and Italy. But French president Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing the EU to maintain “the fundamental framework” of its environmental policies, despite the burden it could infringe on companies, reports Agence France-Presse.

Understanding Islam

Islam is often a central issue in African and Middle Eastern conflicts, and many Americans are uninformed on the subject. Without a basic understanding of the complex religion, how are we to establish progressive diplomatic relationships with Muslim countries, and with practicing Muslims at home? Mahnaz Shabbir, a second-generation American Muslim woman, raised the issue of the media’s portrayal of Muslims in a talk at Kansas State University last month, and emphasized the cruciality of education. “Knowing about other people and other religions starts with how you’re taught,” she said.

Sarah Amandolare
Senior Writer

In Reverence of the Stagflation Stud

Paul Volcker, right, and Alan Greenspan

Former Federal Reserve Chief Paul Volcker represents something different to different people. Some associate him with raising the roof on interest rates in the late 1970s. Critics of that release said that was a hit on the economy, and led to a major recession in the early 1980s. Yet Volcker still has his share of groupies who associate him with his monetary performances during the New (Economic) Wave of the 1980s.

Regardless of past reviews and directions in his work, Volcker is back on tour—this time as an economic confidant to Democratic headliner Barack Obama. Some are so excited about Volcker’s move back into the groove that they’re calling for a repeat performance of him as economic frontman.

But Volcker enthusiasts who really want to show their love will have to wait for the collectible industry to catch up. Meanwhile, you can cuddle up to an action figure of current Fed chief Ben Bernanke.

To read more about the life and times of top-(interest) rated economic rock star Paul Volcker, see the Beyond the Headlines story “Volcker and Obama: A Balanced Economic Partnership.” Or learn more about where your hard-earned cash goes with the Federal Reserve’s comic book series. Both newbies and longtime followers of the economy will thrill to these “Behind the Money”-esque narratives on money supply and inflation alternatives.

Anne Szustek
Senior Writer

Site of the Day: shareabill

Splitting a bill with friends can often become quite the sticky situation when you’re eating out. Shareabill works to eliminate awkwardness and confusion by providing users with a straightforward calculation service. Registered users can invite their fellow pay-mates to view the bill online, including a summary of the expenses, and the most appropriate way to split them. The free service will also send out periodic reminders to those who have yet to pay their share. Diners on-the-go can use Shareabill mobile.

Shareabill

Check out findingDulcinea's Site Spotlight section for more sites of the day.