Financial Survival

[OLDNEWBIE]

Diversify. Land or housing, stock trades, IRAs and other traditional retirement plans, guns, ammo, precious metals and other tangibles/collectibles be it classic cars or classic art.
Don't forget Insurance! Bad stuff can happen before you know it.

 

[Just Jim]

Diversify. Land or housing, stock trades, IRAs and other traditional retirement plans, guns, ammo, precious metals and other tangibles/collectibles be it classic cars or classic art.
Don't forget Insurance! Bad stuff can happen before you know it.

The world is changing, what worked before may not be of value tomorrow. It's why preppers prep, you never know what is next in a world of turmoil. Imagine all the great plans to retire then the dollar goes to hel l due to the other countries no longer useing it for a world currency. We no longer make anything here so how will that work out when we can't trade dollars for goods?

As we speak Russia and China are doing deals to dump the dollar along with many other countries.

 

[Just Jim]

I find it odd people recognize what personal debt does in making you a slave but don't see what's coming on national debt. They are selling out the future so a good prepper will figure UT what financial steps to take to survive what is coming. We are the biggest debtor nation in the history of the planet. Our neighbors and enemies see this.

 

[OLDNEWBIE]

I agree that" The world is changing, what worked before may not be of value tomorrow" only nobody can predict exactly when these changes will effect traditional methods of preserving wealth.
That's why diversity is more important than ever.

Smart diversification today must include a % of prepper type stuff. What % depends on how accurate your crystal ball is or what your age/lifespan is.

 

[NoFlinch]

The Most important thing I learned about loaning money is;

"Don't do it if you can't afford to lose it, because you probably will".

And YES, this "devaluing" of the dollar as a world currency worries me a LOT

 

[NoFlinch]

Diversify. Land or housing, stock trades, IRAs and other traditional retirement plans, guns, ammo, precious metals and other tangibles/collectibles be it classic cars or classic art.
Don't forget Insurance! Bad stuff can happen before you know it.

Only problem is, if the SHTF, none of this is worth anything, because the dollar will be worthless.

Guns?...I can't sell 1/2 the ones I "Invested in"now.

Ammo; "I'll trade you this 20 round box of 223 for that potato...."

Precious metals? Uh, nice loss there as of today, but that's long term. It may be even more worthless someday....

Classic cars or art? Who's looking for a nice Bev Doolittle when they can't afford the house to hang it in??

Now I know...........who knows what the future holds.

I'm just not optimistic at all.

 

[Just Jim]

I agree that" The world is changing, what worked before may not be of value tomorrow" only nobody can predict exactly when these changes will effect traditional methods of preserving wealth.
That's why diversity is more important than ever.

Smart diversification today must include a % of prepper type stuff. What % depends on how accurate your crystal ball is or what your age/lifespan is.

I don't have a crystal ball, I just gather information and look at the direction things are headed to. Can't tell when something will happen but by the information gathered I think it must happen. National debt and the world view of us is shaping our future. Add to that a corrupt political system and the debt slavery people all ready live and it tells me we are headed for a huge crisis.

Last time they did it at an election when Obama came into office. Since then they have piled up trillions more in debt. I suspect that the timing will be the same as last time. Take a changing of government and peddle the fear while they screw us once more. Financially it is going to hurt if they have access to your money.

 

[OLDNEWBIE]

Classic Art is for after the dust settles in a SHTF wealth preserving strategy.

223 for potatoes? Yeah that's plausible.

Bev Doolittle? If you want some Art of value during SHTF then think Penthouse or Playboy.

 

[Just Jim]

Only problem is, if the SHTF, none of this is worth anything, because the dollar will be worthless.

Guns?...I can't sell 1/2 the ones I "Invested in"now.

Ammo; "I'll trade you this 20 round box of 223 for that potato...."

Precious metals? Uh, nice loss there as of today, but that's long term. It may be even more worthless someday....

Classic cars or art? Who's looking for a nice Bev Doolittle when they can't afford the house to hang it in??

Now I know...........who knows what the future holds.

I'm just not optimistic at all.

Interesting the early survivalist said money would be 22lr, odd that you can't hardly find it in the stores now. Looks by your estimate that it won't be "what you have" to get through tough times, maybe it will be "what you can do that sells"?

 

[Just Jim]

Classic Art is for after the dust settles in a SHTF wealth preserving strategy.

223 for potatoes? Yeah that's plausible.

Bev Doolittle? If you want some Art of value during SHTF then think Penthouse or Playboy.

I am not one to collect art or jewelry for preps. I would get better trade out of tools or booze. Times get as bad as people think I doubt penthouse or playboy's will trade well Maybe an auto repair manual or a book on fly fishing or reloading.

 

[CoastRange57]

Maybe an auto repair manual or a book on fly fishing or reloading.

Books on animal husbandry, technical reference manuals, construction manuals, crop science data, farming with draft animals, medicinal plants, diesel repair....I have shelves of these and buy more every year at garage and estate sales for about a dollar apiece.

 

[Just Jim]

Books on animal husbandry, technical reference manuals, construction manuals, crop science data, farming with draft animals, medicinal plants, diesel repair....I have shelves of these and buy more every year at garage and estate sales for about a dollar apiece.

Knowledge is good preparation, it sells well too. I have been buying fire wood, it will trade well in town. People got to cook and stay warm. It's hard for people to steal it too.

 

[CoastRange57]

Next time you drive by some apartments, look at all the nice newer cars in the parking areas.

Next time you drive by an area with a lot of known rentals, look at all the nice cars/boats/trailers/etc. in the driveways...

Drive through a trailer park.....

I work Loss Prevention at a retail store next to a very large trailer park. Over the last few years, I have got pretty good at profiling the people who go in and out of there. The incoming deliveries are made by certain people in certain vehicles, pretty much run of the mill cars etc. There are then others who come in and pick up the product, and take it out for distribution. The the real players in the Escalades, the Navigators, full size Beamers all come in about once a week, Fridays around 10 am , to pick up the proceeds usually at the trailer park and several other local apartments. These rigs at shot hole apartments are pretty much a give away.

 

[CoastRange57]

I DID invest in Real Estate, back when it was a good investment...saw the crash coming, sold most of it, now have $$ in the bank.

Real estate is still a good investment. In particular multi family housing rentals. My son owns several properties and has a 0% vacancy rate. He buys distressed properties puts his cash into them and then fills them up with people making his payments and giving him a positive cash flow.

Guy I went to school with has about 110 rental apartments.. Low income type housing, he keeps them fairly well maintained, has a net cash flow of over 30K per month. Of course helps he inherited them.

 

[Just Jim]

Real estate is still a good investment. In particular multi family housing rentals. My son owns several properties and has a 0% vacancy rate. He buys distressed properties puts his cash into them and then fills them up with people making his payments and giving him a positive cash flow.

Guy I went to school with has about 110 rental apartments.. Low income type housing, he keeps them fairly well maintained, has a net cash flow of over 30K per month. Of course helps he inherited them.

I think anything that pays a return today is a good investment. It's just the way things are will it be dependable in the future? As corrupt as things are I am not sure any investment is going to be there in our future. You got to have a place to live and to have it paid for gets you away from the thieves in banking but the taxes are what you can't get away from if you own property here in oregon. It may take moving to a state with no property tax to be really free.

 

[CoastRange57]

Debt is slavery, it owns you.

There can be good debt and bad debt. I used debt and leverage to finance an expansion of our construction business. It as a carefully planned and monitored process. I bought more equipment, used of course at fire sale prices from distressed companies. This allowed us to move into some larger and better margins jobs.

If you play it right in the construction business, you can hit some home runs now and then, and really get into some piles of cash. People who are not cable of handling this kind of money will go buy new pickups, new boats, and granite counter tops. I applied 90% of those new profits to paying down the debt and had the equipment debt free 2.5 years ahead of our plan. When that market collapsed in 2009, we were able to let the equipment sit until we were able to recover over 110% of the original value.

When you get into a cash position in a business and life in general, you are truly empowered. Nobody can f with you about anything.

 

[Just Jim]

There can be good debt and bad debt. I used debt and leverage to finance an expansion of our construction business. It as a carefully planned and monitored process. I bought more equipment, used of course at fire sale prices from distressed companies. This allowed us to move into some larger and better margins jobs.

If you play it right in the construction business, you can hit some home runs now and then, and really get into some piles of cash. People who are not cable of handling this kind of money will go buy new pickups, new boats, and granite counter tops. I applied 90% of those new profits to paying down the debt and had the equipment debt free 2.5 years ahead of our plan. When that market collapsed in 2009, we were able to let the equipment sit until we were able to recover over 110% of the original value.

When you get into a cash position in a business and life in general, you are truly empowered. Nobody can f with you about anything.

I agree if you can use debt to make money to pay the debt off and get a return. Banks are getting free money then loan it out several times to make huge returns. They use money to make money. The debt I am talking about is personal debt like credit cards and mortgage. The interest on those are way too much and it drags out for way too long of a time.

 

[The Heretic]

I find it odd people recognize what personal debt does in making you a slave but don't see what's coming on national debt. They are selling out the future so a good prepper will figure UT what financial steps to take to survive what is coming. We are the biggest debtor nation in the history of the planet. Our neighbors and enemies see this.

For one thing, the amount of personal debt far exceeds each person's share of the national debt.

Also, the fed/state/etc. government is generally considered to be a more solvent and reliable debtor. Revenue may vary, but overall, the general population of taxpayers as a whole backs the government. Individually each citizen's financial situation is a lot more fragile than the government.

That isn't to say that national debt isn't a bad thing, but the economy is affected a lot more by overall ability to repay personal debt, than the size of the national debt. Look what happened when just 20% of the population had a problem with personal debt when the housing bubble burst.

 

[CoastRange57]

The debt I am talking about is personal debt like credit cards and mortgage. The interest on those are way too much and it drags out for way too long of a time.

Agreed. There is no solid reason to have any more debt than a mortgage, and you should pay that off as soon as possible.By writing an additional check each month to pay down the principle. But the American way is to have larger homes than you need and more vehicle than you need. People think you have to have a car payment. You do if you subscribe to Detroit and Tokyo's bullshot. They have made vehicles cost so much that people buy cars on 72 month payment contracts, trade the car and the DEBT off on the next one in 4 years. I know people that are paying on the last 3 cars they bought, they just have not figured it out yet.

We drive a 12 year old Explorer and a 20 year old Mustang. Both have well over 140K on them, and run like clocks due to good care and excellent maintenance. When we need to go farther than about 75 miles in one way, we rent a car. The last rental was 5 days and cost us $ 153 for a nice Chrysler 200 4 door.

When we had the business, we did have a couple of vehicles that we had for personal use as well. Paid for 5 year old F 350, and paid for 3 year old Explorer. I made payments on the Freightliners and the excavators, because they made me money every time they turned a wheel.

I have not had a credit card in over 15 years. And I do not have the faintest idea idea what our credit score is, nor do I care.

 

[CoastRange57]

Another thing, I may have touched on it in a past thread.

1. DISABILITY INSURANCE.

It can never happen to me, right ?? Find yourself unable to work for 30 or more days. Exhaust your vacation, exhaust the time your co workers give you and you are not getting paid anymore. If you have an emergency fund, you could be OK, but a disability policy that pays at least 75% of your salary is a damn good idea. The monthly out lay is more than worth it is you need it.

2. LIFE INSURANCE

I am not going to die anytime soon..right ?? When I was laying in ICU, barely aware of my surroundings, I knew I was dying. I was more worried that my life insurance payment had been made so that my wife would get the 1M policy I was and still am carrying. I was probably under insured even at that point. I was unable to communicate, my son keep asking me what I was trying to communicate and he hit on that, and told me all was fine. That amount would have cleared the mortgage and given her enough to live on for a long time. I know some people who did not have life insurance and passed away and left their families in a position no family should ever be in.