Prepping for the next finacial crash?

[Arwen Thebard]

Arwen Thebard wrote:
No mention yet of crypto currencies? Bitcoin, Etherium, Litecoin, Ripple?

From a personal point of view,I have no interest,nor knowledge of those things.Tbh,it makes me think back to the early 2000's and the 'dot com bubble'.It was all new then,relatively speaking.Just like this crypto currency thing.When the bubble burst back then,commentators said that it was like "The King's New Clothes".

I get a LOT of bitcoin related spam.To me that screams "dodgy".I have just looked the subject up, and in the first two paragraphs are three warnings about the risk of deposit loss! 'Nuff said.

If it works for you,all well and good.We live in a free society, its down to personal choice.My choice is to have physical, tangible assets.My bricks and mortar,owned free and clear,real cash and precious metals.Also the land my property is on,upon which I grow and rear a lot of food.More important to me than any get rich quick investments ( and I include the traditional stock market there,not just this latest scheme).

If you cannot touch it or hold it,then it ain't yours.

Yep I understand completely, I was exactly the same when I first heard about it as well.

I would perhaps liken it more to the early days of the internet, that was rocket science to me back then as well. Or maybe if someone had given me the heads up on say Amazon or Facebook shares 10 years ago, I would have been sceptical as well.

You never know whats going to pan out, im just saying its been a good punt for us these past few years, but if it all goes up in smoke tomorrow so be it. It would be a shame though as there is some great technology involved (Blockchain) and the whole concept has awsome potential in so many ways for everyday people.

Lets come back to this thread in a few years/months/weeks and see what came of it, if anything?

[jansman]

I was thinking about food storage for use in barter / value scenario. I totally understand its value in terms of our own prep storage, but dont know about using it as a wealth item. We try to rotate our food stock as we go, so Im not sure what I would stock up on that would be most valuable, but def worth thinking about though.

Golden rule of prepping food storage,indeed the Mantra; Store what you eat and eat what you store. Other people eat the same food too.

Regarding wealth, the Saintsbury's group have predicted a 22% increase in food in the very near term.So...if you buy tinned and dry goods now,by the time you are eating them you will be Quid's in! Of course it has to be replaced,but if ( as you should as a Prepper),you have a proper storage programme,you will be well ahead of the game. Only store what YOU eat though.We all have to eat,nothing complex about that.

[General DeGaulle]

With regard to Bitcoin and other such currencies, an unlikely but possible solar storm/EMP attack would wipe these out without trace. From a prepping point of view I would think these are even less valuable that the notes and tokens associated with fiat currencies - at least you can burn paper and use the metal in coins. Aside from food, quarter or miniature botles of spirits would make a good barter commodity.

[Arwen Thebard]

"an unlikely but possible solar storm/EMP attack would wipe these out without trace"

Agreed, unless you hold your investment in what they call a hard wallet, but even then you still need the power up and running to make them work.

And with any paper based investments (fiat, stocks, comex) its all going to be about timing, judging when to get out and into precious metals and other barter goods.

[peejay]

If the infrastructure goes down due to EMP or similar then any digital assets would likely become instantly worthless.

[itsybitsy]

So are ppl buying up physical gold and silver? Seems a better idea than stocks and shares and other investments?

with the market at all time highs I think the majority of us know the only way is down especially since 2008 was a can kicking event (they never really fixed the problem just made it worse) it may continue to go up for a little while (the old saying "up the stairs and out the window" springs to mind as in it goes up incrementally but when it goes down its instantaneous) but I dont think there is money to be made, those that got in during the crash probably have already taken profits and thinking of getting out.

I've been buying gold and silver since I was in my early 20's (i'm 35 now) it's scary how much you can accumulate in just less than 15 years, I think there is better opportunity in silver for gains but gold is gold and accepted worldwide.

one thing i'll say is dont delude yourself into thinking if there is a massive crash or meltdown of the system that people will actually want gold or silver (at that time the ones accepting it will seriously rip you off), i think it'll only be after the event that its true value will be recognized so I stock up on the essentials for actually living too, which would probably be worth more than gold in that scenario.

You raise some interesting points mate, I've never bothered storing precious metals, maybe in part because I don't think there will be a cataclysmic event that will permanently destroy 'the system'. Even if it did happen, I don't know enough about it to be able to barter/trade either with or for it. I would know how much I need food or other essentials but something like gold while used as a value now maybe wouldn't mean as much as a 6 pack of beans to somebody. If you so inclined during a disaster, you could probably mass quite a healthy collection of Rolex's swapping food etc with desperate people. Not my bag I hasten to add. I guess it depends on what you prep for and why and as usual, what works for one might not work for another.

I buy silver to shore up my pension pot.

[Arwen Thebard]

This thread started back in Sept 2017 and is probably even more relevant today given whats going on in the financial markets.

The 10yr Bond yield rate is about to go over 3% in the next day or so, which will likely have a major impact in financial markets as so much is gauged against this. (This is effectively the interest rate that the US have to promise in order to borrow money repayable in ten years time)

Japan, Russia and China have been selling off Fed notes like there is no tomorrow..... (Maybe they know something we dont?)

The Bank of England is still calling for another rate increase in May 2018 which could have a big physiological impact on markets despite being just 0.25% and the ECB makes its own EURO rate announcements next week. Couple all this with their cutting back on stimulus programmes and the next 3-6 months does not look too promising.

Last week nearly 15% of all world oil transactions were conducted in currencies other than the petro-dollar which would have been impossible before 26th March when China's started its own trading platform. The value of the dollar is headed downward and there is less demand as other countries are now choosing the China option.

Silver went up very nicely last week only to be manipulated back down very quickly. If silver (and gold) reaches anywhere near its genuine market value then it will have a massive impact as so much is measured or gauged off its price.

Bitcoin rises above $9000 dollars again and almost all other Cryptos are up similar amounts in percentage rates.

Stock markets across the world are headed downward, not in free fall just yet by any means, but there are lots of companies releasing their financials this week so much to look out for.

I dont remember a time since late 2007 when so much negative financial information was available but was getting so little coverage and discussion. Perhaps its because we are distracted by other world issues (Syria, Salisbury, Korea, Brexit, China, Russia et al) at the moment and many people dont really want to understand whats going on at the end of the day.

When you look at all the various financial markets, all converging at the roughly the same time, we are probably not too far away from a recognized and reported crash now IMO.

Hold onto your hats and dig up your stash!

[metatron]

Safest bet for a financial crash and the inevitable loss of repetitive job by automation, is to reskill. Electrical/Mechanical engineering, 3 year undergrad, plus masters, will likely cost you around 40k, but no matter how bad things get you will always have a job.

Mature students are also unlikely to ever pay back student loans.

[Deeps]

Safest bet for a financial crash and the inevitable loss of repetitive job by automation, is to reskill. Electrical/Mechanical engineering, 3 year undergrad, plus masters, will likely cost you around 40k, but no matter how bad things get you will always have a job.

Mature students are also unlikely to ever pay back student loans.

A lot of mature students also have bills to pay outside of academia, its not a universal solution.

[ukpreppergrrl]

Safest bet for a financial crash and the inevitable loss of repetitive job by automation, is to reskill. Electrical/Mechanical engineering, 3 year undergrad, plus masters, will likely cost you around 40k, but no matter how bad things get you will always have a job.

Plumber! That's the thing to retrain for if you can! But as Deeps says, it's not always possible retrain as anything, particularly if you have no-one else to pay the bills whilst you're retraining. Just the financial cost of retraining is beyond a lot of people even assuming your living expenses are taken care of. Also, if you already have a degree and certainly if you've already received a student loan for a previous degree, you get no more state funding. Retraining, as opposed to training, is usually done at your own cost and 40k is a very big commitment. Over the age of 30, apprenticeships or similar schemes where the cost of retraining is met by the employer AND you are paid whilst you retrain, are few and far between. I'm not disputing the advice about trying to reskill, just that it's not always financially possible to do so.