Devoted to understanding the basics and fundamentals of investing

Though I am a bull at heart, I am most certainly a realist. At this point it isn't a foregone conclusion that the economic recession is here, but the chances have certainly risen to more than 50% that we are either already in a recession or will be in one in the next couple of quarters. For a while it was just the housing starts, but now the economic data outside of the housing starts has begun to crack. The point of this post is, if the recession is coming, what kind of stocks should you be in?

The typical response to a recession is to be in lots of consumer non-cyclical names that are consistent growers and will grow regardless of the economic conditions around the country and the world. Some of the most common recession-proof stocks picked by the pros are Coca Cola (NYSE:KO), Proctor and Gamble (NYSE:PG), and Altria (NYSE:MO). All three of these companies have businesses that have proven to be extremely resistant to any economic pressures that affect many other businesses so greatly. The question here though is since this recession has been predicted for so long, has the average investor already missed out on their opportunity to pick up defensive names? This is certainly up for debate at this point.