Defense is protecting yourself against loss whether by building reserves, paying off debt, redistributing assets, or even by having proper insurance buffers in place. People often see those who are misers, frugal, or defense-minded as pensive, overly cautious, and probably living a bit of a boring life. Now I believe there is always a healthy balance between taking ground by being offense-minded and ensuring that you protect what you’ve built by being defense-minded. So neither approach should be dismissed no matter what the market conditions tell you. Having a good defense is more than just building a Budget or a Plan to Spend, having adequate reserves, and ensuring you are properly insured though–it’s also knowing your own risk tolerance, what it is you’re comfortable investing in, as well as being a realist in the sense of knowing where we are generally in the economic cycle.