Posted on 12/05/2020 5:18:14 AM PST by SteveH
any thoughts?
i am thinking
* payoff mortgage immediately
* divest from all stocks, mutual funds, bonds 50% now, 25% next week if bad news continues
* move into precious metals now, 50% from cash in bank now, 25% next week if bad news continues
* pay off any mortgage (if overall finances allow, eg, if mortgage currently being used as income tax dodge)
* (current blue state residents) prepare for possibility of a need to leave home with very little advance notice, travel to nearest solid red state - have or buy a decent auto, preferably 4x4 truck. plan the route now, memorize it
(anyone considering going to mexico? canada?)
(i would love to be wrong about a need to do all of this.)
thoughts welcome
If you are just now thinking of prepping for bad possibilities, I suggest an ESV Study Bible. That and some time in church will do more good than a lot of what you listed and a lot of what you will hear on the internets.
And think about staying where you are. In a real civil war, unknown refugees flooding into red states from blue tyrannies may not as come as you would hope.
Don’t pay off mortgage. No one is going to evict you in a Civil War, and you need the cash.
1. I like cash. Lots of it. Depending on your age that amount should vary.
2. The Fed will keep the spigot on for the foreseeable future.
3. We are entering an era of New Ruralism and Suburbanism. Quality of Life in major cities is bad and getting worse. If you don't believe me, try to buy a home in an established, quality school community that is within 30 miles of a major city - Atlanta, DC, NYC..... Existing housing stock is historically low and bidding wars are common.
4. Find a clear, calm, easy to listen news source that offers you a total perspective of current events -I listen to conservative John Batchelor out of NY. The calmest and most learned radio host in the Country. For those concerned about an upcoming civil war, listen to John interview historian Michael Vlahos of JHU.
5. I love residential real estate. But now is not the time to buy. In or around 2008-2012 my amazing wife convinced me to start buying ranch homes in an exclusive area close to where we live. It was a blue light special.
6. Not a fan of metals. However I do think we will start to see inflation in the next 24 to 36 months. Holding back inflation will be protracted softness in commercial real estate and upscale urban real estate. 7. New business applications are up 85% from November 2019.
8. I am keeping my powder dry and avoiding the emotion of the moment.
9. Even though I don't care for Warren Buffet he has saying that should be always in the back of your mind “when people get greedy I get nervous and when people get nervous I get greedy”.
10. Good luck
“Soon all restaurants will be Taco Bell.”
Only after they win the franchise wars.
Alright, let me as a veteran address the CWII gorilla in the room......A lot of keyboard warriors here and other places appear almost giddy at the prospect...
Taking to the streets and shooting my neighbor because they voted for Biden? Not going to happen......They may be off my Christmas Card list but that’s the limit...
Taking to the streets and facing possible US Military intervention, for all our bravado and vitriol we would get our proverbial butts kicked and badly.... The militaries command and control, air superiority, and overwhelming logistics ability (not to mention firepower) would relegate any insurrection to a bloody mess in days, not weeks and months.
Political and Legal avenues are the best bet..... When that is exhausted..... Come back and comment..... But let’s stop this nonsense now......
Been there, fought for my country and will do it again, that’s the oath I took.
But to the keyboard warriors, let’s ratchet down the CWII rhetoric.....protests in the street, calls to your representatives and court cases are the appropriate actions.
All legal and political means MUST be exhausted first.
That’s my feelings on gold and silver too.
I used to collect silver/gold. But think for a moment -
Bad stuff happens. Banks are closed, it’s crazy. You need a tank of gas, so you find a guy with gas and give him... a handful of silver? A gold coin? How is he going to know the worth of this? My answer - he won’t. And he’s going to be less than eager to accept something he doesn’t know much about.
However, a wad of cash would probably still work. And if it doesn’t, nothing like ‘money’ will. If I were guessing, I’d say a can of Campbell’s soup is as good a unit of value as anything in those circumstances.
On the stock market, I believe it is heading down. Employment is slowing, little or no Christmas, and it’s going to be a dark time. If we can keep our man in the White House, things will hold. If not, 70-some million of us are going to be re-assessing.
i am aware of several friends and acquaintences who have moved to mexico or belize over time.
i am personally not aware of any of them experiencing any problems.
i have been visiting mexico sporadically over the years as a tourist, with only one minor traffic detention (i paid a negotiated bribe). certain pockets of mexico seem to be filled with american and canadian retirees. every part of mexico with the possible exception of the far south (ie chiapas) seems to have ex pat communities. if you are in a position to be able to visit such a community to get a flavor, i would recommend it.
i am very tempted to consider mexico as an option.
a practical consideration is how to get to mexico (or canada, a red state, or foreign country) during a period of widespread insurrection.
You should be good to go and not be bothered in SE Oklahoma. Plenty of like minded people in that area and many of them crazy to enough to go out in a blaze of glory if the shit should ever hit the fan.
I have been traveling to McCurtain county for work multiple times a year since 2003.
Moved into metals a three years ago. About 90% of my 401k.
> #1 if you are only now planing prepping for the coming Democrat government disaster, you are toast. I have only one piece of advice, get as far away from the cities as you can.
Buy ammo, guns, and keep your head down, The SHTF.
i would not argue with any of that...
Check out the BaoFeng BF-F8HP (UV-5R 3rd Gen) 8-Watt Dual Band Two-Way Radio (136-174Mhz VHF & 400-520Mhz UHF)
Good radio for a small amount of money. Avoid Amazon. People are dumping used, out-dated and defective electronics as new merchandise.
Buy direct from American distributor.
“an invasion of TW is proof that everything will go south very quickly (as in, within days if not hours).”
Absolutely right. Concurrent with that would be the PRC taking the South China Sea. There’s no doubt that China deeply influenced this election (COVID, buying Biden with financial payoffs, Dominion voting machines, and myriad other ways). They see him as their best opportunity for global hegemony and defeat of the United States. Plus it would all be delicious payback for Trump taking them on.
I am following this thread closely. I ditched 90% of my stocks last week and put it in cash. I may have been a bit hasty knowing that stimulus talk will juice the market more, but I am concerned the market is getting frothy and I have seen past Januarys where the market has gone in the dumper.
If Biden prevails I don’t see how significantly more regulations and taxes help. Adding more COVID hysteria, if that’s possible, would further kill small businesses. Debt is out of control. P/E are out of whack.
Maybe I’ll dip my toes back in stocks more and maybe I’ll miss some profit, but I’m concerned about a 40% drop with a long meandering of the market.
Thank you.
I will pass that on to mr. mm.
He’s pretty fed up with Amazon anyways these days.
You can find better stuff cheaper elsewhere.
Yes a good stock of liquor to be used for barter. Also you should be well stocked on firearms, ammo, food, sundries, batteries, a good radio, personal comm devices and a good 4x4. A generator and the fuel to run it. If everyone doesn’t have these things on hand by now, you will find it increasingly hard to come by very soon.
Where I live, commiecast is the only option.
I can’t get fios or directv or dish. I’d love another option. I hate commiecast.
Pay off mortgage and car payments - definitely
If you’re in a blue zone, buy something cheap in a red zone with cash if you can afford it as a place to bug out to or move to it asap. Couple acres with a camper is better than a city
Move investments to whatever you think will still exist later - government contractor type stuff maybe like General Dynamics?
Buy long term storage food - TP - meat animals if you have a place for them, cattle, meat goats, pigs
Grow a garden if you have a place
weapons/ammo - good luck stocking up on ammo right now - choose most readily available ammo then gun
If expecting to bug out, 4x4 truck or suv - small trailer with good ground clearance - jugs for extra fuel - keep tanks and jugs full - rotate - get stabil to extend life
Keep $1-5000 in cash because it won’t become useless overnight but electronic banking could go down overnight.
Even if mortgage is paid, property taxes still need to be paid
What if utilities go down? Got heat? Got light? Got a way to cook? Two burner camp stove will go months on a 20lb cylinder(get 4) - I know because we lived off grid for 5+ years
500 watts of solar panels, charge controller, 4 golf cart batteries, 800-1000 watt inverter, 12vdc fuse block; makes life a lot better along with some 12vdc LED lighting - candles/lanterns suck
WATER - gotta have it. For a while, we used four 5 gallon water cooler jugs and filled them from a spring fed creek. We had a gravity fed ceramic filter to make some drinkable. We upgraded later to a 220 gallon tank, new sump pump to fill tank, generator to run it. They do make hand pumps for a deep well. Rainwater can be collected. Do a search for rain water collection manual. Texas and Hawaii both publish them.
Canned goods are heavy for bugging out but good for your final place. Always consume the liquid because it contains half the nutrients and water might be scarce. Freeze dried is lightweight and lasts fora long time but it’s expensive and water is needed. MREs are ready to eat. Rice and beans last a while and the combo makes a complete protein. Pinto beans are most popular. Requires water. Salt and sugar last forever and are trade items. Same with tobacco and liquor. Most grocery stores that have a bakery will sell or give away their old frosting buckets. Good for storage.
First aid items and try to stock up on meds. Stock up on socks and undies. Feminine hygiene products.
Sleeping bags are warmer than blankets.
No a/c during a hot summer sucks but is survivable. Our first two years off grid were heat wave years with temps over 100 for weeks, sometimes 110 for days. People were spending their days in old root cellars and tornado shelters because the a/c couldn’t keep up. The smallest generator will run the smallest window unit, 5,000 btu. We had fuel available so we ran one after the sun went down past the trees to cool things off for sleeping and we all slept in the one room we cooled. We had the solar panels and it’s only job during that time was to run a 12vdc chest freezer/fridge. Not a 12vdc cooler that you plug into your car lighter. This thing had a compressor and freon. We never went without milk for the kids and kept meat cold. Water too of course.
Living off grid and primitive is a LOT of work. Doing laundry by hand sucks. We only did that a few times before we said screw this and went to the laundry mat. We still have solar panels but the charge controller crapped out and batteries finally went but we got electric service here around that time. I’ll be buying new batteries and charge controller soon. We still have LED lighting and use a RV converter to run them but that takes 120vac. Once solar is back up, I’ll keep the modem/router and cordless phone plugged into the inverter so when the power goes down for hours or a few days, we’ll still have internet and phone. Those are all run underground in this area so they rarely go down.
My original intent was to flee to a Red State spring/summer 2021.
But have recently met a ton of Patriots in my deep Blue State that dig being behind enemy lines - I got it.
Very good thoughts.
Of course what you say is true.
War is one of the greatest evils ever to exist. It must always be a last resort, when all other means have been exhausted. Its horrors are well known. The American People have NO desire ever to experience them!
The forbearance of the American People in the present crisis proves their commitment to peace and peaceful solutions. The response of the American People to the violence and fraud with which America has been attacked by her domestic enemies has been carefully measured legal redress.
However: considering the dangers with which the American People are threatened by her domestic and foreign enemies, a worst case scenario must be carefully considered and strategic measures considered, in case the threats become too intense to ignore.
The American People--including those who post here on Free Republic--have been calm, peaceful, civilized, and wise, supporting law and peace at all times.
It is such wisdom and forbearance that have allowed the American Republic to survive since its beginning and which hold the greatest promise for the fulfilment of the American Dream. There is no reason to suspect that they would be abandoned.
I understand why some of the remarks made here alarm you. Maybe they should. And your words of caution are wise and profoundly appreciated. But hot-heads do not prevail and will not.
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