CANADIANS IN RECESSION

September 5, 2017

We seem to go in an out of recessions…

It is not unusual to read about fears of recession or depression in the media – but at what point does a recession become a depression? 

One might suppose that depends on who you and what is happening in your life.

According to economists the definition of a recession is “a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters.”  Of course the reference is to the country’s economic output.

But what about ordinary people like you and me?

A depression is not so easily defined by economists but is generally thought to be “a severe and prolonged downturn in economic activity.”

We might conclude that if you lost your job and have been unemployed for two quarters your family is in “recession” but after a year you are in a “depression”.

During these recessionary and depressed economic periods many people struggle to maintain the lifestyle they had become accustomed to and resort to all kinds of stop gap measures including the excessive use of credit.

Have you experienced a period of personal economic recession or depression? If you have and have accumulated more debt than you manage we can help!