The land of austerity

Hello again

I have been busy these last few days. I don’t normally appreciate enforced holidays, but this year they have been quite handy. There are several changes that you will see shortly with GDP Resources. Firstly there is the new website which is nearly ready. All the content is complete, we have just to upload the products for download to the new server and set up the paypal links. That’s all in the hands of my webmaster.

Next I have 3 new products on the go. One is virtually complete and the second is being done now. The plan is for these to come with verifiable CPD, just waiting to hear from the GDC on that, which as I am sure you can understand, sometimes takes an absolute age. The third product won’t be out for some time, and it relates to HTM 0105 and the CQC. Only so many hours in the day unfortunately.

I have also written out my goals using my Mastermind Alliance product (remember, I originally did it for myself), and have set some very strict financial challenges to accomplish. There will be strong spending restrictions, and increased revenue via structures to limit tax. And that’s just on the personal side.

Shame the government can’t pull their finger out and do the same. The beloved Chancellor took a very small hatchet to the national finances, cutting spending by £8 billion....... and the promptly promised half of that to Ireland. They are still spending like maniacs, as has been seen by the record deficit last month. Don’t forget of course, that’s your money they are spending.

Of course my opinions on this are irrelevant. I know about as much about the nations finances as I do about quantum physics.......... basically enough to make it sound like I know what I’m talking about. So I will concentrate on the finances I can control, my own. This is going to be a very testing and interesting year.

If you have not already down so, getting control of your spending would probably be advisable right about now. Of course nothing in this newsletter should be seen as financial advice, heaven forbid. Just thought I would pop that in to keep the lawyers happy. It would seem to me that reducing your outgoings and increasing you incomings would be a tad prudent right now. I feel I have no need to mention the CQC and HTM 0105, which I feel are both topics beaten to death recently.

So let’s look at the average Brit. Just look at the price of petrol, which will increase the price of all other goods due to increased transport costs. Oh look, VAT. The UK consumer is about to get squeezed, especially if interest rates go up, which they pretty much have to unless the spike in commodity prices gets itself under control. Strange how the measure of international shipping (the Baltic Dry Index) is in the toilet showing trade between countries is way down, and yet commodities are up in the stratosphere. Copper and Gold being fine examples. There’s something not right about that.
The American consumer certainly isn’t the cause, despite the pathetic psychotic scenes of American shoppers fighting to get into shops to buy pointless Chinese plastic trinkets (that they didn’t need) just after the Thanksgiving holidays. Speaking of China, let’s not mention the empty cities, completely built but with no-one to live in them. Let’s not mention the billions of cars and trucks sat unsold in huge fields or the billions of square feet of new office space that remains empty. Yes, perhaps we shouldn’t go there.

This recession is far from over. In fact it’s probably only just started. So are you prepared? Are you ready to weather the storm that’s gathering on the horizon? Because if you’re ready then you will be there to witness the dawn of a new day with clear skies and soft breezes. You may even be able to profit from the situation.
But if you’re not ready, if you’re still living beyond your means, living pay cheque to pay cheque, then that storm’s going to hit you right where it hurts.
And perhaps I’m wrong, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time. Perhaps the economy is set to take off and boom like never before. And how would it hurt to have lower debts, lower expenses and a ready store of cash?

But I’m not here to tell you what to do. It’s just that I have the same sense of unease as I did at the start of 2008. Only this time I think most people sense it too. We are starting to see how truly fragile our society is. A few days of bad weather and the local Tesco saw its shelves empty because people weren’t prepared so they panicked. A few weeks of sub zero temperatures and the water infrastructure of Northern Ireland starts to collapse, and the national water board struggles to cope. A few days of snow and the world’s busiest airport shuts down, and turns into a basket case because it wasn’t prepared. They hadn’t factored in the worst case scenario. So when the snow fell, and to be fair it wasn’t even all that much, they were left undermanned, underfunded and overwhelmed.

Not a good position to be in when a crisis hits.

So have you made your plans to protect you, your family and your business? Or are you just going to wing it? After all, everything will probably be ok. And hey, we’re British, so stiff upper lip for Queen and country eh old bean. Stay calm and carry on.
It is very easy to be accused of being a pessimist when you talk like this. But that’s a bit like saying you’re a paranoid doom monger because you have insurance for your business, or a spare tyre for your car. We have these things for a reason. We have these things because sometimes the practice floods or you walk out of Sainsbury’s to find you’ve got a flat tyre. Preparation is not paranoia, it’s common sense.
How many people in Northern Ireland do you think will be keeping a few cases of bottled water in the cellar from now on?

How many people have now bought snow socks for their tyres or grit for their drive way?

Doing this after the fact at least shows you learnt the lesson........... but it’s a hell of a lot better to do it before the fact.

Be prepared, that’s what the scouts always say isn’t it. Do your SWOT analysis, or whatever way you want to do it, but get yourself ready. Yes the storm clouds may pass off into the distance and the sun may come out. But what do you think?

Personally, I think this year is likely to be one hell of a ride.

Yours in commerce

Stephen: Hudson the authorised representative for the legal fiction Dr Stephen Hudson BDS, MFGDP, DRDP

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