Time to get back to this, and need to do at least one more related post, maybe tomorrow.
NOTE: This is a (very) rough draft
Finances And Preparedness
This is going to be a very short chapter, as unless you are interested in investing in bridges, oceanfront property that you can get to at low tide, or magic beans, I’m the last person you should look to for financial advice or investment advice. If I knew what I was doing, I would be writing this on my tropical island lair being waited on hand and foot by a very attractive female staff. Since I’m writing this from the basement bunker with the landlord’s cat stalking me to demand attention…
My advice is to do a better job than I did on financial preparedness, and use professional help if you can get it.
That said, there are a few things to keep in mind. Practical preparedness applies to finances large and small. Are you prepared if the card readers at the grocery store go down, and they can only take cash? That happened to someone I follow online recently, and because they had taken the precaution of keeping some cash hidden away in their wallet, they were able to get their groceries and head home.
At a minimum, it’s a good idea to have enough on you to make a purchase and then make it home. It may be $10 and bus fare, or it may be more plus a tank of gas. You need to be prepared so that things like this aren’t a disaster, just an annoyance.
As noted in the previous chapter, at this point it’s about building up to meet the larger disasters in life. It’s being able to cover an emergency car repair or other not-so-minor problems in life. It’s about having the cash or credit to cover even larger expenses. For the first, build it up over time. Have it as both cash and other valuables, on hand and in a bank account. For the second, work on that credit score. My thoughts on credit scores and how they view things is best left unsaid, but it is a game you need to learn how to play so as to use it to your advantage. There is a lot of good, and free, information and help available on improving your score. Get good advice and do what is best for you.
As for the on-hand, keep in mind you may not be able to access your accounts in a timely manner during an emergency. Power could be down, the card processing network could be down, you might be miles from an ATM. This is especially true during a bug-out situation. Fire, flood, chemical spill — it doesn’t matter. What matters is getting out ASAP and being prepared to pay cash for things you need later.
Also, diversify if you can. Right now, given inflation, I wish I had invested in gold. Look at precious metals or other items of value that are low volume/size but hold or even increase in value. If something really bad happens, paper currency can become worthless overnight even in this day and age; electronic assets can be erased; banks can fail quite rapidly (as we’ve recently seen); and, well, there’s an almost endless litany of what can go wrong. But, just as with the premise with everything else, it’s not the type or number of disasters, it’s how you can prepare pretty much comes down to one thing: save. Having cash or other valuables you can use in an emergency is essential.
One final thing to consider is that governments can and have banned private ownership of gold and other valuables. Our own American government did so under FDR, a tale of which more people should learn. So, choose wisely and remember the first rule of Preparedness Club. Also, don’t have everything in one spot.
For this tome, that’s all I’m going to say about finances. Getting good, sound, and professional advice on your situation is what matters, so you can be as prepared as possible.
I so thought those beans were going to be a good investment. Sigh.
Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.
The book as it goes:
Preparedness Pays: Draft Introduction
Preparedness Pays: Draft Chapter 1A
Preparedness Pays: Draft Chapter 2A
Preparedness Pays: Draft Chapter 3A
This is a tricky section, because finances are in the end solely about trading things with other people, and if civilization begins to fray (for any cause or duration), the notions of trading, value, and even property itself tend to get a little wonky. People valued precious metals for thousands of years, but would they necessarily do so in the even of a civilizational collapse? They retained some value in the previous century because whenever a civil society collapsed, there were other nations or societies to flee to that *hadn’t* collapsed, and whose peoples still valued them. But we are now so many generations removed from precious metals as generally-accepted forms of currency in pretty much *every* country that it’s somewhat questionable as to whether they would be readily accepted anywhere as currency after a near-total collapse in the value of fiat currencies. Hence why some people recommend “bullets and beans”; barter items that would be considered valuable in such a situation. The catch is, barter items tend to be bulky, hard to store in large quantities, and even harder to hide from those unwilling to barter for them. Pre-paying for one’s future consumption by stocking up on goods one will certainly use is another classing form of preparation.
So, I have a hard time recommending precious metals, except as a tiny fraction of one’s savings; and even then, unless speaking to a multi-millionaire, I’d tend to recommend more of a focus on simpler things like junk silver(e.g., pre-1965 silver coins) over the 1oz gold bars that Costco has begun selling on occasion. Of far greater importance is having multiple forms of ready cash/credit in sufficient quantities to get one through “ordinary” emergencies of life short of civilizational collapse. The absolute failure of public schools to teach their charges how to plan a budget or the power (and dangers!) of compound interest should be cause enough for their reform or dissolution. There are several podcasters out there who are making a fair chunk of change just by filming themselves raking fools over the coals for refusing to plan for the future or to live within their means; would that *everyone* had received such lectures *before* leaving the nest.
You make a lot of good points, especially in light of what I suspect we both see coming. One thing to keep in mind is that this is a true 101-level book. The idea is to get people into the concept of practical preparedness and how it can help with everyday/”normal” emergencies. There are a lot of people out there similar to a local talk radio host here who has said on air that if someone even hints at being prepared for something more than a storm he tunes them out and won’t promote in any way, shape or form no matter what. I’m trying in some ways to not just get around such people, but start changing that mindset. That’s one reason I kept it at this level with lots of calls to get expert help.
For what I think is coming, I actually would recommend getting things like packs of sewing needles, thread, and other metallic items that will be in short supply but urgently needed for doing things by hand. Spices and other items that can be traded, as pepper mostly comes from overseas, as does cocoa and coffee. Bulk boxes of the individual salt and pepper packets from GFS or such are great for trade. For more upscale, cutting tools for machine work, industrial diamonds, and other similar items will be worth far more than gold.
If you are having to flee, that’s different and something I hope to hit later today with a post. I will, however, point people to the section in “Alas Babylon” where it deals with money just turning back into paper.
Again, good food for thought and appreciated.