Posted on 10/08/2011 8:32:15 AM PDT by Lowell1775
If you have planned, prepared, and trained well.....snip.....you can relax and enjoy the simpler life of time gone by where everyday is a satisfying accomplishment if you just live through it.
So what about the money? Where does it fit in? Money will be the insurance for what you have forgotten, lost, broke or had stolen from your list of essentials above. You will hopefully be able to use items of value (currency, goods, gold, silver) or some combination to trade for what you need at that moment when the local Wal-Mart has been looted and burned to the ground. I say hopefully, because there is a money trap which we all need to be aware of.
Money is only money, no matter what it is, if the other guy agrees it has value TO HIM at THAT TIME.
The money trap many “preppers” will fall into is only slightly less deep than the non-preps.
snip
The solution? Just like today…..have a balanced portfolio of currency to use as events unfold. In what you acquire, the more attributes of money it has, the better it will serve you. Those attributes are durability divisibility, portability, homogeneity, rarity, difficulty to forge or fake.
(Excerpt) Read more at opensourcesurvival.com ...
Heh, heh....I know smokers that don't have the sense to do that.
Gold has its ups and downs like any other commodity. However, to paraphrase the ad, its never been worth nothing, which can’t be said about stocks. Same with land or anything tangible. If the thing in itself has intrinsic worth then it’s a solid investment, assuming you don’t try to get in at the top.
But, it's heavy. If the downfall descends into migratory or nomadic lifestyle, diamonds would be more desirable as a portable wealth.
Personally. I'm securing much brass and lead (in the .177 (Pellets), .17 and .223 calibers), and a good knife along with a handful of small diamonds, a water filter with hand pump, knowledge of salt deposits near the surface, fire starting tools...y'know small portable resources
I have some gold and silver, but not under the assumption that it is my savior when TSHTF. I own it to store value and preserve my savings. I started buying gold at $335.00 / oz and silver at $7.23 / oz - ths far, I’m doing quite well.
With that said, I also prep and have no misconceptions about what it will take to survive long-term - beyond a short term ‘bump’ in our society. I invest heavily in ammunition, coffee, tobacco seed, and the like. When TSHTF, I will be able to pick up gold and silver by the wheelbarrow full while scavenging the property of all of those people who thought it would ensure their survival. Within the first year, at least 70% of the population will perish.
Buy alcohol too.
As for diamonds, they would be useless in a barter situation, unless you're bartering in the diamond district of New York or Amsterdam, and then all you would get for them is (a lot of) cash. Diamonds can not be thought of as a medium of exchange like gold.
As for small portable resources, it never hurts to have a bug out bag ready.
Pat Frank, author of the 1958 atomic thriller “Alas Babylon” as well as a post-nuclear survival handbook, wrote in the latter that “the day may come when a pound of tobacco will be worth more than a pound of gold.”
JMHO, but unopened .22 LR bricks may become as fungible as currency in a one second later scenario. Junk silver would be easier to spend than gold, as well. Just sayin’.
It has however had negative value.
I’ve always thought a few silver spoons would be better than a gold Eagle—flashing some gold at a barter lot would be like inviting a crew of looters to follow you home...
“silver spoons”
Sometimes we really need Captain Obvious to the rescue. I had not thought of the family sterling as a barter asset.
Thanks for the tip! And the warning.
I think gold is unusually unappreciated here as money, but you cannot argue with that statement. It is the source of all value and all trade. Throughout history, though, gold has filled the role pretty well.
In the American West in 1876, a gold coin would get you a horse, and another would get you a gun and a month’s provisions.
I’ve always thought a few silver spoons would be better than a gold Eagle—flashing some gold at a barter lot would be like inviting a crew of looters to follow you home...
Large purchases (like a vehicle) might be done with gold, but common sense (which every gold owner knows) suggests that smaller transactions are best handled with silver.
Frankly, any display of any wealth (including openly possessing the thing you just bought) could lead to looters following you. The smell of food cooing from your residence, or a generator running can do the same. there is nothing especially dangerous about gold. It’s just another asset.
IOW, gold can make people crazy in a way that other precious metals and assets do not and cannot.
Just FYI, diamonds are a terrible store of wealth in both reality and a post-civilization fantasy. They’re largely indivisible, destroyable, very non-liquid, and extremely subjective in value. If you ever get around to selling them it’s unlikely you’ll get what you paid.
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