Stockpiling Cash? Silver? If You Can’t TOUCH It, You Don’t OWN It!

Your 401k statement says you have a $50,000 balance as of July 1st.  Do you really have $50,000, or do you have a white piece of paper with some print on it which is virtually worthless?  I will concede in a perfect world you probably do have a nest egg somewhere which will supposedly grow over time, overcoming short term market ebbs and flows to deliver long term growth which you will be able to call upon in retirement.  Ah yes, the American dream!  Here’s the deal, we don’t live in a perfect world and it doesn’t take an economics degree to realize something isn’t right.   If SHTF what good is that $50k to you, can you access it quickly if the market goes nuts or what will it even be worth at that point?  Things to ponder.

I’m not here to tell you how to invest or prepare for some form of retirement, what I am here to discuss is being prepared for what is taking place in Greece / Puerto Rico and soon to be other countries.  You have to not only stockpile preps but also cash and other forms of currency.  After any market crash or economic upheaval there will be a period of time in which cash will retain value, it might be a small window but it will be there, better to have it on hand than standing in lines at the bank for days to get a ration of what you thought was your own money.

ATM line in Greece

ATM line in Greece

Cash, Fiat Currency, Silver and Stuff

Quite often on various prepper-ish websites you’ll read comments from those who write about fiat currency being worthless, yet these are probably the same people who brag that they pay “cash only” for items in order to stay out of debt and protect their anonymity.  Well…you can’t have it both ways hero.  While cash money is suspect and the value could decrease exponentially if things go south, for NOW those pieces of paper in your wallet ARE worth something!  Not only that, it is a recognizable form of currency.  Try going shopping with some silver or gold pieces and let me know how that works out for you, the vast majority of the public wouldn’t even know what to do with it.  On the other hand a $20 bill is universally recognizable and even shortly after a collapse, WILL have value.

What IS VALUE?

Picture this, you live in a small cabin and have weathered SHTF for the last year.  You still have another YEAR’s worth of supplies on hand to include food, water, medical supplies etc.  For whatever reason you encounter a billionaire who has managed to make it through a year of SHTF as well.  He offers you pallets of gold bricks, paper currency, the keys to his mansion and everything else in exchange for half of your supplies.  At that point, is what used to be millions in gold really worth anything?  Absolutely NOT.  It’s just metal, and you can’t eat it!  Value now and what something is worth post collapse may change if the big one goes down, don’t place your bets on gold / silver ALWAYS being worth something.

All That Said, What’s The Advice?

I believe in stockpiling some cash and precious metals as part of a diverse prepper strategy.  Cash in your safe is better than cash in the bank because if you can’t touch it, it’s not really yours!  Not to mention interest rates at the bank are a joke.  Again ask those in Greece about access to their savings account because they can’t even take out what they believed to be theirs!  Have the cash on hand, I’d say at least $2000 to $3000 in multiple denominations.  If you have some junk silver or a few rolls of silver eagles I can’t hate on that, always good just in case bartering comes into play with those who understand that value.

The Bottom Line

Don’t wait until it’s too late to stockpile some currency.  As I have stated even if things go south quickly there will be a brief window in which case cash will still be king.  You can use that period to stockpile additional supplies or pre-pay for services.  Having a 401k or savings account in a bank isn’t necessarily a terrible thing but don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.  If SHTF happens the money won’t be yours if you can’t touch it, so have some tangible assets ON HAND to mitigate your risk!

 

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9 comments

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    • Michael on July 2, 2015 at 12:25 PM
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    According to my coworkers, who lived in Russia during perestroika, gold and silver were very effective for acquiring food. Rubles, not so much.

    • MrApple on July 2, 2015 at 1:30 PM
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    Don’t forget something to defend that stockpile with.

      • PJ on July 2, 2015 at 10:19 PM
        Author
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      Absolutely.

    • NRP on July 2, 2015 at 1:45 PM
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    Here is a quote that pretty much sums it all up.

    Nancy Pelosi as house speaker, “All those 401’s, that’s our money. We will just take it.”

    How’s that for a warm and fuzzy feeling from our government? And if you think she is the only one, think again, they are raping the SS funds everyday. They falsify the unemployment numbers, they Lie Lie Lie everyday.

    NRP

      • TPSnodgrass on July 3, 2015 at 4:13 PM
      • Reply

      This is just a guess, but I do believe CzarinaPelosi will be one of the first “useful idiots” liquidated by The People’s Tribunals when her usefulness has waned. Would serve her right to have her fellow ideologues remove her from mortality as they will any “undesireables” that they see fit to remove from society.
      Her worth to society certainly isn’t any more than what my dog likes to leave on his daily walks, it is stinky, hot and of little use to anyone.

    • Muleskinner on July 3, 2015 at 3:05 AM
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    Ours is a credit system when the economy goes south there won’t be anything to buy after the first 12 to 24 hours (Greece anyone???). No credit; no trucks move, No credit no orders placed for restocking store shelves. The “window” PJ speaks of is no greater then 24 hours. It is not open to debate, If you don’t have it you won’t be able to get it.

  1. That is absolutely priceless advice.

    I would have to say that the best kind of currency after TEOTWASKI would be clean drinking water and water filtration systems. Do you really think that the 20 million people in New York City are going to survive if they are all drinking from the Hudson River?

    Thanks for this article and the great advice. I have heard so many people saying stockpile silver and gold, I like the fact that none of them realize that it is just heavy worthless metal.

    Thanks and have a good day.
    Justin
    ApocalypticSurvivalGuide.com

      • PJ on July 16, 2015 at 11:44 PM
        Author
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      Thanks for the vote of confidence on the article Justin. 🙂

    • David on August 17, 2015 at 10:10 PM
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    How about Ammo for currency.

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