What to Do Before a Market Crash

You’ve seen the headlines. You’ve heard the predictions. Every talking head on financial TV is calling the next crash.

And you’re wondering if you should sell everything, stuff cash under the mattress, and wait it out.

Here’s the thing: the crash isn’t the danger. Your reaction to it is.

Crash predictions are like weather forecasts in Utah. Everyone has one, they change hourly, and the people making them are wrong more often than they’re right. But the fear those predictions create? That’s real. And it costs you more than any downturn ever will.

So let’s stop trying to predict the market and start building a financial life that doesn’t depend on the market cooperating.

The Real Cost of Market Fear

On April 2, 2025, the stock market erased $6.6 trillion in 48 hours. It was the largest two-day loss in market history. The panic was instant. People sold. People froze. People lost sleep.

Three months later, the S&P 500 hit a new all-time high.

Let that sink in. The largest two-day wipeout ever recorded, and within 90 days it was as if it never happened. But the people who panic-sold? They locked in real losses and missed the recovery.

This pattern isn’t new:

• 1987 (Black Monday): The market dropped 33.5% in a single day. It recovered in 23 months.
• 2008 (Financial Crisis): A 57% decline that took about 4 years to recover.
• 2020 (COVID Crash): A 34% drop that recovered in just 5 months.

Every single time, the people who suffered the most weren’t the ones who experienced the crash. They were the ones who reacted to it.

Fear steals focus. And when you lose focus, you make the worst financial decisions of your life.

Wall Street’s Favorite Lie

You’ve heard it a thousand times: “High risk equals high return.”

Let me translate that for you: YOU take the risk. THEY get the return.

Wall Street loves volatility because it generates transaction fees. Every time you panic-sell, someone earns a commission. Every time you buy back in at the top, someone earns another one.

And then there’s the banking version: “It takes money to make money.” Translation? YOUR money, for THEM to make money.

These aren’t principles. They’re sales pitches dressed up as wisdom. And they keep you trapped in a cycle where you hand your money to strangers and hope for the best.

Hope isn’t a financial strategy.

Ready to stop guessing and start building real financial confidence? Start with the Financial Fitness Package so you can plug leaks and build your foundation before you chase returns.

You Are the Answer (Not the Market)

Here’s what separates people who thrive in a downturn from people who get crushed by one: they understand the Value Equation.

Mental Capital x Relationship Capital = Financial Capital

Your knowledge, your skills, your relationships, your ability to create value for other people: that’s your Human Life Value. And a stock market crash can’t erase it.

Think about it. If you lost every dollar in your bank account tomorrow, could you rebuild? If you have skills, experience, and relationships, the answer is yes. It might take time, but the foundation is intact.

Now consider someone with a million dollars in the market but no skills, no network, and no ability to produce income beyond a paycheck. A 40% crash doesn’t just hurt their portfolio. It shatters their entire financial identity.

The market can take your money. It can’t take your ability to earn.

What McDonald’s Did in 2008 (While Everyone Else Panicked)

In 2008, while the financial world was collapsing, McDonald’s did something that looked insane at the time. They invested 3.2 times more in advertising than Burger King. They launched McCafe. They expanded instead of contracting.

The result? McDonald’s stock went UP 18% during the worst recession in modern history. Burger King’s stock dropped 31%.

The difference wasn’t luck. It was a decision to invest in growth while everyone else was shrinking.

You can’t shrink your way to wealth. Not as a company, and not as a person.

My July 3rd Story

I want to tell you about the worst financial day of my life, because it taught me the most important lesson I’ve ever learned about money.

July 3, 2008. I’d just wired $92,000 to a PR firm called Plan Television Arts to promote Killing Sacred Cows. My bank account was nearly empty. I’d lost millions in bad real estate deals, partnerships that imploded, and investments I didn’t fully understand. My net worth had gone from $8 million to almost nothing.

But here’s what I also had on July 3rd: I rode my bike to the gym that morning. I got a text from Joe Polish wanting to connect, which led to Genius Network. I traded workouts for marketing advice with people who became lifelong friends. That night, I watched fireworks with my kids at a barbecue.

I had almost no money. But I had purpose, health, relationships, and a mind that was working on solutions.

There are five pillars of wealth: financial, purpose, mindset, health, and social. On July 3, 2008, I had four out of five. And the financial piece? It came back. Because the other four pillars are what generate money in the first place.

Years later, in 2023, my bank accounts were full, but I was in stage 4 kidney failure. Depressed. Scared. I would have traded places with my broke-but-alive 2008 self in a heartbeat.

The lesson: money is one part of wealth. It’s not even the most important part.

The Crash-Proof Playbook

Stop trying to predict when the market will crash. Start building a financial life that works whether the market goes up, down, or sideways.

Here’s how:

Step 1: Get Financially Fit Before You Chase Returns

Before you worry about where to invest, plug the leaks. Run the free Money Snapshot to get a fast read on your cash flow, then do a Spending X-Ray on your finances and categorize every dollar:

• Destructive spending: The money’s gone, but the loan stays. Stop this first.
• Lifestyle spending: Things you value and enjoy. Keep these, but pay from cash flow.
• Protective spending: Insurance, reserves, backup plans. Build this deliberately.
• Productive spending: Skills, tools, team, education. This is where growth lives.

Most people skip this step entirely. They try to out-earn their leaks instead of fixing them. One dollar saved from a leak is worth more than one dollar earned, because there’s no tax on the savings.

Step 2: Build a Foundation That Can’t Crash

A properly structured whole life insurance policy grows at 4-5%, you can access the cash tax-free, and it doesn’t crash when the market does. It’s not your only investment, but it’s the foundation that gives you stability and liquidity when everything else is volatile.

This is what Win Then Play looks like in practice: secure your downside before you chase the upside.

Step 3: Invest in Yourself First

Forget the stock ticker for a minute. Ask yourself three questions:

• What’s one skill I could develop that would double my revenue? That might be sales, marketing, leadership, or a technical skill specific to your industry.
• What’s one hire I could make that would free up 20 hours a week? Those 20 hours become your most productive asset.
• What’s one relationship I could build that would open new doors? One conversation in the right room can change your trajectory more than a decade of index fund contributions.

This is investing in your Human Life Value, and the returns are uncapped. No stock in history can promise you that.

Step 4: Study What Winners Do in Downturns

Tom Martin was so locked in a scarcity mindset that he wouldn’t buy a $1.25 cup of coffee. He drove past the coffee shop every morning thinking he couldn’t afford it. Depression-era parents had trained him to hoard every cent.

Then he shifted his thinking. Stopped shrinking. Started producing.

His revenue increased 5x during the worst market in 70 years.

That’s not a typo. Five times growth while everyone else was in survival mode. Because he stopped trying to protect what he had and started creating more.

Step 5: Use the Cash Flow Index to Know Your Numbers

If you have loans, you already know which one feels heaviest. But the first loan to pay off isn’t the one with the highest interest rate. It’s the one with the lowest Cash Flow Index.

The formula: Loan Balance / Monthly Payment = Cash Flow Index

• Under 50? That’s the danger zone. Pay this off first. It frees up the most cash flow with the least capital.
• 50 to 100? Caution zone. Evaluate based on your Cost of Money.
• Over 100? Low priority. This loan isn’t hurting your cash flow.

This is the math that tells you whether a loan helps or hurts. It’s not about feelings. It’s about your numbers.

The Crash-Ready Checkup

Answer these five questions honestly. They’ll tell you more about your financial health than any market forecast:

• If the market dropped 40% tomorrow, would it change how you live this month? If yes, you’re overexposed.
• Do you know your Cash Flow Index on every loan you carry? If not, you’re guessing about your biggest expenses.
• Could you cover 6 months of living expenses without selling an investment? If not, you don’t have liquidity. You have a prayer.
• Have you invested more in yourself this year than in the stock market? If not, you’re betting on someone else’s company instead of your own.
• Do you have a foundation that grows regardless of market conditions? If not, your entire financial plan depends on things you can’t influence.

If you answered “no” to three or more of these, you’re not behind. You’ve just been following the wrong playbook. And the good news is: you can fix every one of these before the next downturn.

The Bottom Line

The crash isn’t the danger. Your reaction to it is.

Every prediction you hear on TV, every doomsday headline, every guru telling you to sell everything, they’re all profiting from your fear. And fear is the most expensive emotion in personal finance.

You don’t control the market. You don’t control the economy. But you do control your skills, your relationships, your spending, your liquidity, and your ability to produce.

Build those five things, and the next crash becomes a footnote, not a catastrophe.

Build the structure now, so the next downturn becomes an opportunity instead of a threat. Because the time to get crash-ready is before the drop, not after it.

What’s the one move you can make this week to become more crash-proof?

In prosperity,

Garrett

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I sell my stocks before a market crash?

No one can time the market consistently. The data is clear: the biggest gains often come immediately after the biggest drops. If you sold on April 2, 2025, you missed a full recovery within 90 days. Instead of trying to predict crashes, build a financial foundation that doesn’t require you to guess.

What’s the safest investment during a recession?

Your own skills and earning ability. That’s your Human Life Value, and no recession can erase it. Beyond that, properly structured whole life insurance provides stable growth (4-5%) with tax-free access and zero market exposure. It won’t make you wealthy by itself, but it gives you a foundation that holds when everything else shakes.

How do I protect my money from a stock market crash?

Start with the Spending X-Ray: categorize every dollar as destructive, lifestyle, protective, or productive. Plug the leaks first. Then build liquidity so you’re never forced to sell at the worst time. The people who get hurt in crashes aren’t the ones who experience them. They’re the ones who have no cash flow and no options.

Is it smart to invest during a recession?

Some of the biggest fortunes in history were built during downturns. McDonald’s invested aggressively in 2008 and outperformed the entire market. The key is investing in things you understand and control, especially your own business and skills, rather than gambling on a recovery timeline.

What does “crash-proof” really mean?

It doesn’t mean nothing bad happens. It means you’ve built enough financial fitness, liquidity, and earning power that a market downturn doesn’t dictate how you live. You have options. You have cash flow. And you don’t have to make fear-based decisions with your money.

More Free Resources

Money Unmasked — Get the free audiobook and reframe the money patterns shaping your financial decisions.

Killing Sacred Cows — Get the free book and break the financial myths that quietly keep entrepreneurs stuck.