What seems to be missing.

[grenfell]

Like most newbies I suspect I've been reading and re-reading old posts but haven't found an answer but if it's out there I do apogolise.
I think I'm trying to tie a few threads together so to speak.
I've looked at the contents that people have posted of their bug out bags, I've read how many are also prepping against some sort of civil unrest and I've also looked at the threads about buying and keeping gold and silver.
However, from what I can see nobody has their precious metals or portable wealth in their BOB which if the feared civil unrest was to occur would seem to make good sense. You know make a run with your stash rather than leaving it to the looters. Ok so you can't eat gold and it won't keep you warm but for a short term evacuation or for that matter a long term one with no chance of returning home surely taking it with you seems sensible.
Or am I missing something here?

[Plymtom]

Or am I missing something here?

Maybe or maybe the UK guys aren't as keen to announce where they would stash such stuff, besides there's so much more to bug out than most of us can get our heads around so we plan to bug in or become refugees

Asides from what to pack in your bag you have to decide ;-

Where you plan to go to escape your most feared scenario, and in a country where most of the land belongs to someone else, the few of us that live near public forests big enough to escape one another in may be OK but mostly a sustainable BOL for more then a day or two is a pipe dream.

When do you jump? You have limited provisions and survivability,you can't throw your job and life in unless your sure this is it, this is a goldilocks issue for everyone but the best prepared who live in the ideal BOL to early, you run out of supplies before the event, to late and you get caught up in the event, you need to be as precognitive as Nostradamus and nowhere near as cryptic as to what and when and lets face it it's not easy

How do you know when it's safe enough to come out of hiding? I doubt there's many Preppers as committed as the few Japanese soldiers on Pacific islands still fighting their own war decades after it was all over but none the less it's an issue you may not be able to solve with w wind up radio.

And finally if you truly plan to bug out you have to rehearse it, like a fire drill in terms of getting ready to do it, and an occasional full dress rehearsal as they say to prove your plan workable, or find the bugs and fix them.

I bumped into a survivalist and chatting away he told me that he and his friends like to test themselves, deliberately going out with next to nothing, spending a night or more in the open building a shelter etc, he in my opinion is better prepared than most, no matter what the BOB is filled with he's practicing making it work, proving it's the skills that will get you through a bug out situation more than any material preparation, and what you have to remember about this guy and others like him, is that he does this as much if not more because he likes it and likes to test himself and his friends, than he thinks or fears TS is going to hit the fan, it's like hey it may never happen but the fun he's having with his like minded friends is pay off enough, and I tell you what if I was younger I'd do it, along with the bushcraft/archery/shooting/hunting/foraging/fishing, not to survive TSHTF but for the fun of it and the occasional escape from the rat race, here we are sitting in a heat wave wishing we were out in the woods paddling in a stream.

[badgersden]

be flexible don't just stick to one plan have a plan a,b,c,d things can change very quickly, so have other options available, plymtom is correct try and practice as much as you can

[grenfell]

Or am I missing something here?

Maybe or maybe the UK guys aren't as keen to announce where they would stash such stuff, besides there's so much more to bug out than most of us can get our heads around so we plan to bug in or become refugees
.

Yes I can fully understand why people wouldn't want to tell the world where their hoard of gold is
Taking your wealth with you and for that matter documentation that would enable you to at least claim insurances on lost property would seem to be good sense to me at least. Maybe keep it all in an additional grab bag, shouldn't weigh more than a few pounds , even a refugee could carry that
I tend to agree with you that bugging in would seem a better option for us in most cases and bugging out is a last resort. The country is to crowded in all honesty and as you point out timing is absolutelty paramount.
I agree with the practicing comments. I do like to run through various secenarios about what comes after the bug out, once I'm sat in a bivvy with my tin of beans on a welsh hillside what comes next, what is my next move? Again like so many questions on this forum it seems to me to be ultimately down to the nature of the event we have saved ourselves from.

[ForgeCorvus]

A Survival Thumb-drive is an essential when it comes to Re-boot your life after the fact..... Unless it really is TEOTWAWKI in which case that 1/2oz has been wasted

Personally, I've never seen the need for PMs.....Except as a safeguard against hyper-inflation for your surplus money.
But as a bartering tool, Nope. After all do you really think that a market trader or the manager of a hardware shop is going to accept bullion when they're unsure of value,weight or purity

And why people seem to think that after the Zombies rise anyone is going to trade them anything for a lump of pretty metal escapes me

[grenfell]

I've never actively gone out to purchase precious metals although I do have a handful of kruggerands and soverigns and a few silver coins.
I'm sort of partly agreeing with you on their value post event and you are probably correct that market traders would be unlikely to take them. And if they do I'm sure their value will be seriously reduced. That's not to say that PM's won't be of any use. Gold has had a allure to humans for thousands of years so I think that there will always be someone willing to trade in it. Trade in gold was still taking place in the warsaw ghetto during the height of WW2 and I could see such a thing taking place again.
Perhaps we need someone who actively buys gold and silver to give an answer because if you don't see the point in having and therefore taking gold with you I may just as well be talking about , I dunno, elephants in the BOB

[Charlie 5]

1 ounce silver bars are easily stashed and silver has use as an industrial metal. Whilst recognising that it may be difficult to check purity post TEOTWAWKI, I still believe that it has use as an 'asset'. Currently, I would never hold any 'paper' shares as savings that infer something is worth something on my behalf. There is no real difference in Currency and Monopoly money - it is only our belief that the former is actually worth something. Maybe a moot point if Western Civilisation collapses - for whatever reason. Better to have something physical, something tangible. Something that is actually yours, in your hand, rather than some 'trustworthy' bank or financial institution 'telling' you that that have it on your behalf. It wouldn't bother me as investment, that in buying silver - you pay well over its current market metal value - the fundamental issue is - that it is yours. You have it

[jansman]

Now I agree with all of the above. Certainly the fact that I would rather barter tangible goods post shtf, as I cannot eat gold. However...

A friend of mine way back in the eighties used to buy up scrap gold, jewellery,etc. And he bought it all the time. Whenever we were out he would be scanning market stalls etc. He told me it was his retirement fund. It was. He only works part-time, just to keep himself busy!
I took a leaf from his book, and bought(a little!) gold. Last year when Jan and I realised we were in for a rough ride, we decided to pay the mortgage down in full. It took all our savings down to fifty quid. Part of that payment was our gold stash. In total it cost £400. I cashed it for three times that.
If gold ever drops back in price, I would certainly stash a bit more.

Just my take.

[the big fly in]

Hello

where is the best place to buy silver ?? I am looking for silver coin, I think this in a SHTF setup would be best to trade as it can be recognized?