2008 lasted nearly 17 months. The hard part is deciding when the recession actually started. The media and government is in denial, so they'd tell you we aren't even in a recession yet. But the rule of thumb is typically two negative quarters of GDP growth, which we hit this summer.
If you run a VC backed business my suggestion is 24-30 months of runway is a good starting point.
As far as individuals go, it's not a bad idea to mirror this advice. Have essentially 2 to 2.5 years of income saved in the event that you get laid off and can't find a job for a long time. Hopefully it never comes to that, but it never hurts to be prepared.
It’s also hard to figure out when the recession ends.
The q1/q2 numbers were more than made up by the q3 gdp growth. The numbers for q4 aren’t out yet but the consensus thinks they’ll be slightly positive making 2022 a positive year. That’s after 2021 which was a barn burner.
The GDP curve is already nothing like 2008 so it’s hard to use it as a guide.
"The media and government is in denial, so they'd tell you we aren't even in a recession yet."
There are costant headlines about layoffs. Also you said that a recession has a defintion, if that hasn't happened how is the media and government in denial?
Like I said in my comment, it did happen. This summer we hit 2 quarters of negative GDP growth. At the time, and even now, the media is suddenly moving the goal posts and trying to redefine what a recession is.
If you run a VC backed business my suggestion is 24-30 months of runway is a good starting point.
As far as individuals go, it's not a bad idea to mirror this advice. Have essentially 2 to 2.5 years of income saved in the event that you get laid off and can't find a job for a long time. Hopefully it never comes to that, but it never hurts to be prepared.