Prepare for a financial Doomsday
Copied and starred from http://homesteadsurvival.blogspot.com/2012/09/prepare-for-financial-doomsday.html
Guest Post by Andy from Financial Gooru
Prepare for a financial Doomsday
Many of us are preparing for the end of times; because as we all know it it is a matter of when not if. While many of us out there are preparing for the complete collapse of the world as we know it not many of us are preparing for a Financial Doomsday which will probably happen sooner than nature going haywire on us. So how exactly do we prepare for a financial Doomsday/ Economic collapse. Through intensive research I have found way that I think will help anyone survive and Economic/ Financial Doomsday.
Save Money
This one is a bit of a obvious one but I have to put it out there. A shockingly high number of American families are operating without any kind of financial cushion whatsoever.
-According to a Harris Interactive survey taken in 2010, 77 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
-According to one recent survey, one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.
This is one reason why so many Americans have lost their homes and why so many Americans have fallen below the poverty level in recent years. They simply had no cushion.
Last year, 2.6 million more Americans dropped into poverty. That was the largest increase that we have seen since the U.S. government began keeping statistics on this back in 1959.
Don’t let this happen to you. At a minimum, everyone out there should have a cushion that will cover at least 6 months worth of expenses. Preferably, you should have a cushion that will last you at least a year or longer. I know that sounds like a lot but trust me you will love having this around in case something does happen to you and your family.
The easiest way I found to do this is I used to buy a cup of coffee from Quick Trip every morning, it would cost me with tax 2.02 (it was their medium size I think if I remember correctly.). Then one day I really got to thinking how much could I save if I stopped drinking coffee well at least buying it from QT every morning. So I did simple math 2.02×7 is $14.14 a week or $56.56 a month about $678.72 a year! And that was just a cup of coffee I of course cut out eating out, junk food for the most part and I am now saving well over $200 a month and putting all of that into savings. That is just one example of how I did it. I am sure there are many ways out there of saving money I have probably not even thought up of yet and I am talking about small things not drastic. Not to mention the cut of junk food has made me happier and healthier.
Investments
Now I want to be clear with this. This is not your typical investment that I am about to talk about. But rather one more suited towards the fall of an economy and essentially the dollar. The most obvious investment you can make is to buy gold and silver. I think every person in this country is doing that at this point. While that will hold value and its all and good, you can not eat gold and silver. At one point people will want food rather than gold. So a gold and silver investment while good should not be the only investment.
Once the economy fails and everyone is running around trying to figure out what to do and items and resources become scares, everything will start becoming more localized and we will probably move back to a barter system. With that said it will be good to prepare for a barter type of system just in case it ends of that way and even if it doesn’t it will not harm you in any way. Here is what I think you will need in a barter type of system.
1. Water, The single most important item any one person can have. Drinkable water is important to life. While I would stock up a lot on this you can also invest in rain catching gear, water purifying system and other things to make undrinkable water drinkable.
2. Salt, stock up on this and start now. This one little thing that people take for granted everyday will be essential to your survival and a good thing to have in a barter system. Salt is one of the most important thing a person can have in their stock pile period. It is essential for the human body, it makes food yummy, and it can preserve food as well.
3. Spices, you think they are expensive now wait until the economy fails and governments go bankrupt and so do major companies. This one comity that people take for granted will be super rare and expensive. However, most spices and herbs can be grown almost anywhere with a little bit of knowledge. A good website I found about some spices you can grow are http://ideas.thenest.com/dinner-recipes/cooking-advice/slideshows/easy-spices-to-grow.aspx?page=5 and http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-herbs.html these are two very good sites to get you started.
4. Live stock, food is one of those thing you have to have. While you can hunt if you do not have live stock which is a good way to get meat and other foods live stock is more beneficial. It is there when you need it you don’t have to go out and find it hopefully, you can trade it for other animals goods or services, and depending on the animal it will have many uses.
5. Other currency, while it is good to have food water etc it is also a good idea to have some form of other currency available in case you can some how assuming things are not that bad go to another country or that their currency is not completely useless. This is something I would keep around, because I do not like to assume anything like all currency will be useless and you will be trapped in this country. You just never know what life will throw at you and where you might find yourself. Therefore, I think that having some other currency like Euros, Yen, and the Australian dollar to name a few might be useful.
6. Land, I believe that land is one of those things that over time will increase in value even more so than gold. Because scientist have found a way to make artificial gold believe it or not, but they have yet to find a way without lasing our water supply it will grow in value tremendously. Not to mention land is very useful to have because you can grow food on it have life stock and the uses for land are almost limitless. Not to mention if the land has a natural aquifer.
Like I said not your normal investment portfolio. I could spend so much more time on this but these are the 6 things I think will help you if an economy collapses.
Pay off any debt
Now this one may be a bit tricky to do since many people are having trouble meeting ends meet. But by all means try to pay off any and all debts you may have. I am going to take a guess that banks will want money owed to them if the economy starts failing to keep themselves afloat. Just because the economy fails doesn’t mean our money will be worthless. The great depression is a perfect example of that. Money was not all that worthless still had value just not as much as it does now. This one again may be hard but I know from personal experience but it has to be done. Many things can happen if the American economy can fail don’t be caught off guard pay off any dept you may have. I will have a completely separate blog post about this coming up soon. As I have said I was in that boat I have searched for solutions and I have found it through trial and error. I have given the advice to my friends and it worked great for them. So I will dedicate a whole blog post just to that.
Learn a Skill
Learning a skill is good even if the economy is still going strong. But a carpenter, welder, handyman can be worth their own weight in gold. Knowing how to build and work with your hands will be skills that if the economy goes you can use to barter with. It can be almost any skill just learn one or a trade and master it. I would say master one than have 1000 that you barely know what you are doing.
These are some of things I would recommend. There is so much when it comes to this that I could make this blog post endless, yet I do have to end it at some point. Just remember what can go wrong will go wrong. Do not assume anything prepare for everything. It cant hurt to be ready it can only hurt not to be ready. As we have seen time and time again it is a matter of when not if. If you have any ideas or comments please feel free to post them and let me know how I did or if I missed something important.
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