Your personal economy is in your hands, so know how to manage, plan and control it. By Johnny McNamara

From the risk of redundancy to the tightening of credit lines, there is no doubt that times are tough with many of us now facing our own ‘personal recession’. In the backdrop of this global economic downturn where we have all been affected in one way or another, how can you regain some element of control?

Many of the factors that are causing these problems are outside of our control and as such, we have little or no influence on them. However, there are factors in our financial lives that are firmly in our control and it is these factors that we must plan carefully to ensure that we not only survive the economic downturn, but that we are in a position to thrive when the turbulence thaws.