Two of my friends were laid off within the last two weeks. Both are smart and competent, yet they lost their livelihood. They were not alone. Across the country, hundreds, if not thousands, of workers were without a job. For immigrants, the problem is compounded after a lot of companies, mine included, decided to cut expenses by not sponsoring work visas. The labor environment is as hostile as you can imagine.

On top of that, everything is more expensive. Just look around. Just look at what you pay for on a daily or monthly basis. Everything is more expensive and likely will stay the same for the foreseeable future due to tariffs. Furthermore, home ownership continues to be out of question for many with high selling prices, unaffordable mortgage rates and increasing insurance premiums.

For good measure, nobody can predict what the current administration will do. There is no planning for the future because there is no stability.

The best thing to do now is to survive. You may thrive again in the future, but the immediate need now is to survive and weather this storm. So what does it mean?

Hold onto your job. If you are lucky enough to be on a payroll now, do whatever it takes to keep it that way. Put in more hours, volunteer for more responsibilities or handle that one tricky project for your boss. Whatever it takes. Plus, think thrice before switching jobs. In this environment, the odds that the grass is greener on the other side are just as good as a dice roll. You never know.

Cut your expenses. If you can find more income, all power to you. Otherwise, it’s time to cut unnecessary expenses. Build up contingency funds and liquidity now in case something happens. Hence, everything that is not essential should be considered discretionary and disposable. I don’t have a lot of discretionary expenses to begin with, but I got rid of Costco membership, WSJ subscription and Netflix account.

Take care of your body and health. As much as possible. Nothing turns one’s life upside down and wreck one’s finance more than a health issue.

I know that people have personal reasons to buy a house, but I’d NOT do it right now. A down payment and closing costs will likely empty most people’s available funds. For the uncertainty and risks that we have to deal with nowadays, I prefer having a lot of liquidity to an illiquid investment with a high operational capital expenditure.

Part of me thinks that this current crisis presents an opportunity to buy undervalued assets. However, a bigger part of me has plenty of doubt and no idea whether we will recover from the Trump administration. As someone who constantly looks ahead for what’s next, I dislike being unable to plan much for the future. The next best thing? Survive for now.