1. Set Aside Emergency Cash: Make sure you have six months worth of emergency cash that is liquid and accessible. Put it in a savings account where you can easily get to it if you need to. Yield is not as important as liquidity.

2. Build Cash Reserves: Everything from cars to houses has plummeted in value – and prices are likely to get even cheaper over the next six months. When you find that dream home, you want to be ready to pounce, so try to keep a stash of cash reserves on hand for big-ticket items.

3. Keep an Investment Watchlist: If you’ve got potential stock purchases in mind, be sure to keep a list of them on your radar. Stocks are also likely to get cheaper before the end of the year. I’ve said this for a while now, but once the market corrects some more, we may be looking at the investment opportunity of a lifetime, so you’ll want to ensure that your capital is ready for action when the time comes. Look for great ideas now.

4. Get Stock Advice: If you need a hand generating investment ideas and tips on where to invest your money in this tough climate, get some professional advice and let the experts do the work for you.

Another way people are beating this sour economy is by turning their hobbies into income generators. Some people are selling handmade scarves, others offloading their stamp collections.

Our friends at The Sovereign Society have discovered a new hobby that allows you to passively earn up to $70,000 a year. You could pick up this hobby in a matter of minutes. If you’re interested, click here to learn more.

In addition Mr. Ma is helping to ease tensions with China. Some of the changes are already being seen. Direct flights will be allowed between China and Taiwan which will stimulate tourism and business.

And Taiwan companies will have a jump start at rebuilding their investments in China.

Up to this point there has been a 40% investment ceiling but this is set to change. The new government is taking steps to remove this and banks too may also be allowed to take a 20% stake in Chinese lenders.

The iShares MSCI Taiwan Index Fund (EWT: NYSE) is composed of a basket of stocks in the industrial sectors, material, telecomm and information technology. The semiconductor sector makes up close to 50% of the index and most of this manufacturing takes place in China.

EWT is an indirect and cheap way to play the China growth story. It has lagged behind most of the other Asian ETFs over a five-year period and is now ready to move higher as it catches up with the rest of Asia.

Sally Limantour

Editor, Taipan

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