Financial Preparedness

FerFal,
Thanks for all of your efforts in helping us prepare for the impending crisis.

Many of us here are certain that inflation will hit hard very soon because our government is accelerating the rate at which it prints "funny money". My question has to do with preparation as it regards to your finances.

Since it is almost certain that our savings will be stolen from us by the government in the form of hidden taxes (aka inflation), is it best to buy durable goods with our savings now? Should we be buying our kids shoes and clothes to last for the next five years? It doesn't seem like a good idea to have a huge lump sum of cash sitting around to be stolen, confiscated, or metered out by our banks (government).

It makes sense to have gold around, but shouldn't we just buy goods and supplies that we know will last us, and then have enough in gold to keep around for emergencies?

Thanks,
-J

I was calculating REAL inflation today with my wife ( not the BS reported by INDEC, even INDEC workers openly state that the gov. modifies the numbers they don’t like), compared to 2000 prices.
We estimated it in 500%, roughly speaking since 2000.

In both our families ( back when we were single) they would buy a month worth of groceries for 300 pesos. Now you need 1500 pesos and the quality of the products isn’t nearly as good as it used to be.

Guys, get this into your head: The number of poor will likely double in USA these following years. And no that’s not the end of the world, life still goes on, but it’s a pretty bitter situation.
The new poor wont come form Mars, they’ll drop from middle class.

It’s survival of the fittest. For us humans, it’s survival of the smartest.

Unless you are smart and find ways to crawl up the sinking pyramid, you’ll end up in the “poor” section.

If you want my honest opinion, save it in gold and silver instead.
DO NOT buy stuff you try to “guess” you’ll end up needing. If a year from now you need shoes, more food or whatever, the same amount of gold will buy you the same amount of product, or even more since gold goes up during hard times.
Of course have extra pairs of shoes and clothes. Don’t know about you but three pairs of shoes last me a long time. What I mean is don’t eat up your savings buying stuff. You’ll sure need that money later on for things you disn’t guess correctly.

You’ll soon see how every little spend becomes and important decision in your struggle to save as much money as possible.

Salaries and earning wont go up along with inflation, at least not at the same rate. That’s what makes poor people.

I’d try very hard to come up with new sources of income.
Here’ it’s unthinkable for a wife NOT to work. There’s really little doubt in that regard. If both parents don’t work, unless you are truly rich you can’ live here with the salaries and wages we have.

If you want your better half to stay home then get serious about home business. The internet is full of ideas. But do something that makes money.
If your wife can make money by staying home watching over the kids and you have some land and she can keep a garden and some far animals that sounds great, but be serious and calculate how money you are actually making and saving by doing this.

Staying home just to make 500 bucks worth of groceries doesn’t sound very effective when she can make 2000 working a normal job.
OK, you’ll need a nanny for the kids, but with a normal wage its still profitable to pay a girl you trust and go to work.

Wrapping this up, SAVE AS MUCH MONEY AS YOU CAN.
For every buck you spend, think:
Will I use this?
Is it worth it?
Do I need a 200 dollar knife/watch or a 1000 custom 1911?
Do I need the fanciest 4x4 ATV?
What benefit am I getting for my money? What the real benefit/cost rate?
If you already have 6 to 12 months worth of food and as much water stored as you can put aside,. plus a few weapons ( you do need at least a couple handguns in my opinion) ammo, cleaning supplies, medicines you may need, other than some gear I’m leaving out, don’t keep buying any more junk.

There’s a market out there for this stuff, and the crisis is being good business for many. That’s fine, I love capitalism, I myself have ads from Amazon that sell stuff, get a small % for each item sold, but that doesn’t mean you should go desperate and buy everything you’ll ever need the rest of your life.

This is a crisis guys, a depression, economical collapse, whatever you want to call it. Things are tough and will get tougher, but people, this is not the end of the world and people will not die by the thousands, ok?

*Save your money, odds are you’ll need it in the future.
For larger amounts of money, I'd invest in real estate right now.
For smaller amounts I'd go for gold.


*Find new ways of making money.
Even something as simple as starting a blog is easy, has no initial cost, and can generate some spare cash.
Start a blog in blgospot ( just like this one, its as easy as opening a hotmail acount)
Write about something you like. Try learning a bit aobut blogs.
Then add some ads like the ones by adsense or some other afiliate programs, and writing regularly will make a bit of extra cash for you.
Starting a home business is something relatively simple. You dont make a ton of money but you dont invest a lot either. A number of housewives here started theri own business making scneted candles, breakfasts, etc.

*Reduce your expenses as much as possible.

*Yes, buy the basic necessary gear and supplies, get the necessary training and know how. Knowledge and mindset will make the real difference.

*There are a few items you might want to buy now.
For example: I’d try to use just one car at a time but have a second car ( cheap, low gas mileage, common model with cheap and commonly available parts) in case your other one brakes.
Going out buying a car after a crisis can burn a bit hole in your pocket. Its just not an option for most.
Same for certain appliances such as a fridge , chest freezer, and washing machine. If a generator is essential for you, have another one. No guys, don’t buy new, I’m talking about keeping eyes opened for these kind of things at garage sales and such. If you can get an extra fridge for cheap, Yes, I would do it. If you work with computers a lot, an extra used PC or notebook might be a good idea too.

I’m mentioning this because in my case buying theses things are very expensive right now, and before the crisis they were dirt cheap when bought used.

People will survive, we saw that here in Argentina. Even with 50% poor and 25% below the line of poverty people in general still get by and survive somehow.
The difference is that some live better than others.


FerFAL