financial prepping the way I see it

[JDandCoke]

Hello
Let me share my opinion about prepping. As much as I always try to have few days food and water supplies at home, as I believe something wrong can happen I am more concerned about finances. All I have in this country is wife and son. That's it. Noone to turn to if shtf.
What do I prep for the most? Not social unrest (these won't last for years), not for zombie apocalypse (good for brainwashed geeks), not for EMP - I believe it may happen but there are more likely situations - single family shtf situations. Unemployment, death, illness. These are more likely to happen than collapse of civilisation.
So shortly the way I see it:

- emergency fund - you need savings, possibly on ISA where you can take the money out quick, savings that will allow you to survive few months without working, that will allow you to pay your bills and buy food. Everybody can face unemployment, and it is more likely than zombies attacking the cities . How much do you need? I would say 3-6 times of your monthly salary. These moneny won't go towards purchase of new car, trip to Mexico etc.
You'll use it when life forces you to.

- mortgage - try to pay it off as soon as possible. Imagine you get disabled, long term unemployed due to unemployment, illness, being old etc - you can live in your house if utilities will be disconnected, but where will you live if you fail to pay off mortgage?

- try to live debt free - don't buy things you don't really need, things you cannot afford, things that you will use so rare that it would be better to lend them rather than buying (for example holiday trailer that you will use once a year for a week)

- life insurance - shortly - I'd be kicking coffin's lid if I'd left my wife and son with mortgage to pay. I insured both me and my wife for the amount that will be enough to pay off mortgage and live few years without working - Mr Mayhem may be waiting behind the corner

- work - I see many people who find one job, stick to it, moan how they hate it, but stay there for years, who don't qualify towards more stuff, and once redundancies come they can't find any job. I try to improve my knowledge all the time, learn more, be more competitive on job market. It may happen I will be unemployed for a long time in times of crisis, but I will find job more likely than folks who all their lives sit on their asses, moan and do nothing with their lives.

- health - I try to live healthy, do sports, keep fit. The fitter you are the better. When I get old there won't be pensions for old people, that's what world goes towards.

I know above mentioned is more boring than hunting zombies, or surviving in mountain cabin , but more likely to happen.

And my favourite prepper? Lad in military clothes driving 4x4 (his bug out vehicle) - easy to spot from mile - alive advert of food, water and meds supply., especially those who say are preppers and advertise it over youtube channels - I am sure you'll be safe if shtf

[grenfell]

A lot of what you say rings a bell with me and I've taken some of the same steps that you have . I've seen redundancies and scrapping a living , scrimping and saving so it seems only logical that my preps lean in that direction. I'm not going to say that they're the best sort of prep because I don't think there's actually a right or wrong answer as to how to prep. Given that most of the things we worry about won't actually happen , might do , could do , but on the balance won't or don't then prepping is really more about peace of mind. Like you I don't worry much about such things as an EMP but if someone else does , takes action on those worries and puts in place protections that make them happier , more content and less worried and stressed then that's equally as good as you or I paying off the mortgage .

[Arzosah]

I agree with a lot of what you say - though I *definitely* disagree with having your emergency fund in an ISA. I suppose it depends what you mean by emergency, actually. My own experience of that is the day there was a bank run on Northern Rock. I had building work going on at the time, and I'd given my 7 days notice that I wanted to access my ISA, so I could pay my builder. But there were hundreds and hundreds of people trying to get money from the only branch that was available to me, and I stood in that queue for hours, in hot sun. That's not zombies, thats real experience within the last ten years. And it was just one financial institution that was at risk, at that stage of the crisis.

Now that the first £1,000 interest from savings is tax free, ISAs don't have the same advantages that they used to - I'd seriously consider having some of your emergency savings in an account you can access from an ATM, and a bit of them should actually be at home - you have no relatives in the UK (and I don't have any nearby myself) so if, say, you're flooded out of your house, or a WWII bomb is found and you're evacuated (happens all the time in this country, in different areas of course) you have the money you need to get on a train, or fill your car with petrol, or go to a hotel, whatever you like.

JDandCoke, you mention having a few days food in the house - if you literally mean that, and you're not disguising that what you really mean is "a few months" thats potentially a problem during winter - what if you and your wife are badly ill at the same time, and can't get to the shops? The acute phase of ordinary winter flu can last a couple of weeks, to my mind having at least that is really essential.

Otherwise, what grenfell said - make the most of your money however you save, however you spend, and prep in the way that seems right to you.

[mightymayesy]

An interesting thread...

I could add value to this from a financial professional's point of view if your interested?

There are lots of strategies and different types of insurances available that i'm familiar with and I could give a benchmark monthly figure of how much it could cost you (assuming fit and healthy and a a male about 40) whether you are employed or self-employed. For good measure, I'll throw in some (sobering) ABI insurance statistics

MM

[Arzosah]

I could add value to this from a financial professional's point of view if your interested?

Post away! Touting for business is frowned on but sharing professionally based information isn't.

[sethorly]

JD, as a retired finance professional I'd say you were completely on the right track for your financial preps. I'd add that feeling wealthy is having disposable cash (in notes or in bank account) rather than being "asset rich / debt heavy / cash poor"; so aim to keep boosting up that cash fund.

We agree on the primary importance of financial prepping. You can then do a risk analysis of other problematic events (eg. water supply contaminated/turns off for short time: probability medium, risk high. Electricity cut off: probability .... etc) and use this analysis to add to your financial preps depending on what is highest probability and/or what is more fun.

[itsybitsy]

I've just bit the bullet and added a small purchase of silver Britannia's to my stash as I've been a bit lax over the past few months and not done what I had agreed with myself when I started buying silver, that I would make a small purchase of one or two coins each month.

[diamond lil]

I just stick with boring piles of money under my mattress.
Ok well I lie. I have a wee tiny pile of it lol

[bobble]

Tesco Bank "robbery" the other day has made me sit up and pay attention. Some people had their money taken from their accounts but one guy on the news said his account was ok but his cash card was 'frozen' and he couldnt use it! He was intending to borrow cash off friends. Glad I made myself stick some real dosh in my jam jar (not jammy and not actually a jar!)
Feel sorry for all those people who have been affected though.

[sethorly]

The Tesco customers won't lose any money (Tesco will pay). But they will have restricted access to their account for a while.

There is the possibility that this was a Russian attack, and that the recent Russian powercut was due to a Western attack. So we have cyber-battles to prep for on top of everything else.