Advice for UK Resident

Hi there, just came across your site. I am in the Uk but have relatives in the US. I think they will be ok in case of collapse as they live in gated community. I started to look at the economy about 4 yrs ago, had never been interested before, this happened at the same time as my faith in God increased. Sounds crazy, but that's the way it happened. I am just a housewife whom runs a business with my husband, but I have been drawn more and more to investigating what is happening to the global economy. I have no one to discuss the possibility of collapse with other than mu husband and a very few people. I don't want tp terrify them, and some of them would think I was a lunatic! What I wanted to ask was the following:

1. We are people of modest means, and we only have a small mortgage on  our property of about 45000 (sterling). What happens to mortgages during a paper collapse? Should I continue to pay off my mortgage in lump sums? What happens to property taxes during collapse? What happens to gas, electric during collapse? Are metals any good?

2) I have 20 acres of land,  I grow some food in my home garden, would it be a good idea to put a poly tunnel ay fields and grow more for others also? 

3) I have two horses, someone wants to buy one of them, would you sell that horse or keep it for transport? It only costs me about£ 5 per wk for his insurance. I know this sounds a silly question, but if there is no fuel, what do we use for transport?

Any advice would be appreciated, I know this is going to happen one day. I pray and ask the Father to delay it every day. I know how to work in very cold and physically tough conditions and have practiced caving using SRT a while ago. It is very important for people to prepare mentally, and I find my faith really is my foundation. Everything that is happening is of Biblical proportions lately and I pray for those who are committing these crimes against humanity, that they change their greedy and evil ways. One last thing that I ponder is this: even if I am stripped of all my luxuries I have so much more than many millions of people in the world, and I have lived like a queen, I have had meals in restaurants, I have stayed in luxury hotels, whilst many have been starving! I have been very very blessed.

The crash will also enable us to love our neighbours more. We will HAVE TO SHARE. Don't miss this opportunity, it will be hard at first because we have all been so selfish, even myself. But when we help others, we feel amazing deep down, it gives light to the soul and makes us much happier :-)

God bless you and yours.

 Anne

Hi Anne, great to hear from someone in UK.

I’ll take this opportunity to let my UK readers know that my book, The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse" is now available in Amazon UK as well.

About your questions.

1     1)If there’s a world wide nuclear war followed by a shower of asteroids, the last three things still standing in this planet will be bankers, lawyers and politicians. Any preparedness plan that doesn’t include the problems of dealing with these three is unrealistic so always keep that in mind. Having said this, if there’s a serious economic decline and the fiat currency devaluates to some degree you’re better off paying monthly in paper money that is losing its value rather than paying off the lump sum ahead of time. This is general advice and it will depend of course on your specifics. A particular bad interest rate may mean its more profitable to just pay it and get it done, but in general that’s my advice. Bills and taxes in general do go up during hard economic times, so expect that to happen. Same thing for the cost of services, they will become more expensive as we already see. That doesn’t mean that you’ll always have reliable services though. The quality of the tap water you pay for may go down as the price goes up, forcing you to filter it like I did in Argentina. Something similar happens with power, which as the grid degrades due to lack of maintenance it provides lower watt energy, sometimes called “dirty power”. Blackouts due to storms and grid failure may occur with greater frequency than before in some areas, so its smart to address that, but I at least don’t waste time with the idea of the grid going down and never coming back up.

Gold and Silver hold value on their own and during a crisis they even go up in value since they are a desirable asset as a hedge against inflation and financial uncertainty. I believe that everyone should have at least a small % of their savings in precious metals just in case of a moderate crisis or worst case scenario. For anyone looking to buy PM, Precious Metal House is a reputable dealer and a supporter of my blog, look on the right bar for their banner.

2     2) To me it comes down to how profitable it is. If you simply enjoy gardening, of course, go for it. Now if you’re thinking of it as a business, then you have to think of it in other terms. How much time are you investing and what do you get from it? Lets say you work 6 hours per kilo of tomato grown, but you could buy 12 tomatoes with the earnings you get from doing some other job, then directly growing food yourself isn’t the most effective use of your time. Here is where doomers come in and say the world will end and there will be no work to show up to, etc. If that’s your case, please re read reply 1). If you’re unemployed and A) have no hopes of finding a job or B) no hopes of creating your own job, then yes, but in general growing food on your own isn’t the best investment of your time. Then again if you have a profitable running farm then that’s a different story or if its something you simply enjoy doing on your spare time that great too. I simply don’t think that its in general the most effective use of time for “putting food on the table” literally speaking.

          3)For transportation alone a horse is probably not our best bet but it will depend a lot on your location, immediate environment and type of use you have in mind for your horse. Yes, it will take you from point A to B and has been used for transportation for thousands of years, and personally I happen to like horses a lot. Still, ask yourself if given your roads and the use you have in mind if a mountain bike wouldn’t be a better or cheaper transportation. If you see yourself using your horse then I suggest keeping the best one you have and selling the other. Also keep an eye out for old sprung carts. Horse pulled carts are still widely used for carrying people and loads in the third world.

Your heart is in the right place and indeed, people in developed nations have had it very good for long, although everything indicates that tougher times are ahead of us. The right mentality, and being more resilient both physically and what’s even more important, emotionally speaking, will be paramount. Its important to work towards improving our relationships with our neighbors, friends and family, something often overlooked. 

FerFAL

Questions from a Reader: Krav Maga, Relocating, Preparedness in Europe

Hello
My name is K. I am a huge fan of your work. Some of my family and friends read your blog so I was wondering if you post this if you could leave my name out. Even though they read this they think I’m a little “out there”.

I have been reading through your back log and have some questions.
1) I read your post on Poxitas tape and would like to get some to try out but I can not find a supplier. Do you have any ideas on how to get this?
2) I read your post on Krav Maga and while I respect your knowledge, experience and expertise I must say that your view seems a little harsh. It seems to me that what you don’t like is the sensationalism surrounding the system. I have seen the same sensationalism used by proponents of any system out there. I have not studied any system extensively but there are benefits to most. As for the “to dangerous to practice on people” business, its kind of BS. Any system can and potentialy is dangerous either through technique or carelessness. Protective gear and anatomical stand-ins allow a complete knowledge of the system. Things like choke holds should never be “practiced” on people and yet we see them in MMA everyday. What I have learned of krav maga is that there is a philosophy to it which I will try to summarize: Be fit(by continuously working hard at it), avoid any fight you arent forced into, attack week points using any thing you can as a weapon then retreat, protect your “group”. The choice to teach one martial art to every person in the country as there is mandatory service is sound considering there neighbors and a certain political faction would love to kill them. It teaches them to use what they have and to improvise with basic moves that work. My question here, I guess, is have you ever taken or “audited” a serious class in Krav maga? Sorry that was kind of long.
3) My girlfriend and I have talked about retiring to South America. I found your site while researching it. Would you recomend Buenos Aires as a retirement options? Also how do you pronounce BsAs? Is it just an abreviation and its pronounced normally? If you were retiring with about $1million USD in South America where would you go?
4) How are you finding northern Ireland interms of your preparedness? What are the money issues? Are there any specific things you would like to do but are prohibited? Are there any things you couldn’t do in Argentina but can do there? How is the economy/Job market/petrol prices/expatriate situation?
5)Are you planning on doing any preparedness events in europe or even back in America? My GF and I are Gearing up for a big trip in the next year or so after we get school loans paid off and I would love to see the european side of preparedness.

I have a bout 30 more questions but I’m gonna lay off and try to shrink the list and give you some time do your thing. Moving to another country has got to be an adventure and a bit of a hassle, then pile on work and side projects. Then some guy on the other side of the planet wants you to write a small book for him.

Anyway, I just wanted to say congrats on your good fortune of getting out of a bad situation. I know you put in a lot of hard work to accomplish it and I thank you for sharing it with all of us.

K-

Hi K, thanks for your email.
1)A lot of people have asked me about Poxitas. They are a very neat product but I haven’t found it outside South America. Its basically the equivalent of a short duct tape strip, like a plaster or band aid, made of a thicker material with a stronger glue. Gorilla tape is actually pretty good, maybe not as strong as a Poxita but close. Its worth keeping an eye out in case you come by something similar under a different name. On the meantime I can only recommend you using Gorilla tape which is outstanding, so strong that it cant be compared to ordinary duct tape. Keeping a couple feet wrapped around an old loyalty plastic card or a lighter like I do will allow you to have some when needed and you´ll soon see how useful it is on various occasions.

2)Yes I’ve taken classes of both Krav Maga and Kapap. I found Kapap to be better, but it still have many of the same problems in my opinion. Its one thing to use a system that boosts a soldier´s self-confidence and then hand him over an AR rifle, and its another to do it with a soccer mom and have her think she can kick anyone’s ass. Fortunately enough, odds are that in the civilized world most soccer moms and dads live in, they will never get to know how misguided that confidence was. The problem is that as someone once said, the world is ”moving” and the odds of actually having to put that to test are increasing even for those that live in the nice burbs with neatly trimmed lawns. When that day comes a criminal or other determined violent person will painfully portrait how naïve it was to think that you can learn how to fight for real without ever getting hit back in return.

I don’t want to get much further into this. Last time I commented on it I got more hate email from krav maga fans than I would have gotten from thirteen year old girls if I had made fun of Justin Bieber. My recommendation is sticking to both Brazilian jujitsu and Muay Thai and having some modern combatives thrown in the mix so as to learn how to combine that with gun, knife and stick. The most important thing is finding a good instructor. No need to get the latest MMA champion or yakuza assassin, just a honest instructor that knows what hes doing and you’re comfortable with. Whatever martial art or system you are doing, how useful or not it is will strongly depend on the instructor you have. If there’s no sparring against non cooperative partners, chances are you’re just wasting your time. You must fight someone that fights back. Even with gloves, even with rules, its MUCH better than doing it for real on the streets for the first time, bare knuckled and doing it to save your life, of all things.

3)Because of everything I’ve written the last four years I’d definitely stay away from Argentina! I don’t know if you kept up with the latest knews, Argentina just nationalized Spanish owned YPF and is threatening to nationalize other foreign companies. Crime is as bad as always if not worse, and inflation makes it more expensive to live in than USA. If that’s not bad enough the loss of freedom in Argentina has reached amazing proportions. You’re not allowed to buy foreing currency, you can’t even leave the country with dollars unless you can explain where you got them from, and I saved them up isn’t an explanation any more. My sister in law is telling me some horror stories. She’s trying to come here to visit and learning the latest “requirements” to be allowed to leave the country. Among others, you must have an USD account in Argentina so as to explain where you’re getting the money for the trip. I’d be surprised if 1/10 of the population has such an account, meaning that according to the books they can now restrict most people from leaving if they feel like doing so. The price for getting an Argentine passport for leaving te country doubled last week.

If it has to be South America, I’d go for Uruguay. While Uruguay is probably your best option in South America, its still a far cry from the life and the freedom you enjoy in USA. Especially with the funds you mention, I think it makes no sense whatsoever to go to South America. You can already live pretty well with that money in USA if you invest it wisely. In Argentina the government will eventually steal most of it, one way or the other.
Bs. As. stands for Buenos Aires, which means “good air”, kind of ironic giving the smog and pollution spread all over the city. The way you pronounce it correctly is by phonetically saying “s” on the ending of each word instead of “z”, s as in snake.
If I had a million buck? Oh my God I´d stay in USA of course! Find a nice town in a nice State, close enough to a bigger city. If you put a gun to my head and force me to go back to South America, then Id go for Uruguay.

3)I’m loving Northern Ireland. Its exactly what I thought it would be, maybe even better. I tried to keep it as down to Earth as possible when doing my research for relocating so I dug deep into everything bad I could find about it, so as to move within a certain margin of error so to speak. Its beautiful, safe, not as expensive as England or Scotland. It rains a lot of course, but it never gets that cold. This winter there was no snow in my area at all. Schools are great, great place to raise kids. Gun laws aren’t as bad as in the rest of UK, you can own handguns. Houses here are nicer than in England and Scotland, a bit more American without being cheesy and poorly built Mc Mansions for the most. I like how the urbanization is laid out. You have lustrous green countryside all over with mostly small towns and cities sprinkled evenly. Everything is surprisingly clean and tidy, people don’t litter as much as they do in USA, let alone South America cities which at times it looks like a dumpsters. Gasoline is very expensive, about 9 or 10 dollars a gallon! Thanks fully I don’t have to drive that much and it does help a lot that the country is relatively small, so in spite of the price difference if everything is 2 or 3 times closer compared to the distances you would have to drive in USA, the price of fuel has much less of an impact.
Here is where realistic preparedness clashed with fantasy preparedness. I didn’t go for the common yet unrealistic survival strategy of being as far away as possible from cities. I went for the much more logical and realistic one of being in a small town yet close enough to a mayor city. If the worst that can happen to you is a 15 minute drive to the big city whenever you need it and your daily driving is just 5 miles because you are close enough to everything you need, then the price of gas doesn’t affect you as much. As a contingency plan, given that 90% of your needs are so close you could easily use a bicycle to get around. That’s much smarter than being half a gas tank way from the nearest town, because as well all know, people will riot in cities, turn into flesh eating zombies and head to the country…

About jobs, there’s less unemployment than in the rest of UK, but at the same time because its smaller you will probably have more trouble finding one. The nice thing is that any job you manage to get will allow you a very nice quality of life, because its good in general terms. In terms of immigration, there’s very few immigrant which I like a lot. A lot of people still think that Northern Ireland is a warzone where Catholics and Protestants still bomb each other on daily basis. Not so, while there is the occasional incident here and there its not common and rarely gets people seriously injured or killed. Among the middle class people I guess we all just want to get along in spite of the different political agendas each one may have, and simply live in peace. Besides certain specific locations where segregation still exists, there’s no clash between immigrants of different cultural and religious backgrounds. I read how sometimes in England they have these Islamic terrorists, the diversity gets shoved down people’s throats because its so different people forced to live almost one on top of the other. An added benefit to that is that being the rare immigrant, people are more opened to you and less suspicious. Locals are surprised you even chose to immigrate here. ”Why did you move here?”. My answer is “because it’s a great place to live in!”. That brings a smile to people’s faces and they quickly agree, proud that someone thinks that way instead of just looking scared because of what they’ve heard of the Troubles.

4)The survival and preparedness community isn’t that big around here. There’s some folks that I met that are interested in shooting and are more like minded, but for the most you don’t see it as clearly as in USA. The huge nanny state certainly doesn’t help. If I find enough people interested locally I might organize a few meetings or classes, but mostly to get to know like-minded folks and network a bit. There is interest in bushcraft and wilderness survival, which as much as I enjoy I know it has very little to do with modern survival of the type that I write about. For a post economic collapse scenario haggling, sales or even marketing would be a much more useful skills than starting fire with a bow drill, and a class on knife fighting and defense would be much more valuable than a carving class where you make your own wooden bowl.

I still haven’t gone that much into it. Spain, France, Sweden, Norway and Germany are places where theres some potential, not to mention Switzerland. If anyone in these places or others is interested in organizing a meeting or event, feel free to contact me. About doing something in USA, I had planned to go to the next SelfReliance Expo, but settling is taking bit longer and I just wont be able to make it. We’re happy but relocating the way we did to a place that is completely new to us takes time and lots of work.
Take care,
FerFAL

Gardens, Water, Energy and Dogs after the Economic Collapse

Dear FerFAL,

I have been reading your blog and listening to interviews with you for the last year.  I appreciate the perspective you have given your philosophy, and why you believe it works.  I also am grateful for the constructive criticism you give about the tenets of the modern survivalism/prepper movement.  I’m reminded of the legendary samurai Yamoaka Tesshu.  He wrote a book called The Sword of No Sword, not as many of his contemporaries did, based on their theories of how martial art should work in a given situation because they trained so well.  Rather, AFTER he survived hundreds of lethal duels, he wrote about what HE had leaned by surviving.  While many here in the U.S.A. have skills that are quite respectable, your voice stands unique as one speaking from your life lessons.  Since what you have lived through is not subject to anyone else’s critique or interpretation, you have an unassailable credibility compared to even the most highly educated experts here.  There simply is no substitute for experience.

My questions are about how well some of our assumptions here would work in your present circumstances, and especially during the most chaotic times you’ve experienced in the past.

1).  How useful is a backyard garden when the rule of law doesn’t provide adequate protection?  Is a large garden something thieves raid constantly?  Would gardening be a safe activity?  Do you know anyone who has one?

2).  How practical is raising small livestock?  Do you know anyone who raises rabbits?  Or chickens?  Or goats?

3).  Do people keep dogs for security?  Does anyone have dogs that keep their backyards safe, or are dogs a target for criminals?

4).  Does anyone you know of capture rainwater to drink?  Is safe drinking water a problem for you (or was it at any point)?

5).  Are solar panels or small wind generators in use anywhere in BA? Would a solar panel just be a bright target for criminals?

Thanks for your input.  Keep up the good work.
Kelly-



Hi Kelly, thanks for the nice words, about your questions,

1)Rule of law, keep hearing that. You bring an important point that I’d like to cover before answering your question. To begin with, rule of law NEVER provides adequate protection. If someone is determined to hurt you, walks to your house when you’re leaving to your job and shoots you a couple times, rule of law will certainly not stop the projectiles in mid air. What somewhat protects people is the generalized “sensation” that there’s a punishment for evil actions. Once that’s removed you see the true miserable self of some elements of the society. We saw guys with SUVs stealing big screen TVs during the rioting during the Argentine economic collapse. During Katrina, even the cops were caught on camera looting. ( see? We’re not that different after all) Why did people do that? Because they felt they could get away with it.
If you’re talking about really bad, post SHTF times, any activity that exposes you brings additional danger. Americans don’t think much of mowing the lawn, its an ordinary activity, even a tradition. Around here people that have certain level of awareness do so keeping an eye on things, knowing they are exposed to criminals. During high crime times, gardening or any other activity that leaves you exposed in such way implies an additional danger. I’m not saying not to do it, just saying that if crime is really bad, that moment is a window of opportunity for criminals and you should at least know that in order to take measures or at least be extra careful. Victory gardens aren’t that popular but people do have a few plants, especially older folks, they used to have small orchards in their back yards.

2) Not very practical, but it depends on the region. If you have the space, time, and most of all, enjoy doing it, by all means go for it. In general its not very profitable in terms of money saved compared to the time you put into it. Most folks will find that its more productive to engage in more profitable activities other than small scale livestock.
The advantage of course is that a) you have livestock in the event of a long term disaster b) It could be a possible home based business which you can expand on. Then again if it were that profitable, I’m sure I would have seen more people doing it here. Same in the states. Doing it for pleasure doesn’t mean you’ve got a profitable business going on, and unfortunately that matters a lot, especially during a financial crisis. In smaller rural towns its of course more common, but I know several people in such places and if they are doing well most of them don’t have the time for livestock and just have an orchard if anything at all.


3) We do see lots of dogs begin sold specifically for security. Rottwheliers are the number one best selling dog for home security around here. It has become extremely popular. Unfortunately many owners just don’t know how to deal with such animals and it often ends up in serious injury or death. The Argentine Dogo which used to have a horrible reputation suddenly gained favor as a guardian dog. I remember being little and hearing about Dogos, it was like the boogyman. Turns out the Dogo Argentino is a terrific hunter and good for home security as well. Like with the Rotty, Dogos are sometimes involved in tragic events because they are bought by stupid people that don’t know what they are getting themselves into and treat these animals like a toy instead of a work animal. Thankfully people here fear the Dogo Argentino more than the Rotties and will usually prefer the Rottwheiler instead of the Dogo.
Based on several incidents that have occurred this last decade with dogs confronting armed attackers, the Dogo Argentino is a better dog for such cases, much less likely to coward away if hit or even shot. It is a hunting dog though, and will stalk and attack without barking. You may want to keep that in mind if you’re counting on the dog as an early alarm system.

4) It´s not something commonly done. I suppose there’s some people that gather rain water but you don’t see that often. What we do have is a problem with tap water. It has to be filtered. In the best case it has too much chlorine and slightly more heavy metals than approved in most 1st world countries. In the worst case tap water is contaminated with heavy metals and arsenic, which requires special filters. Long story short you pay for tap water but its contaminated to some degree and has to be filtered before drinking. This means you need a filtrating system that integrates to the system you use, so as to be used on daily basis. People that visit Buenos Aires notice that after taking a bath their skin itches considerably (If visiting Buenos Aires, bring some body lotion for this) . That’s because of the amount of chlorine they put into it to kill what the inefficient water treatments we have here failed to get rid of.

5)Neither energy system is common but I know of some places where it´s starting to get used more. I have a friend that imports solar panels, also solar heating systems. They do work in most of the country if properly calculated both on dimension and orientation by a specialist.
The risk of getting your solar panels stolen in Buenos Aires is pretty high unless you install them in places that are both out of sight and hard to reach. I think it´s worth looking into and eventually installing, given the ever increasing cost of electric power.
As a general tip for Americans, given current events and inflation, expect energy prices to go up considerably in the not so distant future. A couple solar panels and/or wind generator will soon pay for themselves. Why do it now if you can? The cost of producing these will go up as inflation (and the price of energy) makes them more expensive to manufacture so get into it sooner than later if finances allow.
FerFAL
Join the forum discussion on this post

 

.

Q&A Podcast

 Hi guys, this is my first podcast. Here I answer the quesitons that I got for the Two Beers with Steve interview.
Let me know if it works ok since its the first time I do this. I like the podcasts and will be doing more of them, its fun to change a bit from all that writing. :-)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/8190493519f75be7/

If you have suggestions for topics to be discussed in the next podcast feel free to write them here in the comments.
Take care and have a good weekend!
FerFAL

Homesteads, security and devaluation.

Anonymous said...
How did land outside the larger cities do after the Argentina collapse... not the burbs, but small acre homesteads? I've read your notes on people who were tortured in isolated areas.

We are buying a place w/ cash for investment - about 5 acres with a humble house outside the city. Close enough to be w/in an hours drive, but far enough to be considered country and not burbs. We'll enjoy during good economic times as a second home. This has neighbors you can see, but just not on top of each other compared to inner city. This is not an Idaho retreat, but a place we could probably get to if our large US city had major problems. And we could store a few supplies to get us through a short term event; while also leaving our city life home going for job purposes.

Did these type of set-ups prove helpful for those inner-city people during the Argentina collapse?

Small farms and homesteads arent safe here. Even those are now offered within a community that has its own security these days.

Sounds like a nice place. Neighbors within screaming distance are more important than most people realize.
The retreat in Idaho works perfect as long as shit DOESN’T hit the fan, at least not bad. Its simply impossible to defend and well, you’re a sitting duck for anyone with a gun and half an ounce of brain.
The place you mention could be a good place to live in if things get worse and you can coordinate security with your neighbors. I wont lie to you. When crime gets bad there’s no other choice: You need security. When times are REALLY bad, you need, good security, not just a fool walking around. Here, that’s most often found in high end building of gated communities. The communities that went half way about security and went for the cheapest offered are now paying for that mistake.
Maybe this is not your case but you could eventually tlak with your neighbors, organize yourselves and either pay for good private security or do it yourselves if people are available. Usually what happens is that people have jobs and see that its better to keep working, chip in, and outsource your security, no problem there if you hire serious people.

Anonymous said...
Hey FerFal. You stated you need money most of all and I agree if it's a slow slide or a mild depression. But what good is money in a Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe type hyperinflation? What would you do in those types of extreme situations?
April 13, 2010 6:15 PM

Well, it depends on the kind of money you had. If you had Swiss Francs I’m sure you could have exchanged it for whatever currency you needed. If you had gold or silver I assure you, you wouldn’t be using it for fire like they did with their own currency.
When that type of thing happens, it happens in places that use a currency that isn’t very strong. These days a country going through that will start using Euros or Dollars on the side pretty quick. Laws forbidding it wont matter much, its impossible to control.
If something like that happens to the dollar or Euro, then you can expect an important parallel market running on gold and silver.
What would I do? I’d have my food, water and other basic supplies sorted out, means to defend myself too. The things we talk about here all the time. I’d try to have an emergency stash of money, put most of it into precious metals or a currency I trust more than my local one that apparently is about to collapse.

FerFAL

Precious metals vs Cash, gold business, Inflation and Greece.

Ok guys, I’ve been replying to emails from 8 AM to 11.30 PM straight, stopping only for lunch and dinner, no, I kid you not. I lost count of how many emails I’ve replied to today.
Here are a few of the most interesting ones I read. I’ll drop dead over the bed and when I regain conciousness I’ll keep answering ok?


Ferfal:

Thank you so much for sharing with us so much information on your experiences in Argentina! I have been wondering about this question for some time and need your guidence. Maybe others would benefit from your answer:

There are ongoing rumors of a bank holiday in the near future. Whether it actually happens or not remains to be seen. If a person had a choice of:
· taking $10,000 out of your bank account (most of what savings you have in the bank) in cash and keeping it at/near home with anticipation of a bank holiday and having the cash readily available or accessible to use to pay bills etc during an exgtended bank holiday
OR
· take the $10,000 cash and buy more gold or silver with it. (even if you already have a pretty good stash). I could envision being able to take the gold or silver to a coin shop and sell it at a tidy profit during the bank holiday. Maybe I’m wrong…..
Which would you choose??

In my opinion at least, I’d keep half of that in cash. 5000 dollar is one or two months (give or take) worth of expenses depending on family members, lifestyle, location, etc. But it’s a good amount of cash to keep for emergencies. I’d put the rest into 1 ounce Silver Eagles and rolls of pre 65 dimes given that its culturally accepted as “junk” silver in USA.
Here in Argentina junk gold would be wiser. If I can get it for the gold content price, a few wedding bands and or broken jewelry chains might be good to have to. Again, just a few, and only for the right price.
How much of each? I’d go mostly for silver eagles (60%-70%) and the rest on pre-65 silver dimes.


Also, during the long Argentina banking holiday what became of gold and silver prices or their availability? I would think most people WOULDN’T want to sell their PMs—OR--- people wanted to hang on to their scarce cash to survive and pay bills and have no interest in buying PMs during that long period of panic. Share your experience with this scenario. Thanks.

Roy Houston

Well, you may suppose that but with 25% unemployment people somehow needed to put food on the table!
Gold and silver kept its international price while the peso lost value. up to 25%, then went back to 33%.
Without jobs people ended up selling family heirlooms and gold jewelry to do so. It became good business and the gold business (of buying it ) went up 500% the years after 2002.

FerFAL


Hey Ferfal,

Question, you mentioned the gold buying business in your blog today. That with the collapse in 2001 people were selling gold jewelry.. Here we're starting to see "Cash For Gold" buyers all over (mostly sharks) paying pennies for gold jewelry.

My question is, do you think this could be a good business ie. buying rings, necklaces etc. as people need cash to pay bills... For good honest businessmen to enter the market and offer better prices. Seems the prices being paid are way too low..and people don't know the value of their gold. (in some cases mailing it to a stranger and hoping to get a check in the mail!).

Thanks for your great blog, keep it up!

Charlie

Indeed, at least in that regard its following the same patern we saw in Argentina. Yes, I think that those that know the business can make good money buying gold jewelry, melting it or reselling it.
Sharks are of course immoral, and you can do good business while keeping a fair margin profit on both sides.
The free market will eventually take over and I venture to guess that good, fair dealer will be the most successful ones, not to mention they still be able to look at their neighbors to the face.

FerFAL


I haven't seen you write up much on the situation in Greece. I watched a documentary on the collapse of Argentina and one of the things that stood out was that outside forces like the IMF came in and forced Argentina to sell off state assets/property for pennies on the dollar as well as dictate budget cuts, even to items like education.

Seems to me that is the same thing happening in Greece. There are now strikes and violent protests as well. Do you see parallels between what happened in Argentina and what is happening in Greece? Within the overall collapse of Argentina, wasn't this somewhat of an early warning to what followed... closing banks, seizing retirement assets, etc? These things seem to follow a certain script and timeline.

Scott

Hi Scott, sure it is pretty similar, the economy reaching a melting point, banks going on holydays.
Not only Greece, but what happened in Island too. Even the news headlines are alike and the protest signs say the same thing!
It is a textbook collapse and the similarities are many and surprising in spite of the cultural differences. Hope it doesn’t get that bad in Greece.

FerFAL

Hello!

1) I was wondering if you could help me understand your inflation rate. It seems that the US Dollar/Argentine Peso exchange has remained pretty much unchanged since the collapse. I seem to remember reading in your book that it was 1/1 and then 3.5 to 1, about where it is today. So how many pesos did a loaf of bread cost then, in 2002, and how much is it now? How much would a typical lower middle class worker make (say a bus driver) now versus in 2002? That would give a good idea of the drop in the standard of living.

Mike

Hi Mike Sorry for the delay in replying.

Now the dollar is 1 dollar, 3.85 pesos.

Example about food, A kilo of bread used to cost 1 peso, now it costs 5 or 6.
The government says you can get it for less but that's the price in every store you ask around. Maybe a peso cheaper if you go to an extremely poor neighbrohood.
A bottle of coke? used to be around 2 pesos, now its 8 or 9, sometimes even 10.
So as you can see, as of today, most food items cost 4 or 5 times as much. On average according to some private statisitcs, we've had a 40% inflation per year since 2002.
As for salaries, an average worker , your bus driver, used to make around 1000 pesos, maybe 1200. Now a bus driver, working all day, makes 2500-3000 pesos. Its a very streessful job and working conditions are much worse than in USA because of stress, crime, etc, so they are paid relatively well. A more typical salary would be 2000 to 2500 for a clerk or low to average office worker or employee.
The minimum wage is 1500, and lots of people are paid that, some factory workers, Mc Donalds and such.

FerFAL

Questions about Argentina‏

Thanks so much for the information. Sorry, but I do have one other question. I noticed in one of your posts you mentioned that two of your tenants in an apartment you let out were psychologists or therapists or something of that nature. Do people in Argentina actually pay for therapy in a time of economic collapse? I guess what I'm asking is whether or not it's a good career, and whether or not it would be as good as something like the medical positions I described in my first email. Thanks so much for all the help. Your experiences are invaluable to folks like myself who have never experienced a day of hunger or poverty. Again, be safe.

Jay

Hi Jay, Thank God we've never experienced poverty as we see it here or hunger either. We've been through some times when we barely made it to the end of the month, but we've always managed and never experienced hunger or other needs either.

 

Child in Argentina 23-2-2009

There's people still that have to lie to their kids about dinner being ready and just hopeing for them to fall asleep, parents that tell their kids they are not feeling well or that they already ate a big sandwich somewhere else, so as to leave the little food they have for them.
 25 kids (official numbers)here in Argentina die per day of starvation before they turn 1 year old.
And you dont have to go far away to see it. You simply have to not look away as you walk around the streets of th nice parts of Buenos Aires, and see these people begging or eating out of the trash.
Those pretty spots around down town, where some people have a great time and comment about how awesome Argentine lifestyle is and how cheap and good restaurants are. Care to look down at your feet, and you'll see them there sitting on a piece of cardboard, or eating out of the garbage bag.

About therapy, yes! Its gone up a lot. Being a doctor or specialized nurse may
But thereapy patients went up 40% after 2002 ( in spite of being the worst financial year anyone can remember) and it went up another 50% in 2003.
http://www.centrodos.com.ar/ARTICULOS/Obrasociales.htm
Since 2001 to 2009 its been growing steadily, we now have a world record of 145 
psychiatrist per 100.000 inhabitants.
Check this out: Its GDP Is Depressed, but Argentina Leads World in Shrinks Per Capita

FerFAL

Answering some mail:

Hi everyone. Today I’ll try to answer a few of the most relevant emails. Too much mail and some questions are very interesting so I’ll try to catch up.
Please, I don’t mean to be an ass but try using the search function before asking some of the questions. Mostly regarding relocation and such, I’ve posted my opinion and others several times already. I’ll answer the emails on occasions with a link to such posts but sometimes I’ve got too much stuff going on.

Dear FerFal,

I have bought your book and found it to be a good read.

One particular part mentions modifying your machete by shortening it and adding a clip point. What kind of saw did you use? I don't have access to an electric saw and I suspect a manual saw will be tedious and a serious test of one's stamina.

Thanks

CK

Hi, I used an ordinary electric hand grinder, circular disc. It’s pretty cheap and one of those must have tools in your tool box, cuts steel like butter.
I’ve made a few knife attempts before, with more or less success but it was good practice.
Cutting a clip point in a machete makes it a much better stabbing tool.
Most machetes have the typical latin shape, with a rounded tip. This is safer but you lose the good stabbing potential.
Having said that, its not that had to cut the same clip curve with an ordinary metal saw (small teeth), some time, patience and stamina will get the job done! :-)
FerFAL

Fernando:

First, my wife and I purchased your book and have both read it. We were very impressed as to how sensible and verifiably accurate
the information is! It isn't far fetched as are some others we have encountered. we also faithfully frequent your blog.
My folks went through the crash of 29 and the 30's here, also my grandparents were witness to the crash in Germany. Their experiences
have helped us to see where things have been headed in the U.S.A. I, realize you live in B's A's and have more knowledge of the local situation, but
could you shed any light on the crime situation and economic status of the rural country? For instance Mendoza, Santiago Del Estro, and Patagonia. The reason that I ask is
we are coming to Argentina for a few weeks this spring and will be traveling through out the country. Also, rural areas as I understand usually fare better than
the cities.



Keep up the great work
Regards
Lyle

Mendoza has some serious crime problems, Santiago del Estero has severe poverty so even though there’s little population, crime is bad considering how lightly populated the province is.
Patagonia is usually safer, its largely deserted, places like La Pampa have low crime rates. The further south you go, usually its safer. It gets more deserted, climate is harsh in winter.
If you want my humble advice, I usually recommend people to stick to well known tourist locations. Visit Buenos Aires, Mendoza, go to Bariloche, Salta if you what to go up north, but stay within the capital cities, don’t go solo trying to do the local life experience. Youre’ not local dude, they will know it a mile away and suppose you have more money on you than they’ve ever seen.
Don’t get me wrong. My country is beautiful, but even in Buenos Aires, the wrong turn in Buenos Aires highways may land you in places where, if lucky, you walk out butt naked.
If you still want to do this, stick to main highways, again, stay within the main cities and look for a guide there to visit the surroundings.
I’ll try posting today about the Pomar family case, dieing right next to the road after a car accident, found 24 days later and just 40 km away from their home. These things don’t happen in 1st world countries, but here they do.
Rural Argentina maybe safer than the city, or not. You just dont know and it varies from place to place. That's why I repeat again, staying within known safe locations is you best bet.

FerFAL

Fernando,

First, I really enjoy your blog, it is nice to see someone who is not all about having the latest gee-whiz survival gadget and actually hear from someone that has gone through what I think awaits us here in the US in coming months. At any rate I do have a question:

How is medical care being handled in Argentina now? How was the availability and quality of care affected by the collapse? My wife is diabetic and dependant on blood thinners, we keep an extra 90day supply of insulin in rotation so that at any given time we have a minimum of 120 days on hand of insulin and blood thinner.


Any thoughts or ideas as it relates to this??

Thanks

Russ


Hi Russ, we supposedly have free medicine in Argentina. Cutting to the chase, its better than nothing I suppose but you're as good as dead if you have any serious problem.
If you want good ( not very good or excellent just good medicine) you have to pay for it. I have private health plan Swiss Medical Group, I pay for it and its expensive but at least we know we are covered and have unlimited access to the best clinics in the country if we need them. We did need them several times for my son so yes, absolutely needed and I'm glad I have it for my family.
My son would be dead if we didn't have private medical health when he had chronic gastroenteritis. They only figured it out thanks to the private medicine plan we have.

FerFAL

Q&A

Sorry for disappearing for a while, had too much stuff going on and too little time.

These are some of the questions from the previous post, about the shanty towns/settlements.

Shy asked
FerFal- what do these people do with their 'property' when they go selling/scavenging/work? Or is there usually one of the same groups remaining behind always?

They don’t have much worth robbing, and most of the time the entire family goes out looking for garbage so there’s no one left behind.
Still, they do get robbed, by their own neighbors, occasionally.
That kind of thief is the worst kind according to them, and may be seriously beaten up by the neighbors if caught.

The common comment is that they should go steal from the “rich” or at least not from their own neighbors, as if that made things right.

These “codes” among the poor, the “villa” ( shanty town) codes are disappearing little by little, specially due to drugs, and the general decadency.

Recovey asked

Hi Ferfal,
How long till you can get out? I think we are all worried about you.

Depends exclusively on when I’m getting my degree. I was supposed to finish by July, but due to the university’s funds crisis, they’ve cut down classes and the summer class I was going to take to speed things up isn’t going to happen because of lack of funds.
Worst case, I have to spend here all year, until November/December, because of this one damn class.
Best scenario, I pass a special board test ( supposedly impossible to pass, even if you know everything) and then I’d be good to go by June.

Shambhala said...
The point I am trying to make is: Yes, FerFAL would probably be safer in the US, but quit trying to coerce him. Argentina holds a place in his heart.

It does hold a small, very small place. I mostly like certain traditions here, I was born here, so of course, its part of who I am.
But no, I wouldn’t stay here a minute longer if I didn’t have to.
It’s not only about having better job opportunities, the degree would also allow me to apply for a greencard faster.

I lived in Boston for 3 years when I was little, and believe it or not that had a big impact in the way I view things. I always knew USA was a much better country to live in, and wanted to move back there as soon as we came back to Argentina. It’s been a long time, of course I’ve visited and traveled to USA many times since then.

Adobewalls said..
Later I worked in Russia. My Russian interpretors used to laugh when they heard talk on the news about the american poor. Their favorite chastisement to me was, "America, the land with the richest poor people in the world."

Yes, :)
I agree with your Russian interpreter. Poor folks in 3rd world countries are different.
It’s particularly sad because sometimes you see these dirt poor people that actually want to work and would be hard workers if they had a chance. But they just don’t have it.

Mind Candy said…
Ferfal, Just wondering, where did your adsense go? I thought that it was great that you would make a little extra coin while helping the rest of us to see what is going on.

Happy Holidays, I hope that 2009 is a good year for your family as well as Argentina.

Chris

Thanks Chris, hope you and your family have a good year too.:)

Should be there still. It depends on the country I suppose, because some of the adds I see are of local products, so I sometimes don’t see what you guys see in those adds.

A reader contacted me once about some adds that were of poor taste, I had never seen them. But fortunately I can ban certain adds if I get their website. They get replaced by other adds.

It does generate a few cents every time you click on any of the advertisements. ( no need to buy anything, just cliking :) )

Anyway people, hope you are all starting this year with the right foot.

No need to go nuts about anything, 2009 is going to be tough but the hardest part is adapting to the aftermath of what already happened and will continue happening during this year.

The social and economical changes, those will stay for years.

Take care, I’ll see if I can post some more tonight.


FerFAL

Corruption in Argentina

Jennifer said...

I know this comment does not have anything to do with defensive choke moves, but I was wondering your thought on the infrastructure plan just announced by your president Cristina Kirchner?
President Cristina Kirchner on Tuesday unveiled a massive public spending plan to pump more than 21 billion dollars into Argentina's infrastructure and counter effects of the global cash crunch.
Would like to see a blog on that.

Hi Jennifer.
Unfortunately none of that gets to the people, not in any significant ammount.
This isn’t as easy to understand for people that come from places where things do work.
How can I explain this?
It’s all a big fat lie, ok?
This government ( and the ones we had for the last 20 years and beyond, both democratic and dictatorships) are so corrupt, it all disappears in a labyrinth of corruption and bureaucracy.
People in other countries are used to seeing people that don’t work form a line once a month and get paid unemployment or coupons.
That doesn’t happen here.
They talk, do a lot of talking, but the population never sees any of it.
For example, our gov. received 250 MILLION USD by the BID to get the terribly polluted “Riachuelo” river cleaned, a problem that is constantly causing deaths and chronic diseases to those of us that live in the south suburbs of Bs As.
Thank God I’m not that close, but those that live closer to it suffer all kind of problems, specially increased the infant death a lot.
Money disappeared. The population now has to pay for the loan, but the river? Never got cleaned at all.
They announce incentive and support to promote national small and medium industry?
My wife owns one such medium industry.
All they get from the government is corrupt inspectors and tax inspectors that threaten to cause trouble if you don’t pay them bribes.
You have everything in order, pay all your taxes?
Ok, one they you go to the bank and find that a tax inspector froze your account, due to some “suspicious” things he supposedly found.
When you confront such inspector he claims it was all a mistake.. but unfortunately your have to “tip” him a bit, if you want your account released sooner than say … 6 months give or take.
So if your business can survive that long without it’s account, that’s all good.. if not you have to pay this scumbag.
Where do you go? The authorities? They ARE the authorities.
How about real poor people?
Same kind of corruption going on.
The 300 bucks poor unemployed families are supposed to receive. Only get distributed among those that go to the protests, conferences and rallys supporting the current political power.
If not, you don’t get nothing.

Milk for the poor? They are supposed to give humanitarian packager to kids that otherwise starve to death.. but mysteriously only an extremely small of that milk ever falls in the hands of an actual poor mother trying to feed her kids.
The rest gets sold by the political figure in charge, and then gets sold again, showing up in other countries of South America, illegally crossing the border, even gets sold on the internet.

This is what happened when you mix a history of corruption, an authoritarian government, and local media censorship.

I can assure you, no one in this country, at least no one that isn’t mentally challenged OR has his own interests ( lots of corrupt bastards out there, getting rich supporting the political “punteros” ( district political leader), no one believes this woman’s lies.

What I particularly dislike about this government is how it controls the meida, and how it works very much like Chavez in Venezuela, but it’s supposedly a democracy.
In many ways, a false democracy like the one we have now, is worse than the military dictatorships we once had.
This is not me being paranoid. The truth is obvous and out there for anyone to see.
MR. Kirchner handed over the power to his wife, Ms. Kirchner ( shameless fraudulent campaign) .
Once she’s done, Mr . Kirchner is of course going to win the elections for a second ride (already talking about it on the media, preparing the field) , and then hand it over to his wife once more.
What kind of democracy is that?

Edited to add:

Jennifer said...

Interesting blog. The reason that I was curious is that our US elect president wants to help our country in the same way, by dumping lots of money in our infrastructure. Thanks.

Its complicated.
Here’s were our country differences may kick in.
USA is far less corrupt than Argentina. FAR less corrupt.
Specially these days, we are run by thugs.
I mean, it got up to the point were Mr. Kirchner, the ex president and husband of the current president Cristina, went to break a protest in Plaza de Mayo along with some other thugs including a savage character called Luis Delia, another one called Moreno, and a national kick boxer turned body guard ( several time world champ “Acero” Cali ) and they started to beat up middle class folk that were peacefully protesting.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing live on TV that day. Even Hollywood doesn’t come up with stuff this bizarre.

I don’t picture Obama making such a blunt, 3rd worldly demonstration of power.

What I fear the most about Obama is the control the guy will have.
People got scared due to the economic USA crisis, when people are scared they are willing to trade freedom for security and peace of mind.
You all saw that with the bailout. Doing the incorrect thing, because supposedly, the alternative was worse.
That’s a dangerous path to travel.
We went through that path ourselves, and now we have people running the country that are best buds with the likes of Chavez and Fidel, something completely unimaginable 10 years ago.
10 years ago, the overall public would not have accepted it. A few years of brainwashing and people now applaud these petty dictators.

Who would have imagined nationalized banks in USA?
Almost 7 years ago when I first stared getting online people said that what now happens in USA could never happen.
They said that what I had to tell about our crisis was interesting, but the thought of that happening in USA was laughable.

I’m not going to take credit on anything because I told these people that most probably they were right, I said it wasn’t likely, but I also told them we thought it would never happen here too.

Never say never, and prepare for the worst. And I’m not talking about nuclear war or zombies attacking if you know what I mean.

FerFAL


FerFAL

Mistakes survivalists make

(This is an old post, posted at minion's some time ago )


Another question from leftofcentralfl in Mnionreport:
08-19-2007
Quote:
QUESTION: What mistakes do you think most people make preparing for what you and your countrymen have gone through?


I wouldn’t call them “mistakes”, I don’t hold the SHTF Bible so all I can give is my humble advice which may be correct or not, so all I can tell you is “ I wouldn’t do that if I were you”, and depending on how sure I am , add a smartass grin smiley.
There’s simply some preparations that make little sense if you think about it, others that I’ve seen that just wouldn’t work, in spite of all the speculations.

a) Maybe the one that rubs me the wrong way the most concerns retreats. It’s also something many survivalists consider the summit of their preparations. A self sufficient fortification-ranch, with the nearest neighbor several miles away.

Isolated farms or retreats are targeted and are often victims of robbery and in some cases extremely violent home invasions. You may have 6-10 able men you are counting on to defend it when TSHTF… “when TSHTF” …so they aren’t there right now? Then you don’t have them, nor will you have them when you need them, most likely.
The isolation works to the attackers favor, who often take their time having their way with everything and everyone inside the house.

The “away from everything” theory just doesn’t work when taken to the field. Happens here and same happens in Africa where ranchers and farmers have to fight rebels, rogues or whatever they are calling them these days.

They’ll find you, they’ll know about you one way or the other. You cant hide simply by living a gas tank away from the city. If there’s a road that reaches your place, you are fair game, doesn’t matter if it’s a dirt road in poor condition. You get there with a car/truck? So can bad guys.

You are obviously safer from small time robberies or pickpocketers and snathcers, but you are more vulnerable to the worst kind of criminals. Not that living in a city or suburbs makes it MUCH safer, but I’d rather live here where I live now than in a farm house any day of the week. People can somehow organize to hire security, talk to the police. Yes, most people border idiotic and are pretty clueless, but it’s better than being alone with no chance of even trying to convince people.
I’m not talking about living in a large city being the best option, I’m talking about living in a small town or community, looking for safety in numbers but avoiding the problems of a metropolis.

I definitely would choose a house in a small town or subdivision near a city, rather than a far away retreat.
Rather than looking for the ultimate self reliance retreat in the middle of nowhere, look for a subdivision where you have enough land, where you can keep a small orchard and some small critters if you want, a place with a basement where you can build a NBC shelter as time and money allows. That’s what I’d look forward to if living in US.

b) The barter items thing is also pretty strange. I don’t see how it could possibly be a smart idea to buy goods to sell or trade after a crisis, surely not in the quantities suggested by some people. Beats me, are they going to set up a shop in their garages and sell everything? Would you buy food an other supplies from a guy that sells it with no possible way of verifying the conditions under which the food was kept? How much of a profit could you possibly make , comparing to having saved that same amount of money in gold, for example?
I don’t understand it and I don’t know of anyone that made a profit by doing this. Yet, people stock up on TP and many other cheap, easily obtainable items thinking that it will be “worth it’s weight in gold” after the crisis. Newsflash: if it’s cheap and easy to produce, it will keep being that way AFTER tshtf.
Some guys advice to “invest” in such goods, tools, food and supplies for after TSHTF. No, no , no. 200 or 500 bucks worth of tools rusting away in the shed is not an investment. Its’ 200 bucks worth of tools for which you don’t have any use. That’s not an investment.
An investment generates money, while products rotting away in some basement does nothing for you.

c) Forgetting about their financial security. I’d worry about REAL investments. Buying real estate that will provide me with a steady income on the longer run, an investment portfolio divided in a couple of reliable ( or as reliable as any organization can be) that will slowly grow, most of it set on minimum and medium risk investments, and not falling for the promises of high risk ones.
Money is so important, I cant begin to explain it. When prices skyrocket beyond the limits of superinflation, money does not turn into toilet paper as many survival experts predict, it become cherished, more valuable to you than ever. You have to turn yourself into a discriminating shopper, always looking for the best possible price, sometimes shopping in different branches of supermarkets so as to find the better deals and avoid those “hot” items grocery chains slip without you even noticing.

My father is visiting right now, handling business, and one thing he told me when I asked how did he see things going on here, he used the words “cheapskate” and “miserly”.
He said something like“ People count coins over and over, by the cent, and spend maybe 10 minutes thinking about spending every cent. They also look kind of shabby, untidy, I can’t explain it. Even the guys running around downtown with suits look bad”
I explained that his overall perception was indeed correct, mostly because the average person here uses clothes until they wear out, there’s not that much money left for looks, not getting haircuts as often as they should, shaving.
Yes, the fall on the purchasing power of people did affect the average person ( at least most of them if not all) and you can see it on the streets.

d) Not all places are equal in terms of crime, but if something like this happens in US, I’d worry about being armed at all times, and learning how to use it to defend myself.
Again, not talking about waiting for the end of the world to bug in and pull the shotgun out of the firing ports, just go on with your life but do so armed.
Most people here don’t see things this way.
The anti gun campaign is very strong here, and the majority of “sheep” see guns as evil objects, even though rape, crime and violence is smeared on their face every day. What can I say, most people are pretty stupid.

Those of us who go armed in this country are a reduced minority. After a few words, we recognize each other at the range or at gunshops with a knowing nod, knowing that most people, even among shooters , don’t share our opinions.

Even among “gun people” we have our important share of “Zumbos”, elitist hunters who think that firearms are hunting tools and shouldn’t be used by the lesser “civilians” for self defense.

e)Not trying to bore anyone to death here or anything, but going back to the issue of money. It’s so important to be financially set. Rather than spending tons of money on junk you wont ever use invest it smartly. Rich, unprepared people will suffer after TSHF… only in your wildest dreams. Money buys everything, including expensive food, medical care, security and relocation if needed.
When the economy collapses a big chunk of what used to be middle class ( 50% as minimum, more for sure) ends up being poor. It doesn’t matter how much guns you have, doesn’t matter if you can start a fire with a couple popsicles sticks or build an atomic bomb with a Snickers bar and a paper clip. Skills are of course important but you finances affect everything.

If you are middle class do everything you can to improve, climb way up the ladder. No I’m not talking about making more money than Bill Gates, I’m just talking about something every determined middle class person can achieve , no need to be a freaking financial genius. Make sure you climb your way up to the upper middle class, because once the pyramid starts sinking you don’t want to be below the 50%.
If you are really serious about financial security, diversify your real estate and other investments in different countries. My father did this and it made all the difference in the world. The man is my hero.

When you see serious trouble in the horizon and survivalists are thinking about bunkering in their cabins, you simply go on vacations to check out that little apartment or house you bought in Costa Rica for a bunch of pocket change a month. If Zombies take over or China invades, you can look for a job there, or live like a king thanks to the income you receive from that other apartment you have in France, a place in a small town near a mayor University, which you rent to students each year.600 Euros a month will allow you to live comfortably in Costa Rica, and most countries in South America. And the best part of all this? If nothing EVER happens you just have a few properties here and there that are constantly generating money for you, in case you want to retire early or if you ever have a health problem or any other issue that puts you out of the job market. Again, a couple of properties here and there inst’ such a big deal, most people can achieve that with a bit of effort, its’ just a matter of priorities.

f)The lack of reality based preparations. Some people focus on preparing for something that will never happen, preparing for getting up one day and walking into Mad Max’s world. This is of course, not a smart idea. Not only are you forgetting about the other, more likely possibilities, but you also ignore that you’ll have to go trough them before it reaches to a road warrior point, if it ever gets to that.
People that have thousands and thousands of dollars in tools, equipment, and maybe spent hundreds of thousands more building the ultimate retreat, but don’t have a penny invested anywhere. When asked they‘ll say that it will all be worth nothing when TSHTF.

Hopefully, this person will have several years worth of food along with all the other stuff he’ll rarely get to use, so at least he wont starve to death. But is eating all you aspire for in live? Not to mention what would happen if he got sick/robbed/place burns to the ground/hurricane/flood destroys it and suddenly needs the money he said he would never need.

Prepare for a broad spectrum of possibilities. So you’ll have your food and supplies for short and medium periods of time where supermarkets may be closed due to looting, riots, lack of supply , etc and you have others plans in case things get worse or you are forced to get out of there.
Something like what happened here happening in US? Don’t go nuts, shooting the neighbor’s kid for crossing over to your yard to pick up his frizzbe. Just adjust to the situation.

Once the first few weeks are over and people start calming down, just be more careful out there, don’t throw away money on stuff you don’t need and try to keep a generally low profile. It’s also important to do well at work, because people get fired like crazy during those times, companies trying to reduce expenses or not needing you any more for lack of production.

During these times is when your investments kick in. Not only do you have a place to exile to if things don’t go back to normal or they don’t fit what you expect in life anymore, you also have a form of income that is out of the circle of your local economy. Let’s say the dollar looses ½ it’s value, you still have your apartment in France or wherever the heck you want to invest, pumping in Euros that are now much more valuable, probably compensating for the local inflation, so weather you decide to leave or stay, you have the means to go either way.

FerFAL