Are you prepared? Trying to be more self sufficient

To me it's about minimizing your risk and weathering the storm. So long as life stays fundamentally the same, prices / the market will go back up.

If there are historical drops in the market, rich people and professional investors will definitely make a lot of money by taking advantage of the volatility. If you don't know exactly what you're doing, or if you can't afford to lose all of the money you're investing, don't fuck around with this. It is very easy to melt away your hard earned savings by essentially flipping a coin. Trying to guess when the drop is over, or when something will go back up is basically impossible, much safer to hold what you have. The saying is "time in the market beats timing the market."

Keep your periodic investments going, too (401k, IRA, personal stock accounts). A nice way to look at a dip in the market is a fire sale: you keep buying the same dollar amount of stock, and it will be worth more in the future than what you were buying previously at full price.

 

Recession? My IRAs and 401Ks are up nearly 30% YTD. (Market is up 44%) Why do I have to bail out poor decision makers?

 

There are many ways to crash an economy. The word I heard is that the intent is to create a melt down similar to Russia in the early 90s. Probably bad enough to tank the dollar and necessitate a new currency at some point. There are people that have no problem using bankruptcy to pay down debt.

 

There's nothing wrong with listening to what anyone has to say, just be careful whose theory you act on. I'm in my 50's now and there's always been the end of the world types out there. I agree in my rational brain it's hard to look at the national debt and money printing and not think this house of cards has to crash. Thinking like that has also cost me a lot money. I bought into the market when everything crashed in 08-09 and sold a few years latter. I thought "this has to be the top" how could the market keep going up...we never really fixed anything. We're just making a bigger bubble. Well guess what, we just hit all time highs. I left a lot of money on the table. I was also going to but bitcoin when it was $5000 and talked myself out of it. So what the hell do I know.

 

Decrease your personal debt is never a bad thing regardless of what might happen.
My personal limits have been to not use a CC if I can’t pay it off at the end of the month unless it’s a matter of life or death. If I can’t easily afford a new car loan at 48 month terms, I can’t afford it.

Be smart with your money, boom or bust.

 

If that's the case, we will have a case of hyperinflation and depression at the same time. Ala Weimar Germany and 90s Russia and Romania.
And remember that a few years ago Congress passed a law requiring banks to be "bailed-in". IE deposits held with the banks will be used to save the banks, feds will not bail out every bank. Yes, FDIC will be around, but it does not have enough funds to save everybody's deposit. Expect long bank holidays and accounts being frozen for years. Eventually you will get your money back, but at a greatly diminished value.
Pay off any debts, save, start to garden.
It is all one man's opinion.
PS silver and gold? Watch StarPath Academy on YT. He lived thru Romania's crash.
PPS I will take silver and gold for the food grown in my garden and canned good I have. My kids will be richer.

 

Getting ready to remodel kitchen no loan. Planning on retiring in a year and a half also I’m not going to change plans now. Would I go into big debt now? No unless it was an emergency. I’ll only be 59 when I plan on retiring so can keep working a while if need be.
If…… this stuff with the economy is in the works I’d work hard to be debt free. I’d also try to put away a least 3 months of bills away in cash. This may seem impossible for some folks but it can be done.

 

Talking about a possible economic collapse is most deffinately an SHTF situation. One of the reasons stocking up on food and water is always smart. I look at it as money in the bank. If I buy a can of peas now for $.78 and next year it’s $1.10 I made money plus I’ll have food stored to eat. It’s just smart money to me and security

 

What was the source for this information? Can you link to it?

 

I e seen this a couple times now but never a source I’m interested also. My youngest daughter even mentioned a threat of recession, not like we haven’t been under that threat for a couple years now

 

monetary scaremongering. So, if it is just that, you won't ever get a source. That said, 'stuff in your possession' has exactly the same value to you regardless of the outside conditions. gold is worthless if you can't find someone to trade it to who values it. Anything, really, is worthless. "oh I'll give you a million bux if we get through this' .. I guess, but can you help just a little bit?

Most folks who like to hold onto goods like the idea of deflation - 'what I have gets more valuable' is the core of the idea after all. Not sure I approve. It's a recipe to prevent economic movement and investment.

 

if I just had a gold coin for each time the prepper community has predicted economic problems

 

I would think if something bad ever happens skills would be a good trading item more so than any kind of money. Of course that depends on what the skills are

 

Given there are about 100 people per square mile in the US, being prepared to go solo isn’t realistic. What it comes down to is we’re all in this together and everyone has to step in. But being prepared is a good thing, wish everyone was.

 

I can balance/stick a spoon on my nose... that's a skill!

 

Yes you are very talented

 

Fear and anxiety. The greatest marketing tools ever.

 

"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don't have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you."

 

Did you know that we used to have long periods of Deflation, when we used to have sound money?
The only times we had large inflation was the Civil war and WWI? When we did not have enough people working and making stuff?

https://youtu.be/SvscXElccWw?si