What's the best recession investing advice you've received so far

[Katie Miller]

Hello! I'm looking for a few quotes for a future issue of BiggerPockets Wealth Magazine. Do you want to be featured in our next edition? If so, please answer the following question and I may use your name, city, and state in the next edition of BiggerPockets Wealth!

What's the BEST or MOST UNIQUE advice you've received so far about investing in real estate during a recession?

PS: Want to order a subscription to BP Wealth? Head to www.biggerpockets.com/magazine and subscribe today!

[Becca Summers]

Have 6 months of your living expenses, business expenses, and be ready to jump on deals. Get liquid where you can.

[Bill O'Donnell]

@Luis Rivera

Be patient. It will fall longer than most expect. And it won't bounce fast to the top.

[Jerry W.]

Okay, time for some simple advice.  I think of investing like owning cattle or horses.  When it comes to advice it is like the old rancher saying, "Trust your neighbor, but brand your own cows"  In other words you might trust what folks are saying as advice, but use your own common sense to make sure it fits with your own investments.  The worst time to start a cow herd is when prices are really high, they have nowhere to go but down.  If you buy when cows are cheap your start up cost is low and prices rise.  You have to have a lot of food lined up for cattle or it gets real expensive.  (Like cash on hand)  If you have a years worth of food you can wait and not sale when the market is bad and wait for it to improve.  Pay attention to your cattle if you don't lose them during calving or or other issues if you don't keep up on vaccinations and insect control.  Be very careful about financing, banks want to lend when cattle prices are high, but will get scared and demand you sale and pay down your loan when prices go low, bad thing to do.  And once again, trust your neighbor, but brand your own cows.

[Joe Cassandra]

Do the hard stuff now. 

Because when times are better...it's a whole lot easier. 

...raise money when everyone's tightening...

...buy stocks in industries people (even in this post) claim are going away for good...

...start a business (some of the best businesses were started during a recession...Disney and Microsoft being some)

...spend on marketing while no one is...your local brand will be remembered.

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I graduated college in 2011...while the economy was still in the dumps and just starting to recover. Many of my friends moved back home. I stuck it out. My (now) wife did too. 

The rejection...discipline...hard work calluses we built up made us much more successful today than if we were handed high 5-figure cushy jobs out of school during a boom. 

Now, we are self-employed.

[Max Versteppen]

During the last downturn, I lost about 35% of my net worth in about six months. I don’t plan on doing that again.

Losing 35% is not as bad as the S&P 500 losing ~60% during its worst period, but it still hurt like hell due to the speed and absolute dollar amount of the loss.

At the end of February 2020, the S&P 500 lost 10% faster than any other 10% correction in history. The the S&P 500 proceeded to collapse by 32% in March as the coronavirus pandemic grew. As a result, if we are equity investors, we must be extremely vigilant in guarding our net worth.

[Shawn Ackerman]

@Katie Miller Load up on Gov't backed housing tenants.  I have a bunch but should have increased the percentage a bit over the years.