I know that everybody heard that there is an economic depression in the world, the unemployment rate has increased with a great amount and also a lot of company got bankrupt. Most of us are scared of losing our jobs, because it is our only source of income, but if we research a little, and also look at our habits and of the people who live around us, we will find that we tend to try to reduce our costs as much as it is possible. Even if we will loose our jobs, there are still a few fields in which we could invest our money during the economic depression and gain some income, because it is possible to make money during a depression! Further on I will try to give some money making ideas that I thought would be successful.

First of all we all know that since the depression it’s been harder for us to pay bills because it has affected us all more or less, the companies lowering the salaries of the employees in order to reduce the costs, in conclusion a debt collector company should be a business which will be successful during this period.  You just need to have a good knowledge about the economy and the law and you will succeed.

An online store could mean also a great opportunity, because the needed investment is low, not needing to rent a building for the store, to hire a large number of employees, or have a big number of product. The store being an online one, you could always promote it online, reducing the costs. It is more comfortable to the clients not having to drive to the store and less time consuming, everybody knows that time is money.

Another money making idea is to set up a grocery store near the apartment buildings. The people are really trying to reduce the costs in this period, but there are a few things which are impossible to live without, like meat, bread, fruits or vegetables which help us survive, meaning that they are vital for us. These are the kind of businesses that will be always successful, because you will not go to a hypermarket in the other part of the city with the buss or your car just for a box of milk or some bread every time you need some. It’s more easy to just run out to the grocery store that is near you and pick up there the things you need. Also the rent for buildings has lowered, the people not being able to pay the high rents which were asked not that long ago, the owners having to lower them.

Money making ideas

Some other ideas for money making during a depression would be to open “low cost companies”. As I mentioned earlier people try to reduce their costs, the best way being to exchange the luxury for something less expensive, by this I’m referring to hostels instead of hotels, or fast-foods instead of restaurants. While the restaurants noticed a lowering in their number of customers, famous fast-food companies stated that they will continue expanding in the year 2009.

If you like fashion outlet store are a good a idea too, because even if there is a depression, women find it hard to let go of the brand that they are used to, of that perfect dress at Miss Sixty, or that great running shoe at Adidas. There will always be money for fashion and women will always be checking out the latest outlet stores and buying something that they desperately think that they need, but could live without with no problem. It is very hard for us to live without the comforts that we are used, so we will always try to have them, but for a lower price, because we cannot afford them as expensive as they were.

In case you were hoping for a money making method which would not interfere with your work schedule there are some companies which use the multilevel marketing approach like Avon or Oriflame. It is the ideal part time job for anybody. The brands are well known, advertised by famous stars like Reese Witherspoon or Patrick Dempsey who also choose to launch their own fragrance along with these brands. They also have a lot of promotions, prizes, games, competitions. It is a popular selling method because of the fact that you sell the products to your friends and family, to people who you know and trust you, so it makes is easier for you to sell the cosmetics if you recommend it. It is also delivered to your house so the only thing you need to do is to meet with your clients, friends and give them their products, talk with them give them samples and answer their questions and you have your extra income.

Another popular method of gaining income would be making money online, there are a lot of different kind of ways to make money online and I will show a few of them. I think the most common way to make some money online is to make a blog about something that you like and know about and give advices to the others by this also helping them when they need help, giving them some professional advice for example, but for free. They will be happy because they didn’t have to pay for the help, but you will also be happy with the results, because you can sell the empty spaces of your blog for commercial companies in order to use them for commercial adds. The more popular the blog is the more money you can ask from the companies.

Nowadays almost everybody has a digital camera, but if you have a more professional one and if you enjoy taking pictures you could try selling them to specialized agencies. They buy up pictures and after that they sell them for magazines for example, in case they need an illustration for their articles. You can find a few of these agencies on the internet, like Big Stock Photo for example, or Fotolia.

Also EBay has become very popular nowadays, especially in the United Stated of America. Usually to be successfully you should choose an area that you have a good knowledge of like antiques for example or stamps, coins, anything that you find interesting enough.

If you spend enough time with it, and learn the value of the objects you might even buy up products that are sold below its real value and resell it gaining profit from it. Some even buy old objects at garage sales for example at very low prices, to then sell them on EBay gaining a nice profit from it, the more talented ones do not even get possession of the products, after buying them they automatically sell them. But you can also sell objects that you do not use anymore and instead of throwing them out in the garbage you will make some extra money. Even though it might seem to you that the certain object is worthless but for a collector it could be worth a lot.

As I mentioned before “low-cost” products are the most popular in these days because of the depression, knowing that Renault managed to transform Dacia in a successful business which wasn’t affected by the economic event. While General Motors and Chrysler got bankrupted, and others could barely survive on the market like Porsche for example or Opel, Dacia extended its production in this year. They knew how to perfectly adjust to the crisis by developing a program which meant that you could give in your old car and then get a big discount from the price of the car, giving you the chance to buy yourself a new car for a lower price. The number of the sold cars grew even in Germany, with 40 %. In the meantime Volkswagen, Ford, General Motors and the other popular car manufacturing companies were competing in trying to launch high-tech cars with a great comfort and great power, but the prices became higher and higher. They didn’t give a big enough importance for the fact that majority of the population is built up by the people who can be considered middle class or lower class taking in consideration their income. These people cannot afford a high-tech high-comfort car, but that does not mean that they do not want a car that they can afford. This was the mistake that Renault with Dacia realized, but the other car manufacturers did not.  In conclusion Renault exported with over 60% more cars then it did before, becoming one of the most successful car producer during the depression while the other companies got bankrupted.

Money making ideas

Another method of making money is making counterfeit money, which I would like to underline that it is illegal and the making of it is punished by the law and it was once punished by death but nowadays the punishment is different from one country to the other. This method of making money can also have a negative influence on the society like for example the value of the currency would drop, inflation would also occur because of the big flow of money, the growing number of the paper money.

Nowadays it is not only said that you can find everything on the internet because it is true, by googleing the phrase how to make counterfeit money the search engine really gives you out a high number of pages about the subject and by reading them you will realize how many people really use these kind of methods instead of the honest way to make money. I think that the most popular method which I found was the bleaching of the one dollar bill after which they print an older version of the bill on the paper they just bleached, because the security measures were not so strict in earlier days. The people using these methods also apply their “magic” on checks. They also give advice on how to cheat some more, how to help the “fake money” circulate and hot to use it “wisely”, meaning to not get caught that easy.

As the technology grew more sophisticated and advanced it also made it easier for experts to steal by making counterfeited money so in response the national engraving bureaus tried to develop specific elements for the paper money in order to make it more difficult to fake it, but as we can see they we not very successful in achieving their goal. They also tried to change certain features of the money, like design the portraits larger or make it more colorful so the bills would be different from the older ones, being able to notice the counterfeited money easier.

And in case that you were thinking how lucky people who work at the place where the real paper money is made and that they can make as much as they what for themselves, you should think again because every countries money is made in a different country and if I am not mistaking the locations are not know.

Even though the effects of the depression has been felt by all of us we should first try to learn how to spend our money wisely and try to reduce the unnecessary costs.

You should try to do the banking transaction online as often as it is possible, you will save time, energy and it is absolutely 100% sure. Paying your bills on time will also keep you from paying extra because you were late and after that you should try to reduce the number of bills by eliminating the ones that are not very important or at least reducing them as much as possible. Paying off the credit card bills and your debts as soon as possible and set up an emergency fund in case you will need urgently some money. You will deposit a certain amount in the bank account every month and by this it will stop you from spending it on unnecessary things.

You should not forget about the retirement fund either, because during the depression no job is safe and the future does not look bright either so it is wise to assure yourself a safe retirement.  Paying with cash rather than with credit cards could help too, cash will make you realize how much you really spend.  You can sometimes forget about how much money you just spent if all you have to do is to give them a “magic card” and you can buy yourself anything you wish. Reevaluate the costs you can never know where you will find something of what you could “let go” and save some money.
In conclusion I think that I could say that I understand the people who are driven into acting against the law, because the situation is not easy but that does not mean that I agree with the methods that they use in order to help themselves as I said there are possibilities to make money during a depression you just have to know how have a few good ideas and you will succeed.