They'd get us out of this

Economics at the individual level is the ability to provide for yourself by providing value to others. If you don't need others, that's not an economy any longer.  Understand that you need to provide value to others, and over the long haul you will only be compensated for the value you provide. You may find an anomaly now and then that can be exploited, but those situations will be corrected and generally in a shorter period of time than you can foresee.

Understand how you are providing value, and to whom you provide value. Are you a producer, an investor, an organizer, a servicer, etc. etc. Even if you are not in the money economy, you are being provided for and providing value to someone. If you do not understand that relationship, you are at risk for doing something detrimental to that relationship.

Diversity is the key to the individual economics. As an individual, you are more vulnerable than is generally thought to either 1) someone stepping in and invading your economic value, or 2) becoming incapable of providing your economic value. The 80/20 rule is a good one to follow here, even if it is inexact. If you are a producer, spend your 80% effort on being a great producer and doing what you do. However, spend 20% on improving, learning, diversifying your talents. You cannot know what the future holds in terms of valued economic activity. If you stop learning, you run the risk of getting out of touch, and further you have little chance of being caught up with whatever it is that's coming. Get another language, learn math, music, art, philosophy - do something to expand your horizons every year and every quarter. Have at least three identifiable, diverse, activities going so that they cannot all be obsoleted simultaneously and so you get that knowledge cross-pollination. And make sure that your 80% path really gets the attention it deserves - a 60% effort on your 80% selection (e.g. your primary job) is probably not going to do well for you.

That's it for the opener - more to come here.

This section is dedicated to general economic concepts. It's sort of a section on what I would like to make sure my kids understood before they become adults and responsible for themselves and others. Some of the stuff will be basic, some advanced, some right, some wrong. But it's mine.