Posted on 07/15/2013 3:55:10 PM PDT by Kartographer
I've said it before, that once a hurricane goes through Houston, people are demanding water and food within an hour. I had a working portable battery TV after Ike went through, and couldn't believe my eyes that people were having fits for water immediately. The water was contaminated and they had not stored one cup or bottle of their good water before it came through. If we have an extended emergency, those people are going to die for sure.
So, if stores had storage food available here, I doubt enough would buy it to make it worth while for the store to have it.
LOL. I know the feeling. I too am not really trying to make money off the silver eagles, and other coins. Just a stash to keep.
I figure that if inflation hits, my house payment will be the same, but the property tax could become unaffordable, so I have several years worth equivalent to taxes stashed that should rise with the inflation.
When I was a kid, by maternal grandpa used to give me a big nickel(silver dollar) whenever I visited. Mom always kept them for me until I would decide what to spend it on. Then she would pay for it with a bill.
I asked one time why they all wanted to keep those coins, and they told me it was because they were afraid that our money might not be worth any thing some day. Supposedly they had a bunch of them hidden under the floorboards of the house.
I believe that Real Estate acquired during this recent downturn will absolutely be a good investment, but it’s not liquid, still with a good location, I wouldn’t hesitate.
I would not invest in bonds at this time, because interest rates are too low, and more likely than not to go up. I keep enough in Treasuries to pay off the Home Equity loan plus a little extra. Even Treasuries make me nervous these days.
Remember the first few days of 2008 market crash? Money was being drained from Treasuries, and the accounts were showing a negative return, as the world thought it was just a USA problem; that was scary. Then when it became clear that the rest of the world had similar problems, the money all came back to the USA.
Since our currency is not backed by gold anymore, reputation is what keeps that money here for now. Usually, it is considered less risky to just invest in a mutual fund, but these days, I would buy stock in an individual company, before I’d put anymore in mutual funds.
I’d look for a company with a long history and see that they did well during prior periods of uncertainty, but even more important, they should also have zero short term debt and long term debt should be as close to zero as possible.
Then I’d want to see a big stash of liquied assets, and great cash flow. Good luck finding that! Last time, I found one it was 6 years ago and it was the only one I found that fit that criteria. The stock doubled within 6 months, and I sold a little more than half of it to get back my original investment plus and let the rest ride.
One thing I didn’t mention, paying extra on any debt that has a high interest rate is a sure thing. If your interest rate is 12%, that is a for sure 12% rate of return kinda on your money for example.
Our issue is that we are retired, and living on pensions and social security. Hubby works part time and I babysit. Our hobby is gardeing and becoming more self sufficient - going back to our roots and homesteading a little. We’ll be ok as long as pensions checks keep coming, or at least if we can make the house payment and real estate taxes I think.
“My question would be, not WILL it happen here in the USSA, but CAN it happen?”
It sure can. Keep in mind that the value of a currency is in people’s willingness to accept it. The value of our currency is largely determined outside of the US; petrodollars and the use as a reserve/exchange currency. I don’t see the petrodollar thing changing that much very soon; the US is now a fairly big exporter of oil. But then again, other countries are beginning to exchange oil for gold or other currencies. The reserve currency though isn’t looking so hot for the US. Watch the numerous bilateral agreements China is executing to use their currency rather than the USD.
While a sudden, surprise hyperinflation is possible, I see the slide followed by a sudden drop as more likely. In any case, good luck in timing it. Diversification out of the dollar and into PMs would seem to be a wise move right now. You don’t have to and shouldn’t bet the farm, but I also think that the writing is on the wall for the dollar in the long term.
I think that relative to silver, gold is overpriced.
Keep in mind that PMs are what you should buy AFTER you have a long term supply of food, ammo, water, and other essentials taken care of. While both are important, preserving you and your families life is more important than preserving your wealth.
The advantage that the doom and gloom types have is that some day, one of their “end of the world” prophecies will come true.
It might be 100,000 years from now, but they will be shown to have been right.
While silver is below $20.00/ounce, I may buy a few cartwheels or eagles.
Speaking of food & essentials, what about this “Food Insurance” I hear hyped on talk radio? Seems anyone with sense can put together a stash of nonperishable items.
Never heard of it. If you don’t possess it and can’t protect it, you don’t own it.
So True, and I usually just shrug it off, but this has truly been the scariest economic situation in my lifetime, and the government seems determined to continue to spend like druken sailors.
We know that can’t go on forever.
I think that it is more likely to get your money back from social security if you start drawing it at 62, though each person’s situation differs. If you start drawing at age 62, you will draw benefits for 5 years-it takes a while to catch up when you delay, and many people won’t live that long.
I took my pension in lump sum and rolled it over to an IRA, I haven’t drawn anything on it, and won’t until I have to. It’s in an annuity that is earning 6% annually for the purpose of annutization.
Hubby was a school teacher in a rural district. My concern is that the government is so irresponsible, that I don’t know what is going to happen with social security or his pension.
The school system retirement is in pretty good shape, and is funded to what the actuarial requirements are. However the state government workers are underfunded, and they are always trying to get the teacher’s fund lumped in with theirs, so it won’t look so bad.
We also have people trying to change it from a defined benefit plan to a 401k type plan, which means no security or meaningful planning for retirement current and future retirees. Makes no sense; articles, I have read state that we are one of the few states that doesn’t have the backing of the state to guarantee the pension.
The Federal government has overpromised, and they will no doubt be forced to under deliver at some point. With only 8 years left on the mortgage, I am hoping that if we do have a currency collapse, it’ll be far enough in the future, that the emergency cash, and pension money can pay off the balance at that point.
Well, I had to retire to find time to do enough of it to make a difference.LOL.
“We know that can’t go on forever.”
Yes, but it can go on for a long, long, time. So long as someone is willing to use our currency and purchase government debt, the ponzi will continue.
If it just lasts for about 6 to 8 more years, the mortgage will be paid, and chances for survival for this family just went up a lot.
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