system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Is a recession really coming and how bad is it going to be?

I keep hearing more and more about it daily. There are so many things that are going wrong and I try to tell myself not to be a doomer and look on the bright side, but Im not a professional Economist and barely know a few concepts of Macroeconomics. Is a recession really coming? How scared should I be? What steps should I take to safeguard my family etc.
gpt
Economics is better at explaining what happened than it is at forecasting the certainty, timing or magnitude of recessions.

Economists can identify risk factors, like the fact that rising interest rates will increase borrowing costs, which can cause a recession. But there are PhDs and senior analysts at multi-billion dollar hedge funds that have completely different predictions based on the exact same data.

As far as protecting your family goes, it depends on your financial and job situation. Some jobs are more vulnerable to layoffs than others, different families have different savings levels and expenses. If you and your spouse are both surgeons, a recession probably won’t hurt you much. If you’re both mortgage brokers it could hurt a lot if that market takes / is taking a dive, so you might want to look for more recession-resistant jobs.

In general, you can do better financially if you live within your means, avoid frivolous debts and wasteful expenses, and look for ways to increase your income such as upgrading your job skills / transition to a better-paying job or career path.