Here's what boomers, a millennial, and Gen Zers had to say about a possible recession

• BI spoke to boomers, a millennial, and Gen Zers about how they're prepping for a possible recession.
• The shadow of 2008 loomed large across age groups, even for those who hardly remember it.
• As stock markets plummet, anxiety is rising across generations and "hangs over your head."

Alana Martinson self-identifies as a "recession kid."

She was eight during the Great Recession in 2008 and remembers coming home from school, turning on the TV, and seeing advertisements focused on budgeting. Now 24 and working at a nonprofit in San Diego, she's nervous that she's about to relive the not-so-glory days of her youth after years of slowly mounting economic anxiety.

"We had four years of recession indicator panic," Martinson said, "and now it feels like it's actually happening."

With President Donald Trump's trade war in full swing, many see the probability of a downturn rising. Business Insider spoke to two boomers, a millennial, and two Gen Zers about what they're making of a possible economic slump.

Some people are doubling down on savings habits

Martinson, a Gen Zer, said she's always been frugal and isn't too nervous about losing her job, but she feels increased pressure to save money. She opened an IRA in college after watching her wealthier friends do so and contributes money to her 401(k), but she wishes she had saved more.

Michelle Husberg, 62, credits some of her previous recession luck to the saving habits she developed as a young person. A retired nurse, she and her husband never lost jobs or a house or impulsively withdrew all their money from the stock market.

"Keep a level head," she said. "Don't let all the noise around you — just keep doing what you're doing."

Husberg, a young boomer, was a kid during the 1970s recession and said the lessons she absorbed in childhood have buoyed her through the economic turndowns of adulthood.

"My parents were really good savers. They kind of instilled that in me," Husberg said. She's saved money since landing her first job at age 20 and called her dad, a firm believer in the stock market, as a young adult to figure out how much to contribute to her 401(k).

Between her husband's pension and Social Security, the two of them don't have to withdraw funds to cover their basic expenses. Most of their money has been invested in the stock market for decades; Husberg remembers watching her savings vanish seemingly overnight in 2001 and 2008. She's kept a spreadsheet of her savings since the 1990s, one which has dipped and risen alongside the markets.

"It is hard when you see the money go, especially when it drops in half," Husberg said of her investments. Her dad always said it would come back, though, and so far, he's been right, she said.

Living in the shadow of 2008

Gene Cain, a retired 71-year-old, wasn't so fortunate. In 2008, he was a middle manager at a furniture company and lost the money in his 401(k). Now, Cain relies on his Social Security check and lives month-to-month.

"Once we lost everything with the company I was working for, I never invested anything back," he said. "We just paid our bills and went on. I know it was a dumb thing to do, but it was what we had to do at the time."

Casandra King, a 37-year-old HR manager, said the shadow of 2008 has "impacted me greatly."

King, a millennial, graduated from college in 2010 and wasn't able to start saving then. She'd been worried about paying her bills since she was a junior during the Great Recession when she got a job working at Godiva Chocolates to stay afloat and crashed on friends' couches after losing her housing.

"We were lowballed from the moment we graduated, and so we've been fighting to make salaries that we deserve to make right out of school," she said of millennials.

'We don't know what's to come'

Ava Hannah, a Gen Zer pursuing a nursing degree at the University of Central Arkansas, barely remembers previous recessions — she was three in 2008 and more focused on "TV and snacks" than market slides — but knows enough to be a little freaked.

"Maybe my dad has said the word recession once," the 19-year-old said, comparing the word to Voldemort's name. Hannah and her friends have talked about the possibility of a recession a bit, mainly over meals in the cafeteria.

"Usually it's full of jokes, because I don't know what's going to happen, but there's a real underlying element not of despair, but worry at least," she said. "I think a bunch of other kids on campus are also talking about it, because we're all college kids, we don't have money. It's just something that hangs over your head."

Husberg is mainly worried about how a recession could impact others, especially people in their 20s, and isn't changing her own habits much to prepare. After landing a new job recently, Martinson became a little looser with her spending but has since abandoned that mindset. She's started listening to news podcasts first thing each morning again, a habit she developed during the pandemic but later dropped.

"I'm nervous, and my body and brain are aware of this routine that another historical event is happening," she said.

King, the HR manager, is reexamining her family's spending — she and her husband have two kids — to cut out any waste, knowing that things might "seem really crappy for a long time."

At the same time, she doesn't think there's much she can do to prepare.

"We don't know what's going to come, so stressing about it — trying to save all this money, food, everything like that — it may help us, but it might not."