Posted on 12/27/2013 5:44:30 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Since November, financial advisor David Marotta has been publishing a series of blog posts on how to manage your money in the event of a financial apocalypse—as in a world of hyperinflation, governmental collapse, and anarachic mobs. You know, the standard stuff of a doomsday prepper's fever dreams. While Marotta admits he has some fears about the direction of the country (the man's not an Obamacare fan, to say the least) most of it seems to be fairly tongue-in-cheek material aimed at talking potential clients down from investing in some of the crazy, survivalist scams advertised on conservative talk radio. (Sadly, The Washington Examiner seems to have missed the humor).
And the first scam on his agenda? Plowing all your money into gold, of course. Here's his biblically inflected explanation of why toting around a suitcase of gold come the end times—and at today's prices, a $1 million in gold coins would fit in a suitcase—would be a suboptimal strategy:
If there really is a collapse of the money supply it is difficult to believe that your briefcase of pretty coins will still have any purchasing power near $1 million. In the 1970s, Christian singer Larry Norman made popular the Apocalyptic song lyric, “A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold” based on Revelation 6:6. In The End, I’d rather not have bought as much gold as possible.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Yes, if you want to think this through you have to balance between “holding the fort” and “hunter/gatherer”. In real life some semblance of both would likely work best. A small enough bag of dimes to easily carry. Some ammo belts, with a variety of weapons. Canned goods for the home stand. Jerky and water purification for life on the run. Rope and a good knife for either scenario.
On Buying Gold & Silver for Survival Preparedness
http://shtfschool.com/trading/on-buying-gold-silver-for-survival-preparedness/
Canned good and shotguns.
Don’t forget medicine, vitamins, and comfort items, such as TP. A roll of TP will be worth a fortune in the apocalypse. Lol.
I have posted this several times on these SHTF articles, but I can tell you from personal experience that you have 3 days. When Sandy hit, the grid went down and there was no gas to be found in northern Jersey. Things got out of hand quickly. Christie was smart and made sure Newark and the surrounding areas got power right away. That kept the zombies at bay. Where I am is solid conservative country and people were going nuts. They were pulling guns at gas station and there were huge lines at a pizza and bagel store that had owners smart enough to run their business on a generator. We were okay because of two things. 1- a wood burning stove. Hot water, cook top, and kept the house warm. 2- I happened to read a post by a Florida FReeper that suggested getting gas the night before the storm hit. I said what the heck and took ten minutes to fill up both cars. I almost didn’t. A day later there were 3 hour lines to get 5 dollars worth of gas. Because I had a full tank I could make it to Pa. and get supplies and top off the tank. I have been in deep prep mode since then.
So you going out in the middle of shtf with your junk silver and trying to buy a can of beans is safer than someone laying low with their cans of beans?
That is spot on!!!, I have no idea why people can't understand that. Gold is for reestablishing your self once the crisis/event/zombie attack is over.
That could be said of any material:”Just how much food, guns, ammo could you have or use before...”
Big ticket items like surgery aren’t going to be paid with canned goods.
Bablefish?
Sure, but I can name a guy from that period that keep his wealth in gold, used it to come here and lives well. No single story should ever be held as definitive.
beans and bullets- a bit simplistic
be sure to add big body bags and bleach to your siege supplies of beans and bullets
you’ll have to do something about the dead rotting bodies of the men women and children you kill. I assume when you shoot looters with children you will also shoot the children, and that you have thought this through
Bodies piled up on your lawn and outside your doors and windows will be a health hazard to you. Since we are talking months, maybe years here
The dead bodies of those you shoot will also show looters with guns (who will form mobs) the homes that have something inside worth killing for
Exactly.
If we actually end up in a SHTF scenario, with government basically helpless, all bets are off. I don’t expect it to go that way, though. I don’t see that scenario in bible prophesy. I see the opposite. e.g. the mark of the beast type stuff. I see hyper-inflation in our future. Hence the precious metals.
Better yet, grain alcohol in pt. bottles. 190 proof can be diluted two or three to one with water or fruit juices.
Well all I can do is base my judgement on my own experiences and those of others who have actually lived through real life shtf events. to me their experiences alone are worth more than gold or silver.
And silver will be only slightly more useful.
Paper cash will be somewhere between silver and gold. Tough paper rag has several usages.
But... a sudden total worldwide collapse is not very likely. Unless you count the Toba eruption one has never happened when humans were around.
Local and partial collapse is much more likely. And that is where having gold, silver and paper money is useful.
Should you put everything you have in gold? No.
Should it be part of your plan? Your choice but probably.
Will it be worth as much after as before? Probably not so don't go overboard.
Sandy was very instructive for many people. Fortunately, my relatives all followed my advice. They loaded up on canned food and water. They also quickly discovered something I did not think much about during the two weeks they had no power — cash is king. They each went to the ATM and withdrew a couple of grand each and topped off their cars and filled gas cans. When the power went off, some stores and restaurants restored power within a few days. These stores took only cash because the ATMs were down. My parents were able to buy some items because of this. My uncle and dad had portable generators. They would host parties with their neighbors. They providing the power, the neighbors providing the food. A short time barter arrangement. Some neighbors had “connections” and were able to get gas where none could be obtained normally.
All in all, my relatives were doing better than most during Sandy. Sandy was a short term inconvenience for them, but it was a deathly/near deathly experience for many.
Better yet, grain alcohol in pt. bottles. 190 proof can be diluted two or three to one with water or fruit juices.
Word is the Japanese discovered this in WWII. Good don’t mean squat if there’s nothing to buy with it.
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