Learn to live on less than you make and save money to protect yourself when financial crises arrive. A financial reserve of months or more, if possible of expenses can buy you time to come up with a solution to fix whatever is causing the stress on your finances. This might include finding new employment, recovering from illness, paying off medical bills, unexpected car repairs, etc.
Cash is a powerful tool in most situations. Make sure you keep a good supply of readily accessible cash in the bank that can be withdrawn immediately. It is also a good idea to keep some cash in small bills safely secured in your home. The value of the dollar, or any type of paper money, is subject to rapid devaluation as we have witnessed in Argentina and Venezuela.
In contrast, the value of precious metals such as gold and silver tend to retain value and may be a wise investment. Precious metals may also provide a means of barter or an alternative currency. However, we would strongly encourage you to invest in your food storage before investing in precious metals. Gold and silver do not taste all that good and will not satisfy a hungry belly.
Develop small streams of income that flow into your financial river. If one of those streams happens to dry up, the river will still be able to take care of your family.
Do you have talents or hobbies that you can turn into a home business? Is it possible for other family members to obtain part-time employment to supplement the income? Consider the skills and talents of each family member and how they may be used to contribute to the success of the family.
When the economy crashes, basic skills will become even more valuable. The ability to do your own home and car repairs or other services will save you much-needed money. You may be able to earn quick cash by offering those services to others. Baking bread from scratch, growing tomatoes, mending torn jeans, fixing a leaky faucet, caring for a sick child, repairing a broken lock, fermenting vegetables, and bottling peaches are just a few examples of basic skills that will save money and improve your quality of life when times are tough.
What skills do you have that you may be able to barter with? Perhaps it is time to learn a new hobby that will help you develop important basic skills. Do not skip this incredibly valuable resource. We significantly increase our chance of survival as we work together.
Families are a great example of relationships that are designed to increase the comfort and well-being of each of its members. Start to build working relationships with neighbors and like-minded people. Practice learning the skill of bartering. You watch my kids for a few hours while I go to the doctor and I will fix your leaky faucet. You help move heavy objects for a widow down your street and she gives you a loaf of freshly baked bread.
You share some of the fresh produce from your garden and a neighbor gives you a bag of used clothes for your child. These relationships are important for success in everyday life, but even more important during a crisis, as everyone is affected a bit differently.
We are prepared to take care of ourselves and our family during an economic crisis. However, no matter how well I prepare I may need help from others in order to survive due to circumstances beyond my control.
This will be true for all of us. We may be stranded in a city far away from our home and will be very grateful to a kind soul who feeds us and helps us return home.
It may be one of my children or grandchildren who is in need of assistance. I am prepared to reach out to others in need and I hope there is another kind person somewhere who is willing and able to care for me and those I love. The tables can turn very quickly. You never know when it may be you in desperate need of the charity of others. One of the reasons Venezuelan citizens gave for fleeing the country was violent crime.
The citizens do not have the ability to defend themselves with firearms due to strict gun control laws. You may need to be prepared with alternative methods to protect and defend your family from dangerous people. Physically secure your home and make it a less appealing target for thieves. Strengthen and secure all entry points to your home, plant thorny barriers roses, thorny bushes as a deterrent, build strong fences, keep valuables out of sight and secured, and install alarm systems if appropriate.
A great way to find vulnerabilities in your home is to involve the entire family. But the study suggests a deliberate change in course is still possible. Images of melt: Earth's vanishing ice. The reality of climate change: 10 myths busted. Top 10 ways to destroy Earth. Herrington told Vice.
It's entirely possible, Herrington said, for humans to respond similarly to the ongoing climate crisis — if we make a deliberate, society-wide choice to do so. Read more about the report at Vice. Goods are cheap and readily available. Everything seems to be in abundance. Stores are filled with retail items ready to be purchased. Life in general is good. However, the idea that everyone is entitled to have what others have earned now permeates society.
Redistribution of Wealth Policies are implemented and quietly woven into the fabric of society. Unchecked and under the guise of fairness and equality, these policies slowly decrease productivity and increase dependency on government entitlement and welfare programs.
The economy goes into a slow but steadily increasing decline. Unemployment is on the rise. Ever increasing numbers of people receive government assistance in one form or another. People are paid not to work. Government spending has increased dramatically.
The price of gold, silver, and other precious metals rise to prices unheard of just a few years earlier. Inflation reaches the double digit levels. The total collapse of the economy begins after a significant and prolonged decline. The government implements price controls.
Shortages on essential goods become widespread. Foreclosed houses sit vacant and deteriorating by the tens of thousands. Middle class neighborhoods begin to look like slums. The government begins to print currency to pay its bills and support the tens of millions on public assistance.
It will be food and water that count. Prepare now! Thanks in advance. If you need my address, I will gladly give it to you. I come from a third world country. Whenever I visit, some but very few talk about anything remotely what you mentioned. Life, however, goes on. In the U. Folks follow the government. Life will always go on. We can never be prepared for the unknown. I remember the high inflation in late seventies and early eighties. America came back, may be not to its senses but the worst was behind us.
Inflation was high but so was interest on savings account and Certificate of Deposits. While the high-inflation environment of the late 70s early 80s made for a tough time economically, it did reward savers. It was really cool looking at my savings book remember those? Also, remember hearing stories that my great grandparents took a big stock pile of gold coins when they moved from Spain s to Latin America.
They were running away from hyperinflation, hunger and pretty much a collapse of the Spanish economy. Something like what the Preppers are fearing will happen in the USA. Len: Thank you so much for covering this. This is important information.
We all need to start preparing. Just in case! What is your opinion on sterling flatware? I inherited 2 sets which are never used Would those have any use in bartering?
You may be able to use your flatware for bartering, Georgia. The trouble is, many people will not be willing to give you full silver value by weight because it will be difficult to ascertain the real value of your flatware.
If food is scarce, the person who has stocked up a surplus of canned goods, for example, can barter just as effectively, if not more so, than the guy with a bunch of old silver liberty dimes. You can barter with anything that people will have a need for: toilet paper, water, matches, gasoline, etc.
You can even barter your services if you have a skill to offer that somebody needs. Personally, I would hold on to your flatware and then sell it later, after a new currency is established.
I suspect it will be worth a great deal of money by then. I grew up during the cold war and parents all around were either contemplating or building nuclear bomb shelters! Sometimes I wonder if N. Korea will someday carry through on their posturings…. What a great post, with clear, straightforward tips; exactly what you would need for a disaster situation! Thanks for this. Looking forward to more. Great post, Len.
I have a lot of catching up to do! For those of you who are not in agreement with firearm ownership then you should at least arm yourselves with wasp spray. It shoots up to 22 ft. I have lots of cans plus a Glock 9mm. Thanks for continually posting about this Len. The bottom line is I just want to have the means to protect my family and survive if something crazy happens.
For 20 years or so the US has been the undisputed top dog. Maybe 40 if you think as I do that the Soviet threat was empty, bar nukes, from the late s onwards as the US kicked up a gear. That situation is changing, and clearly you have your massive public finance issues and crazies of both sides in Washington.
Now we do royal families and London Whales. A slow decline from uber-power that the US might face. But the lights mostly stayed on, people went to work, life expectancies increased, we all drank more soda. More a slow descent into a new reality.
Moreover I actually think the US is far better placed for the next than the UK was back in , so even more reasons to be optimistic. I suspect and pray that things will get back to some semblance of order within a month. Storing extra medications is a good idea, however, it is much harder to get antibiotics now when you are actually sick. How can anyone get extra antibiotics to store for emergencies?
Bones has several articles about how to easiy get antibiotics now, as well as some excellent info on real shelf lives of medications. The site is ful of medical knowledge related to a collapse situation. I print any of his articles to keep for a bad day. I recently bought a large bottle of Keflex tablets at an Orscheln or maybe Tractor Supply…?
Unfortunately for my family, we are highly allergic to most of these common antibiotics altho we have them on hand for our livestock. Fortunately for my family, I have a veritable pharmacy of antibiotic herbals in my own back yard that are safer and more effective in our experience. For more info on this— visit your local library!
Fish Antibiotics. You can buy them from any pet store or even Walmart. Get a medicine first aid book that will help you determine which are used for which infections.
IE Amoxicillin vs. Trust me I have one from an Rx and opened it and saw. They are the same. Everything written above is right and the author did a good job informing sometimes unaware readers. But one thing IMHO is not correct. So if you had a debt it increased every month as did the inflation. In my opinion better be free of any obligations toward these guys. Vytas, thanks for your insight.
Your points are well-taken. However, I recently reread the terms of my mortgage, which is a legally-binding signed contract between two parties; there is no clause in there regarding re-indexing in times of hyperinflation.
Article 1 Section 9 of the US Constitution prohibits ex-post facto laws. So, if Congress passed a law rewriting the terms of my existing mortgage, that would mean the rule of law here in the US would have to be completely abandoned.
Could it happen? The bottom line: For financially responsible individuals who can afford it, I think leveraging low-interest-rate loans here in the USA is well-worth the risk. I find kinda funny that you are prepparing for 6 months of total mayhem in your country, but at the same time you think that the banks banks! Because banks are the most honorable folks out there.
Even when you talk things that sound all doom and gloom, you are still an optimist, I really like you Len. They cannot unilaterally change a contract. Question then…I still have debt from cards that we are religiously paying off medical emergency with a disabled son. Any input? Would be totally appreciated. Will they be hit too? Should they be stocking up on goods? I believe collapse here in the US is going to impact Canada and other countries very little, if at all, James.
As a result, a collapse of the dollar will end that privilege and most middle- and lower-class Americans will then experience a significant drop in their current standard of living. Unfortunately, Canada has almost zero gold reserves. At least they have plenty of gold and silver underground waiting to be mined.
Hopefully, the powers that be will do a hard reset to keep the supply chains from breaking. If they do, times will be tough for awhile, but everyone will eventually recover and we can all get back to a real production-based economy that generates real wealth — as opposed to the current illusion that is propped up by printing paper IOUs that will never be repaid. What happened to these posts?
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