Yes, times are tough. The big banks are on life support. Home prices are in the pits. The stock market's tanked. Unemployment's way, way up.

　　And … uh-oh. How are you doing? What about your home? Your investments? Your job?

　　How safe is it? What's the worst that can happen to you?

　　We put that question to the expert -- Joshua Piven, author of the best-selling 'Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook' series. His tongue-in-cheek answer is not pretty: 'You lose your job, you run out of savings or a safety net, have to sell [your] home, it's a down market and you can't sell your house, you move, pull the kids out of school, it's not easy to get another job and your whole lifestyle has to change.

　　'Then there's homelessness, maybe spiraling alcoholism, and then living on the side of the train tracks.'

　　Ugh. More people are facing an extended period of joblessness and the potential financial difficulties that go along with it.

　　Unemployment hit 7.6% last month, with 11.6 million people out of work, and the number of people experiencing joblessness for more than six months has continued to increase, growing to more than 2.6 million in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

　　As jobless rates go up, duration usually follows, says Katharine Abraham, a University of Maryland economist.

　　With the Federal Reserve forecasting that the unemployment rate could hit 8.8% this year, the number of people unemployed for longer stretches of time is expected to increase as well.

　　Conventional wisdom has long called for you to stash away up to six months of living expenses to carry you through a financial emergency or job loss. But with more job hunts lasting longer than half a year, backup funds can dwindle, and you will have to make more and more tough financial choices.

　　'It may be painful to think about bad things happening, but you have to make sure you are budgeting appropriately and living below your means,' says Liz Davidson, CEO of Financial Finesse, a financial-education firm.

　　Here are some things to keep in mind, starting now:

　　While You're Working

　　--Double that emergency fund. One way to do this is by making minimum payments on your credit cards. That runs counter to the usual advice, but for those worried about losing a job, these aren't usual times. Take the remaining money you would use to pay off the whole bill and stash it in a money-market or high-interest savings account, suggests June Walbert, a financial planner with USAA, which mainly serves military members and their families.

　　--Consider downsizing your living quarters. For example, after business began to slow at Saxon Anderson's teeth-whitening kiosk at a Los Angeles area mall, the 26-year-old downgraded from a nice single apartment to a house with five roommates.

　　--Since it's easier to get credit while you're employed, look into opening another credit card or a home-equity line of credit as a precaution in case money becomes hard to access if you are unemployed. But use this credit only as a last resort.joozone.com