There are a whole lot of areas where cut backs are absolutely necessary during a recession. While I certainly encourage you to do some price comparison shopping and figure out which health care plan is the most affordable and fits your needs the best, I strongly advise you not to make large cutbacks on your health insurance.

Health insurance is something that we hope we don’t have to use very often, but it is something that is absolutely necessary when any health issues arise. The talk around the economy is of how prices have risen to astronomical levels for many services, and I know first hand that medical costs are at the very top of this list. The cost of a simple procedure without insurance is absolutely outrageous and it could drain a middle class family’s bank account in no time. It isn’t just procedures or office visits that are so expensive either, it is also prescription medication. There is no such thing as cheap medicine now without health insurance. Even with health insurance the cost of many of these vitally important medications is astonishing, and without health insurance the cost is often $5 a pill or more for some of the newest medications. While you and your family members may be completely healthy now, you shouldn’t count on that always being the case.

Different people need different health plans. Some who have always been extremely healthy may be able to take low premium health insurance while others that have chronic health issues may need to take the insurance with lowest deductibles. Whatever health insurance plan you and your loved ones need, please make sure you make it a top priority to keep even during the worst of the recession. Look elsewhere to cut your costs and keep the medical coverage that is best for your personal situation.

Recession must be really bad. Even Playboy is having trouble generating revenue. Playboy Enterprises Inc. posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $146 million, compared with a loss of $1.1 million a year earlier. Revenue fell 19% to $70 million.

Revenue in the publishing group fell 11% from a year earlier to $22 million. The number of copies sold on the newsstand fell 23% in the second half of 2008 compared with a year earlier, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The disclosure came as Playboy posted a steep fourth-quarter loss after a $157 million charge, which mostly reflected the falling value of its television assets. The chart below shows the stock price of Playboy Enterprises in the last one year.

The inevitable happened today. As an investor that saw the economic numbers and all of the stock market action in recent weeks you had to know that the Dow was going to break through last year’s closing low, and today it did. Today’s closing level of 7,466 on the Dow Jones Industrial Average is the lowest close since October 9, 2002. In fact, toward the end of the day the Dow actually briefly broke through the intraday low from last year as well, trading down to as low as 7,447 before ending the day down about 89 points.

Why is the stock market at a new low? Actually a better question would probably be why wouldn’t the stock market be at a new low right now? The economic numbers are looking worse and worse by the month and consumers are turning more sour on the economy by the day. The job market is the final dagger that has clearly broken the back of this economy and we are now in complete recession mode. The hope is a recession is as bad as it gets, but that is still unknown.

Quite frankly there are no catalysts at all right now to buy stocks and that is why we continue to see this slow drift lower that is hurting all of our investment portfolios badly. The stimulus plan will take a long to have any effect, the TARP program hasn’t shown any kind of real benefits to the financials, and the job market is looking worse than ever. The bulls will continue to say that many stocks are cheap on a valuation basis right now, and while they may be right, it is likely that those stocks will get cheaper before they get more expensive. Right now, valuing anything in this economy is next to impossible. Expect more of the same until a real catalyst begins to move this market in a meaningful way, and when that may be is quite unclear.

In this era of a sad economy that is just getting worse by the day the goal must be to save money every way possible. I wanted to take a look today at promotional discount codes online, which have risen quickly in their popularity over the last couple of years.

Call them what you wish, some call them coupon codes online, while others call them promotional codes, but the fact is they certainly save consumers a whole lot of money. Where exactly can you search for current coupon codes online? Find a top codes site such as currentcodes or promotionalcodes and bookmark the site so that you can come back whenever you are going to shop for anything online.

How do you use these sites to search for current discount codes? Let’s take currentcodes.com as an example. The site is designed very well and allows you to search either by merchant, category, or alphabetically. This is particularly helpful because if you know what you want to buy, but don’t know where you want to buy it, you can use a coupon code database to see if any of the stores that carry that particular product have any current codes online. On the other hand if you know which site you wish to buy from, but aren’t sure exactly what you are getting yet, use the search by merchant option. Additionally, many of these types of sites will list the most recent coupons at the top of the page so that you can see which ones have been added last.

Why are these promotional discount codes such a big deal? Quite honestly they can make a huge difference in the total price you pay for an item or items. If a store is offering 15% off your entire order and you order $100 worth, you have saved $15 right away just by looking up a coupon code online. I’d say it’s worth the minimal effort. Keep discount code sites like these bookmarked and use them to help you save some money.

The old saying “time is money,” has never been more true than it is right now. The famous Benjamin Franklin coined this phrase and he certainly was onto something! In an economy where unemployment is rising as quickly as ever and expenses are rising while many people are either being laid off or moved to part-time, time is so extremely valuable to a large number of people.

As more and more companies get pinched by the crumbling economy they are making even the most senior of their workers cut back on hours. Families are unable to take this loss in wages from a cutback in hours because the expenses are still there, and many of the items that are a necessity are still rising in price.

What can you do about this issue? The single best thing you can do is to decide to take the reigns and make every single minute of your time worth something. This is an economy that doesn’t lend itself to wasting of time and playing of games, but rather to spending every extra moment trying to make some kind of a second or third income.

Many of you have very little spare time, but have come to the difficult realization that at this point we have to make some spare time to get another stream of income coming our way. In addition to being necessary right now, a second or third income is good because it diversifies your sources of income in case one of them goes away unexpectedly.

In this tough economy it is time to make all of our time count for something, so I highly recommend all of you to try to find flexible options to earn some more money in your extra time. Remember, the old saying time is money is no longer just a funny little saying, but it is the true reality.

Everyone has certainly been told at least a hundred times that one needs to know their personal spending limits, and that is certainly true, but many people don’t understand their own investment limits and that can be a very painful thing. Why are investment limits so important? Quite simply because they directly relate to your personal finances and how much you and your family will have on hand when you most need the money.

A person who doesn’t understand their investment limits will do things such as buy stocks on margin because they believe they are so undervalued, or they may put too much money into a bank certificate of deposit and then later need that money. These kind of situations lead to a real problem, which means either closing out an investment account that you have recently setup, or taking money out of a cd early. Both of these things typically cost the investor in the form of some fairly hefty fees. No matter how great you are at managing your own investments you cannot simply assume that you will always do well and then you can use the profit for expenses occurring in the near future. Be realistic about your expectations for your investments. Investments should be viewed as a method of long-term wealth appreciation, not as a method of getting money for the next bill.

A wise investor that knows his/her limitations will carefully plan out what kind of known expenses they will have in the next few months and then leave some extra for those unexpected costs that you know will come around at some point. After doing these things then decide how much of your capital you can invest in the asset of your choice. Understanding your investment limits directly relates to knowing your personal finance limits, so think hard before making your next investment.

Many individuals who want to be wise with their personal finances save up a certain amount of money and hold it in a checking or savings account and call it their “rainy day fund.” These are emergency funds that are tapped into only if absolutely necessary.This is a terrific idea to have a backup just in case things turn horribly bad all at once. In addition to being a wise long-term idea, it also helps you keep your discretionary spending in check because you have less to be spending.

The sad news is that many Americans who have setup things such as rainy day funds still are unable to make it in today’s economic environment because things have gotten worse than they ever dreamed. Some families have had the bread winner lose their job and others have had both sources of income lose their job. Most companies that lay off employees pay some sort of money to them for a few weeks, but that is far less than what is necessary for most families.

What we are seeing right now is making history, and not in a good way. The economy right now is bleeding jobs at an alarming rate while the cost of many necessities continues to rise. The squeeze on the average middle class family is unquestionable. When financial planners tell someone to plan for the worst case scenario the fact of the matter is most people wouldn’t have ever thought it could be this bad.

As wise and frugal consumers you need to understand that being prepared for the worst case scenario now is different than it has been in the last couple of decades. The uncertainty regarding jobs and the overall economy is unprecedented since the Great Depression and things show no sign of easing anytime soon. Alter your worst case scenario to be more in line with the reality of today’s economic picture.

Many economists believed that U.S. economy will recover in the second half of 2009. Recent developments in the economy and politics changed that perception. Many economists in the latest survey by Wall Street Journal believe that a 2009 “second-half recovery” is looking much less likely.

Many economists think that U.S. would see annualized GDP growth of 4.6% decline in stead of 1.2% increase estimated earlier. Forecasts for the April-June period have seen a similar shift, from a 1.9% growth forecast to now a 1.5% decline.

“We’re in trouble,” said Brian Fabbri, chief economist at BNP Paribas. “We don’t have sufficient economic plans at present to resolve the banking system or the financial crisis, and the stimulus package seems loaded for 2010.”

In May 2008, Wall Street Journal published an article that said “The worst of the financial pain may have passed, but the economic pain could be just starting.” Both financial and economic pains still persist. In that article, Nouriel Roubini, an economist who heads RGE Monitor, predicted that a wave of defaults on industrial loans, municipal bonds and consumer credit was coming, which would trigger another wave of financial-system distress. He was right. Now, Nouriel Roubini thinks that nationalizing the banks, at least temporarily, is the best way to solve the current crisis.

Politicians and economists may take lot of time to fix this crisis. Until then, tighten your wallet to survive more prolonged pain.

Related Links: Wall Street Journal Article | Dr. Roubini in Bloomberg News (Video)

It really is incredibly sad, but the truth of the matter is scams will likely be much more common during these rough economic times. As more and more people lose their jobs and are looking for some way to make money, scam artists see a perfect opportunity to sucker a lot of people into a really bad deal.

These scam artists that always like to prey on the elderly and those who are less likely to question their knowledge are now moving into a broader group of people and looking to prey on those who are having financial difficulty. In fact, last October the LA Times wrote about the recession being boom time for scammers. The Times article also points out several areas you should particularly watch out for scams. The scam artists promote some kind of scheme that says you will make some outrageous sum of money if you simply follow their advice, which we all know is just a code for “I’m going to take your money and run.” As the aforementioned article notes, please don’t fall for the home based business scams or the free lunch scams. The true fact of the matter is if someone is offering you a free lunch and guaranteeing you a huge amount of money they are likely either lying or exaggerating, and there is a fine line there.

The most important thing you need to do to avoid scams is be extra cautious and ask a lot of questions. A scammer doesn’t want you to ask them difficult questions because then you might get too much information and realize that it is a scam. Be slow to commit your money to any kind of investment or even any kind of charity until you have asked all the questions and done all the research to make sure it is legitimate. There is no free lunch out there, and don’t let anyone allow you to think there is!

Although it appears that California is doomed, there are other sweet spots in the country that might offer you jobs according to smartmoney.com. Smart Money lists Wyoming, Texas, D.C. area, Utah and Oklahoma as the possible places where you might find your next job.

Complete article is here. Now, the economic stimulus is passed, let us hope that nasty recession gets out of our life at least by the end of this year.