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I would not pull my money out of my 401k if I were in my 60's. I believe you are old enough to have your investments pay off. I am in my late 30's and I'm not so sure that an IRA would be around to cash out in 2040 or 2050. Of course, it could all still be spinning and pay off, but I think young people planning on retiring in 2050 on the current system are largely kidding themselves.
I view preparing land, producing my own food and being self-sufficient not only as preparation, but also simply as a more fulfilling, rewarding life than what we left behind. For us, we are raising our children on this land with the intent that they will continue living here generationally, whether the Debt Clock is still ticking or not. This is our retirement plan. When we are 60 or 80 years old, we will still be here doing what we can until we can't do it and our kids, grandkids and great-grandkids are doing it. If nothing bad happens, we still get to live what is for us a much more rewarding existence than we used to have.
Not everybody wants to live in the middle of nowhere and it is impossible to deny the convenience of having a Safeway or Fred Meyer around the corner. I believe those are the folks that need to be careful not to end up with $100k worth of stockpiled ammo and barely enough money to cover the absolute bare necessities when it is time to retire.
We can now live on less than $600 per month and that includes satellite tv, internet and a phone line. Our property tax is less than $600 per year. If we got serious and lost the tv and internet our only expenses would be the land line, electricity and property tax. Add another little bit for gasoline and insurance and the little things you need from the hardware store every now and then and we can do it for about $350 per month. Of course, the cost of that is living in the middle of nowhere, not spending money on frivolous things and doing all the work ourselves. Our lives would in ways be easier in a city, but we needed a bare minimum of $3,500-4,000 per month and that just requires a different kind of hard work.
You nailed it when you said everyone's situation is different. If we lived in Portland and tried to have a bug-out property, means of getting there and all the rest that goes along with it, it would truly be absurd. Our move was a lifestyle change as much as a preparation for what we feel is certainly coming, whether it's tomorrow, next year or 40 years down the road. That we can hopefully be a sanctuary for family members that have contributed and store their stuff here is even better. Our nurse is local, but the people that will solidify our security need to get here from elsewhere. At least we can patch them up when they get here.
Not only do we all have individual situations, but rarely will our priorities match the next guy's. I sincerely hope that everyone that has prepared at all in their lives has what they need when the time comes. We chose to live our "prep" and from some points of view, that may seem extreme. It was far and away the best choice for us and has paid off better than Powerball. If everyone else is as satisfied in their decisions as we are in ours, what other people think becomes quite inconsequential.
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