By MainStreet.com Staff Writers

Many renters are looking for ways to save money each month, especially after being hit with the yearly rental hike. Instead of calling your landlord to ask for a lower rent fee and hearing a quick “No,” try writing a letter to your building manager and negotiate a lower lease rate Here’s how to write your letter:

1. Begin your letter with a cordial, business greeting (“To Whom It May Concern” is fine, if you don’t know your landlord or manager’s name) and state the intention of your letter (“I/We are writing in regards to the renewal of our lease at [insert address here]”).

2. Next, state the date you moved in and the decline rate of property values in your area since that time. Given the state of the economy, most areas have experienced a decline in both purchase and rental properties, so this shouldn’t be hard to enumerate. Here is a recent example from the Wall Street Journal:

“On [date you moved in], we [names of tenants] moved into a unit in the aforementioned property. Since then, property values in Manhattan [replace with your city or neighborhood] have declined by 5.6% for two-bedrooms units, much more steeply than the nationwide drop of 0.4%. Further, apartment vacancies overall rose to 6.6% in the quarter from 5.7% a year earlier. [Replace with data about your local market, which is available at Trulia.com.] Economists and real estate experts predict the decline to continue through 2009-2010.”

3. Then, state facts about neighbors or vacant units in your building, if you have any. For example, are there or have there been any vacancies lately? If so, what were the advertised rental rates? If this number is less than you’re paying for a similar unit, be sure to mention this in your letter.

4. Be sure to reference your credit score if it will help you gain favor with your landlord. Anything above 700 is worth mentioning. State that a rent hike seems inconsistent with the recent market conditions, especially since you’re such a great tenant with an impeccable record of on-time payment and a flawless credit history (only if this is true!).

5. Give them a reason to cut you a deal. Offer to sign a longer-term lease if they lower the rent. (This will, of course, only work if you’re a good tenant.) You could also offer to do some minor work or cleaning around the building.

6. Thank the manager for reading the letter and state that you look forward to speaking with him/her soon regarding the matter. Have all residents sign and date the letter.

A couple of other tips:

Keep it professional and friendly. Don’t threaten to move out of your apartment or sue your management company. This will only antagonize them and you might find yourself out on the street!

Be sure to retain a copy of the letter for your own personal records and follow up if you haven’t heard anything in three business days.

By Farnoosh Torabi | MainStreet.com

Recently a distressed reader wrote to me wondering whether he should stay in his Detroit home or just give up and walk away. His main gripe—like some eight million other Americans—is that his mortgage is far more than the home is currently worth. He isn’t building any equity and probably won’t at any point in the foreseeable future. So, should he just stop paying and let the bank deal with it?

My reader Michael (not his real name) has an extremely high interest rate of 8.6%, making his monthly payment roughly $1,850. Plus Detroit has the highest unemployment and foreclosure rates in the country, so a quick market recovery there is not likely.

“The area is starting to decline due to many vacant or vandalized homes with several break-ins, three for myself,” Michael writes. His credit is already poor, he says, and he no longer uses credit cards. He is married with two young kids.

More Reasons to Walk Away
More middle-of-the-road homeowners are grappling with the same issue as Michael. It’s not necessarily because they can’t afford their monthly payments, but because they are “underwater,” owing more on their mortgage than the home is currently worth. They’re not building any equity and when time comes to sell, they’ll probably be in the hole.

The IRS has made it less of a tax pain to give up on your mortgage by now offering special tax relief for financially strapped borrowers who lose their home due to foreclosure. Previously, so-called “forgiven” debt was considered taxable income.

As the fixed-income team at Credit Suisse noted at the end of last year, “Should the downward spiral in home prices, neighborhood condition and equity deterioration continue, more and more mainstream borrowers are likely to walk away from their homes.” Credit Suisse also predicted that more than eight million mortgages would enter into foreclosure over the next four years. That’s about 16% of all mortgages.

In Michael’s case, he definitely needs to move to a safer neighborhood. Three break-ins in one month is more than enough reason to flee. But should he abandon his mortgage? Should anyone ever abandon their mortgage? That’s an entirely different question, so I asked a few experts to weigh in: Joe Brusuelas, a director at Moody’s Economy.com (Stock Quote: MCO); Gerri Detweiler, a credit advisor for Credit.com and Jon Maddux, CEO and co-founder of YouWalkAway.com, a site that helps distressed homeowners learn about their alternatives, such as ditching their mortgage.

When It’s OK to Walk Away
Even for Joe Brusuelas from Moody’s Economy.com, who is not a fan of walking away from a mortgage, ditching your mortgage sometimes make sense. But it’s an exception, not a rule, he says. “There may be a narrow range of conditions under which walking away from a home that is so far underwater is rational,” says Brusuelas.

Here are some of the factors our experts say are extremely important to consider before making your decision. In any situation you want to speak to a bankruptcy attorney.

1. Your Bank Won’t Help (and Won’t Chase After You). Bottom line: Banks don’t want to go through another foreclosure process. It takes time and money. But if saying you desperately need to modify your loan fails to earn you any material help, then you may have to take matters into your own hands and walk away. Before you do, make sure your bank has no plans to chase you down and sue you for “deficiency” claims, says Detweiler of Credit.com. Those claims, depending on your situation, could end up costing thousands and thousands of dollars. Some states, like California and Florida, now prohibit deficiency claims. In other states, some lenders are choosing not to go after defaulted borrowers because they’ve got too much on their plates. But others aren’t so lenient.

“Until the statute of limitations is expired, I wouldn’t think I was in the clear,” Detweiler says. “[The lenders] may come after you in a couple of years after taking a deep breath.” Some attorneys recommend getting a signed letter from your bank stating it won’t sue you for deficiency claims.

2. You’re Not Able to Save. For a $1,000 fee, YouWalkAway.com guides you through the process of ditching your home. Of the 5,000 members who’ve signed up so far, many have decided to forgo their mortgage because they say they’re no longer able to save any money.

“They see [their home] as a major drain to their savings and cash flow in general. They don’t want to keep bleeding basically,” says Maddox, the CEO. If every payment on your mortgage is a step backwards from achieving your financial goals, a foreclosure, he says, may be a suitable path. Especially if you don’t see the area appreciating in value in the next five, seven or 10 years.

3. You’re OK with Damaging Your Credit. A foreclosure stains your credit report for seven years, much like Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which is a partial debt repayment plan. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which eliminates your debt entirely, sits on your credit report for 10 years. This means that for a period of time, you may have trouble getting a loan on another property.

“Ultimately, lenders make decision based on risk,” says Detweiler. “Lenders really shy away from serious negative items like foreclosure and bankruptcy.” It will take at least a few years before you can qualify for a new loan and your rates will be extremely high.

Another tip: Don’t let the potential consequences on your credit report decide between filing for a foreclosure or a bankruptcy. They’re both quite ugly. Instead, you should examine the bigger picture, figure out what your future goals are and what the best personal strategy may be for you. And talk to a bankruptcy attorney to weigh it all out. “The homeowner needs to focus on what is the best financial strategy for the next say, five years, versus trying to beat the credit scoring system,” says Detweiler.

4. You Need to Be OK With It. The decision to walk away from your home has been chastised by some in the press for being “immoral.” A contract is a promise, some critics argue, and therefore should be upheld no matter what. What’s more, foreclosing on your home potentially lowers the value of the neighborhood and hurts the economy.

Maddox, on the other hand, says there’s no moral obligation to keeping an unfavorable mortgage. Desperate mortgage holders should do what they can to help themselves get out of painful situations, especially when their bank won’t compromise. After all, he says, banks have no problem breaking contracts or writing off assets.

“If banks cut their bottom line by, for example, firing workers, they get applauded by shareholders. But guys struggling to pay for their kids’ college because their mortgage is too high, those guys get thrown under the bus and we say they’re dead beats, unethical and immoral,” he says.

By Brian O’Connell | MainStreet.com

Estate planning can be a complicated business, especially when families have suffered huge loses in real estate and in the stock market.

To simplify things, keep the following in mind when you’re planning your estate.

1. Do Make a Will
Picasso, John Denver, Jimi Hendrix and Sonny Bono all passed away without a will. Anna Nicole Smith’s will was so badly drafted that it was effectively meaningless.

Don’t let that happen to you. A will ensures you have the legal means to name heirs and list assets after your death. Without a will, the state usually decides who gets what in a very expensive, angst-ridden and time-consuming process.

2. Do Establish a Trust
Like a will, a trust protects your interests and those of your family. That’s especially true of real estate, which are often held in trusts for named beneficiaries. Family trusts are more tax-friendly than doling out parcels of real estate individually outside of the trust, and they provide more control and discretion over the property while the trustee is still alive.

3. Do Give Away Land
Donating your land to a charity like the Nature Conservancy makes good sense, especially when you have real estate that doesn’t cost you much and that you have no plans to develop.

Donating land can cut your federal and state income tax liability. It can also lower capital gains taxes that would be put into play from selling the property.  When an individual opts to give the title of his land to charity, that individual can take the full fair market value of the land (as determined by a certified real estate appraiser) as a charitable deduction. That’s not all. The land’s value is also removed from the individual’s estate, further decreasing estate tax liability.

As the individual no longer owns the land, he doesn’t have to pay property taxes on that land. But he still knows his property will be protected and cared for by the new owners.

Usually, people give land away for tax breaks. The most common ways to do that are:

• Through charitable remainder unitrusts. With this type of transaction, the donor gives real estate to an organization that sells the property and places the proceeds in a trust. The donor receives a variable income payment of up to 20 years, or the life of the donor and spouse, whichever occurs first.
• Through charitable gift annuities. The donor contributes real estate to a qualified not-for-profit organization that sells the property and holds the proceeds. The donor receives a fixed annuity payment for life.

4. Do Establish a Durable Power of Attorney
If you are incapacitated, you can designate a trusted family member, friend, or professional to do it for you. By assigning a power of attorney, you can ensure that payments and taxes are always made on your real estate properties, and that all necessary paperwork is filed and organized.

There are also a few don’ts you want to keep in mind when you’re crafting your estate plan. 

1. Don’t Keep Your Estate Planning Lawyer Out of the Loop
The risk of triggering tax and legal problems is very real. If you transfer real estate assets out of a trust, buy or sell property, or otherwise change your real estate portfolio, make sure you let your estate planning attorney know.

2. Don’t Assume Your Bank Keeps Track of Real Estate Documents
It’s your responsibility to monitor all of your real estate paperwork. Companies merge, diverge, collapse and move around all the time, especially in this lousy economy. Don’t assume that your mortgage bank or lender is making the safe storage of your property title and other paperwork a high priority.  If, in the maelstrom of the moment, your property documents are misplaced, misfiled, or inaccurately recorded by a new company, your heirs will have a major headache.

So once a year, contact your mortgage lender and ask for a copy of key documents, like titles, deeds, and beneficiary designations.

3. Don’t  Forget to Have a Back-Up Plan
Few folks want to consider it, but there is a possibility that you may out live your beneficiaries. As a result, some thought and planning should be applied to a Plan B, i.e., who your heir would be should your primary beneficiaries predecease you. Usually that means a different family member or friend, and that’s jut fine. The key is having that contingency plan in place so that you have a named beneficiary. If not, the state will step in and name one for you.

If you keep these dos and don’ts in mind, your estate planning process will be significantly easier to manage, more effective in its execution, and save you and your loved ones time and money.

By Althea Chang | MainStreet.com

Getting laid off is hard enough, but when a loss of income means your emergency fund is being drained to pay rent, you may be forced to downsize.  And you’ll have to convince a landlord to rent to you, when you have no money coming in.

When you’re unemployed, you’ll have to look at your whole financial status, including how long you think you’ll be out of work and whether you’re getting help from your parents, says LaLa Wang, president of MLX, a real estate services company that provides no-fee rental listings. 

“You probably want to be conservative,” says Wang.  “Live at home. Live with friends. Roommating is probably a less costly alternative to taking on the whole rent yourself.”

Broker

If you’re considering using a broker to find a cheaper apartment, find out what kind of background checks they do.  The main consideration will probably be your credit history, so know what’s on your credit report.

Many brokers work with large building management companies, which can have stricter credit score credit score, income and employment requirements. These days it’s doubtful you’ll find a broker who won’t ask for some proof of income. 

If you plan to live with a roommate or significant other who is employed, they should be the one getting their credit checked and income verified.  But remember, their name will be the one on the lease.

Friends and Family

If moving back in with your parents is out of the question, tell your friends and family about your situation.  With all the recent layoffs and pay cuts, you may know other people who are hard up for cash, need help with rent and are looking for a roommate to help make ends meet.

Local Listings

Through your local newspaper, Craigslist and other listings, you might have more luck connecting with an owner and renting directly from them. 

You might improve your chances by being honest and explaining your situation. You could mention your previous income, job prospects, savings and any severance payments and unemployment benefits you’re receiving. (Just remember not to post personal information like this online.)

“You may be able to work out a deal if you agree to pay an additional month’s security, or sometimes a whole year’s rent upfront,” notes Wang, who’s planning to launch a roommate matching service by the end of this summer.

Local listings like those on Craigslist often include week-to-week and month-to-month room or apartment sharing ads as well.

Get a Co-Signer

If you’ve been turned down by brokers and landlords and scoured ads in your local newspaper and online to no avail, you’ll need to find a co-signer or guarantor in order to get a new apartment.  They’ll be subject to even higher credit score and income requirements. And they’ll be taking a serious risk by agreeing to be held responsible for your missed payments, so don’t give them any reason to think they might get burned.

In some areas, it makes sense to build apartment complexes in order to fit several people in a smaller area.  This is a benefit of both the people who own the property (they can make more money) and the renter (more availabilities when it comes to choosing an area to live).

An apartment makes sense for several reasons:

• You can choose where you want to live, and have more choices than if there were only single family homes available.
• Move in costs are cheaper (usually).
• Yard maintenance is handled by the property owner.

However, you may want to consider a few other things before jumping into a lease.

Remember that you are going to be living RIGHT next to your neighbor.  There is no extra space – just the walls between you.  Depending on if you are above or below, and if you have a neighbor on both sides, you are mostly going to hear things that you don’t want to hear.  While this may be true in some single family homes, it’s even more prominent in apartments.

You also want to keep in mind that while the cost of getting into the apartment may be cheaper upfront, you usually make up for that after the first year.  Consider move in costs.  Some landlords want you to pay a full months rent as a security deposit.  The deposit and the first month’s rent can add up quick.  Apartments however usually run several deals throughout the year.  Most of the time, the move in costs are significantly lower than that of moving into a house.  Also consider later on, when it’s time to renew, and they don’t have as many apartments available, the rent is going to creep up closer to the market rate.  So while you may get to move in and pay $1099 a month for the first year, later on, it could be as high as $1500!

Also, keep in mind that you will have to pay for preferred parking.  If you come home late, there may not be any “free” spaces available close to your apartment.  If you want that guaruntee, it could run you anywhere from $20 to $40 a month just for covered parking.  A garage could be $75 to $100 a month!

And as always, regardless of what type of place you choose, whether an apartment or a single family home, remember to consider location, location, location!  If you are not located near your job, or close to regular shopping stops, then you may want to rethink the area.  What you save on rent, you may make up for in time and gas money!

If you can think of any more tips or reminders, leave us a comment below!

Buying a home is one of the biggest and possibly best decisions you can make (especially with the economy the way it is today). People are constantly lowering the price of their homes in order to get someone to buy and get it off the market. If you are looking to either rent or buy, here are some reasons that buying may work out better for you.

You Get Something Out of It – When you pay rent you are constantly putting money into something that you cannot call your own. Every month you pay rent but once your lease is up, the apartment is no longer yours. Putting so much money towards an apartment is very similar to throwing money away. In the end, you do not get anything out of rent once the lease is done. However, when you buy a home you could instead put money towards the mortgage instead and at the end of the day you have a house to call your own.

Appreciation Over Time – When you buy a home, the value of the home has appreciation over time. As time goes on, the value of the home gets greater (providing the economy is doing well) and when you turn around and want to sell your home you typically get more out of it than you paid, especially if you added a room or fixed up some areas of the house.

You Can Do What You Want with Your Own Home – When you rent an apartment you have to answer to a landlord. When you buy your own home you only have to answer to yourself. You can paint the walls, renovate the kitchen, and change things around as you like. When you rent, the possibilities are definitely not as endless.

Yes to Pets! – One of the hardest things about renting an apartment is that there is always the chance that you will not be able to move your pets in with you. Some apartments even charge rent to have your pet each month. Pets are expensive as it is without the cost of rent on top. When you own your own home, pets are not a problem and possibly you will have your own backyard for them as well!

You Can Get Roommates – If you are still young and haven’t yet started a family, getting roommates can help you pay the mortgage each month. Although you may have purchased your own home, there are still many young people out there that are more willing to pay rent each month. Another benefit of getting roommates is that you may find yourself with some extra cash to help you fix us your home or add your own little touches that you wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise.

Accomplishment – Owning your own home gives you an amazing sense of accomplishment. It is one of the biggest (if not the very biggest) decision you are going to make in your life. Although you may not be able to afford the biggest house on the market or even the nicest, you will find a home that you can call your own and one that you can make whatever changes to that you feel necessary.

After all things considered, the decision is still up to you, however definitely take some of these things into consideration when you decide whether to rent or buy. Also, do not forget that purchasing your own home is not without its issues.

— By Hannah Waters, Geezeo.com

Photo By: Roxanneh

By Lisa Chamoff | MainStreet.com

Just before the start of the Great Depression, Mary Feigenbaum’s father, a builder in Brooklyn, N.Y., lost everything. During that time Feigenbaum, now 95, remembers how she sacrificed. She had to work for the family business and couldn’t finish college, and she and her seven brothers and sisters subsisted on pounds of potatoes.

Feigenbaum ran her family’s lumber business, had three children and, after her husband died, moved to Westchester County, N.Y., where she eventually became the administrator of a mental health clinic. She retired at 75 and now lives in Cambridge, Mass.

MainStreet: How did the Depression affect you and your family?
Feigenbaum: My father never invested in the stock market. He was in the lumber business and he built one-family homes.

There was a great rush to build because they were beginning to build up Long Island. My father owned quite a bit of real estate all over, [in] Brooklyn and places out toward the Island.

When the market crashed, people at that time were able to buy stock for only 10% down and they owed the rest. They borrowed the money from the brokers. When the prices started to go down on the stocks the brokers called for money because there was only 10% on it. People ran to their banks to raise money and the banks raised their interest rates to about 10%. So they used up the money to lend people money at 10%, but they didn’t follow their obligations to give the builders their money.

And my father, the worst thing he said that could happen when you’re building a tract of houses is to stop the job. And so he would borrow money and give up a piece of his property as collateral. And the last project that he had was a six-story apartment building. He finished it up to 90% without one penny from the bank. If the bank had told him that they’re not going to pay him, he wouldn’t have done what he did. They kept telling him, “Come back Monday.” When he came on Monday, they said, “Come Thursday.” The building was about 90% completed, but he had no further property to borrow money on. So, he lost the building and he lost all of his property. All of it. He went absolutely from a millionaire to a pauper.

How did your family make ends meet?
One of his wholesale lumber dealers had taken over a piece of land because he loaned him money on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. He told my father, “Go ahead, use it. Open up a lumber yard, and I’ll send you a couple of truckloads of lumber.” And he started it, and that business remained in the family until my oldest brother took it over after the war, and then he died young and I took it over and I ran it for seven years. It stayed in the family until I dismembered it.

I remember that my father, we had no money, he borrowed $10 from my uncle and he bought 100 pounds of potatoes and we ate potatoes, and I don’t think anybody knew more recipes for potatoes than my mother. And no one dared to complain.

Were there any other ways that your family got by after your father lost his money?
As soon as he was sort of given this piece of property in Brooklyn to start a lumber business, it was almost like instantaneously he had no problems. We did lose our home that my father had built. He lost not only all of his other property, but the home that we lived in. We moved into two apartments above a store because there were no apartments big enough for 10 people that we could afford.

How do you think living during that time impacted your life?
I went to college at night, and then actually didn’t finish. So, it had a big effect. I worked in the lumberyard for my father [and] I couldn’t go to school. I had to work. I might add that my brothers and sisters had kind of high IQs, but they weren’t allowed to go to college.

How do you think the Depression is different from the recession today?
I don’t know anybody who was not touched. Today they constantly talk about the Depression, and they try to say that there are comparisons. It’s not true. There was 25% unemployment at the time.

My best friend’s father killed himself, and my neighbor’s father did the same. The newspapers, they managed to catch pictures of people jumping out of their apartments. It was a terrible time. You couldn’t meet anybody that wasn’t affected. People were begging and some were selling pencils or apples.

Related articles:

• The Rich Are Getting Un-Richer (geezeo.com)
• Is Your Pension Safe? (geezeo.com)
• Got Extra Cash? 3 Better Places to Stash it Than Your Mattress (geezeo.com)
• Cramer: How Much to Save for Retirement Now (geezeo.com)

Stephanie Link, Director of Research for Cramer’s Action Alerts Plus Portfolio, reveals three stocks poised to pop as the housing market slowly recovers.

Are you new to Geezeo?  You might want to check out this list of past discussions that are still up for discussion within the Geezeo Community!  Jump right in and share your thoughts!

Difference between “Frugal” and “Cheap” : Want to know where you fall in the scheme of things?  Check out what Natalie says about the difference, as well as take the test over at Moolanomy.

User meanolfart asked our expert Farnoosh if he should dilute what he currently owns by buying additional stocks, or buy some additional stocks.  “Right now all dividends are reinvested (DRIPS) But soon I will want a steady income.”  Check out the other circumstances surrounding this question, as well as what Farnoosh will advise.

What’s the big deal with “Seven Jeans”?  It seems like quite a few users really love them.  Then again, there are some users who feel that it’s just another “name” you are buying.  What do you think about purchasing this, or any other, high dollar clothing item?  Do you spend a lot on your clothes?  What do you budget each month/year?  Let us know here, or in our group Shop-a-holics.

tx7 has posed a question for our newest expert, Bob Patrick.  Bob is an expert in Real Estate and all aspects pertaining to Real Estate. “What to buy a home”, learn what you should know before you buy. “Not sure if you can qualify for a mortgage”, get your information together and lets talk. “Need to sell your real estate”, ask the expert what you can do to make it sell or consider trade-in. “Thinking of real estate investment”, ask the expert.

“Who has the title to the land and house the buyer is being foreclosed on? My feeling being from Texas that the land and homes still have value so whoever has the title is the owner of the foreclosed property. On cnbc last night, House of cards went over the chain of events in the mortgage loans business but didn’t say who ended up with the titles to the property.”

Stay tuned for Bob’s answer on this great question!

Each day you log in to get caught up on what’s new, you are earning yourself a chance to win $6,000 in The Great Geezeo Bailout!  So why not?  Join today, and keeping logging in so that you too have a chance!

It goes without saying that everyone is struggling with today’s current economic situation. You or someone you know has definitely been affected by how things have changed. However, when it comes down to it, some industries are struggling more than others. Although some industries are struggling, there may be some benefit in it for you.

Retail – Retailers are losing money left and right. Even those discount retailers that are faring better than others are still down in sales compared to this time last year. If retailers don’t find a way to keep the customer coming back, they will lose them altogether and in turn go out of business which we have seen happen to many just this year (i.e. Linens and Things and Circuit City). When times are tough it is beneficial for you (if you have the money) to take advantage of all the sales and discounts that are going on at all retailers.

Car Sales – Now is definitely the time to buy. Dealerships are practically giving cars away nowadays and in some states you can even get a tax break for purchasing a car in 2009. Car sales were down considerably last year and dealerships have a lot of excess inventory since sales did not go as they would have expected (or have liked). If you have been putting off buying a car because you were short on money, now might be the time. Instead of putting a lot of money towards fixing up your old car (just to have it break again), put money towards a newer car and possibly save in the long run.

Travel – Have you looked online at flights or hotels lately? Dirt cheap. Okay, you still need to search and do your research to find the best deals, but considering how expensive vacations have been in the past, now is the time to go. The problem is that instead of spending money towards a vacation, people are trying to save more money for the future. If you feel like you have been saving in the past for a chance to go on vacation, now is definitely the time to travel if you have the vacation time and the funds. You may end up spending a lot less than you had anticipated.

Real Estate – It is not necessarily to buy or sell a home right now. Without having enough money to purchase your home, getting a mortgage or a loan can be difficult. However, like everything else, people have to bring down the costs of their homes in order to sell them and move on. Also, people are benefitting from foreclosures and getting the houses for cheap. Although nobody wishes upon anyone else that a foreclosure happens to them, it is undeniable that in such a tough economy people are going to lose their homes.

As the economy continues to struggle, right now is definitely a buyer’s market. The question is, with all the job losses and cut backs, do you have enough money to take advantage of how cheap things have become? Make sure that before you start spending whatever money you might have, you take time to think about whether you may need it for something more important or urgent in the future. Although these industries might be struggling, there are other jobs that are doing pretty well considering the current situation. Maybe one of those jobs is the right fit for you!

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Photo By: Gracey