Understanding the Economic Outlook: Navigating Uncertainty in 2020

As we march deeper into 2020, the world seems to be on track to fall apart in any number of ways. COVID-19 is still a huge problem in the United States, despite what our reopening plans were, and much-needed conversations about politics and norms are bursting to the fore amid a presidential election season we've already been living forever. Meanwhile, the economy is totally up in the air, and we just got some proof that we're far from through it yet.

Economists from the National Bureau of Economic research announced this week that not only are we definitely in a recession now, but we've been in a recession since February. "In the previous recession, the committee did not declare that the economy was in recession until December 2008, a year after it had actually begun," the Associated Press reports. "But in this case, the NBER said the collapse in employment and incomes was so steep that it could much more quickly make a determination."

Experts have been predicting a 2020 recession for at least two years, but many thought it would stem from the housing market. Past recessions have been shaping our lives for decades already, though, from the buying power of our wages to our lifetime career earnings. There are indications that our present situation spells pretty big trouble for the future, both in the short term and the long. That doesn't mean you're totally helpless as an individual, though: Take the time to see where your money stands, and keep your job networks limber. A recession is like a weather event, and you've got ways of getting through it.