Priorities
 

Greetings GIM'ers,


I have about 50% of my money in PM's. I've been listening to Financial Sense for the last 5-6 months and I find it tempting to get into some of the gold and silver juniors, as well as some energy and commodities plays, but a nagging voice is telling me I should just buy more silver. Maybe a bag of junk coin this time.

My question is this: Being I do not have much surplus of "survival" supplies on hand, and I have no doubt that in the next 3-5 years things will be getting much worse.... Should I skip on PM's or other financial investing and start to stock up on beans, rice, water, canned goods, sugar, flour, etc?

My best friend has started dehydradting fruits and veggies with his small dehydrator. We have been talking about buying some buckets with gamma seals and getting the proper bags to line them. I am in a rural farming community and I see signs leading down old country roads that advertise bulk beans and other items that I can likely get at a very good price.

Am I better off to stockpile the needed items, instead of trying to beat the money system and buying cheap stocks or etfs?

I'm not really a "guns" type of person, but a shotgun and a pistol have become a temptation lately as well.

I appreciate any of your input on this.

P.S. In the last two weeks a couple of question line calls on Financial Sense's radio show have really put me off. John Loefler (SP) was spewing his "anti-arab" rhetoric to a few callers asking about the Iraq war, and it has taken all of my nerve not to call their Q line and give them my point of view: We are fighting in the middle east on behalf of our "very most bestest friend" ISRAEL.:banghead:

I don't mind Financial Sense, but a nagging feeling in my gut tells me that they are 3rd rank media shills, doing a light fluffy job of exposing what they are actually a PART of.

Anyway,

any input from you-all is good.

Thanks!

Re: Priorities
 

My suggestion would be to skip everything, at least for now that's not physical.

If you already have a stash of PM's, and no preps, concentrate on getting them first. As you go along, you will quickly realize how much money and time it takes to get a goodly supply of food, water, hygiene items, etc. Please start NOW. Look at all the things you use in your daily life, decide on how long you wish to prep for and then start buying those quantities. Personally I'd go for a year minimum.

Something that we found out along time ago too, was that this is a one of those subjects where one thing leads to another. We wanted an alternate heat source for instance that doesn't rely on electricity. Ok, so we went and bought a couple of kerosene heaters. But that's not good enough. We also needed fuel to run the heater. So we needed fuel cans and a pump to transfer the kero with. Then we needed spare parts to keep the heaters running. It goes on and on and all of this takes a lot of time and effort at least initially when you're getting started.

Re: Priorities
 

At this time (AU:913 AG:17.69) I'd say that 50% is overexposed.

Strangely enough, you might want to consider a short term CD. If we have deflation cause by lending drying up, cash will be king.

I assume you evaluate and allocate every month or so?

Re: Priorities
 

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Re: Priorities
 

+1 to Mumwaldee

You really need to get busy prepping.- ta heck w/ trying to make a buck on investments- preps are the ultimate investment.

Re: Priorities
 

I just recently started buying preps. I buy an extra can of tuna here, a bag of rice there and have already created a decent sized pantry :s9:. Next for a gun..

The price of food is going to continue to go up. So prepping can be seen as just another way of investing.

Re: Priorities
 

I have recently jumped head-first into the world of prepping, and just like everyone in this thread has stated, it's a HUGE battle. Just when you think you have a firm foothold in the gathering of your preps you realize you're missing x or y and need to add them to your list, too. The key is to be able to maintain your current lifestyle after TSHTF or come as close to it as possible and the time to prepare for that is no better than the present. turning your FRNs into PMs is a great idea but remember, you can't eat 'em or keep yourself warm with 'em. Good luck

Re: Priorities
 

I think everyone agrees that supplies is the way to go.

Beans, Bullets and Band-Aids.

Remember, you can have all the PM's in the world but come SHTF you can't survive on eating gold or silver. Nor will there be a market safe enough to trade PMs for supplies.

Besides, if the SHTF would you really be interested in selling your supplies for PMs? Probably not, especially if you didn't know how long things would be bad.

Dave

Re: Priorities
 

Yep,PM's are your last prep item after your physical future needs are met.IMO.

Re: Priorities
 

+ 1

This is the way I look at it as well. Not only is food good insurance against starving but it is also an investment in itself. Over the past year according to some recent threads around here food has gone up 30-40% and it looks like it will continue to go up for awhile. So really if you stock up you are looking at a pretty good investment even if food is still available.

Also you save twice really because you are buying bulk items on sale rather than paying more for things when you run out.

I usually pick up more of what I already eat and rotate through it. Although I have started to add a few long term buckets of things like rice, wheat and sugar

Re: Priorities
 

I totally agree with the investment value of prep items.

Here is a hypotehtical:

TSHTF, and people are in desperate need of food, medical supplies, and ammunition.

1. That bucket of wheat berries you bought for $30 now may be worth an ounce of gold if someone is desperate enough.
2. Medical supplies, again may give you a 10-50-100 fold return post SHTF.
3. Weapons/Ammunition, again yet another great return post SHTF.

PMs maintain their value but are not survival items so they will not increase in value. Remember PMs only allow the facilitation of trade if the seller accepts them. In fact PMs may not be accepted by quite a few people who are not flush with supplies, whereas they are looking to trade for other things they may need; food/supplies.

The important thing to consider is you DON'T want to be in the position where you are wasting PMs on supplies (assuming people were even taking them for trade) post SHTF because supplies will be at an EXTREMELY HIGH premium.

Tangibles will be king in this scenario.

Once things settle down, you could open a small trading post where you could sell all of your leftover supplies at a very good profit. If you didn't have a lot of PMs then you would have A LOT after you sold your surplus supplies.

Dave

Re: Priorities
 

Thank you everyone for your input!

I've decided I'm gonna start small and build up a surplus of regular items. Make lists, start hassling my best friend to dehydrate even more. I'm sure between us we can get some good buckets with gamma lids and the right bags for some long term items.

As far as my PM investment being overexposed, I got in at quite a bit lower price, so I'm not worried about that. I'm happy to ride the rollercoaster and I think it will continue to go up for a while.

Medical supplies are important. I'm glad you all pointed that out. I have good resources for med stuff so that helps. Recently here we had a killer wind storm and it knocked the lights out for 4-5 days. If I'd have had a kerosene heater my fiance would have loved it....

I figure if I plan at first for small emergency scenarios, as I get more prepared, I can start to think about long term troubles. We all hope they never come, but it is hard to watch the things they are doing out there and not think the whole mess is by design.

Thanks again guys! I'll check back after work....which means about 9-10 hrs from now.

-sewneo

Re: Priorities
 

Being in California, my highest priority items are water and food.

Heating and cooling is no issue here. I use 1/2 cord of wood a winter for a fireplace insert and never use the furnace anymore. If there was no heating at all I'd be fine. Good things to stock up on that I've not seen anyone mention are good clothes, shoes, and blankets, especially for the various seasons.

My goal is still to find a place in the country with a well, and where'd I'd have some room to grow things - along with having access to good water. All the public water here is contaminated with chemicals and not fit to use as it is. When having a shower, I can see the heavy chemicals in the mist.

Re: Priorities
 

johnlvs2run,

Lucky for me, here in the Pacific North West water quality is good. I've been saving the jugs I get for my baby's bottles and I plan to fill and reseal them once I make a good storage pantry in my little basement/water heater space. Once I get a day off to check out the second hand stores, wool blankets and extra beddings were on the top of my list. Half a dozen mummy style sleeping bags would be good. I just need to start getting things I can grab when I'm out, and once I get started I can get a detailed plan together and start seeding out the funds.

:wink:

Re: Priorities
 

The way we started with food was canned goods of things we like,like tuna in OIL.Might need that oil in your diet someday and it can get RARE,as in Russia.

Anyhow,when we were out shopping bought 8 cans.Not a budget killer at all.

Then you look for sales,your canned veggies you like on sale,grab a case of 24 cans.

They add up fast and you save money.Then when you get all the canned goods you normally eat and start shopping out of your pantry you wont have shortages of something,and you will be eating at the sale price.

From that starting point we started dehydrating,maybe get your mountainhouse freeze dried last 30 year food,its just sort of is a process that will lead you down the various avenues.

Its easy,just have to start and the rest follows.Just dont overwhelm yourself so that you burn out on it.Doing a little,a LOT of times, will build you up fast.

Good luck in your endeavors!

Re: Priorities
 

Oh,thought of something else.About power.

We got a little 2000 watt EU series genny by Honda.We have frequent power outs from trees falling in storms.My last outage I ran the genny about 90 minutes in the morning and evening and kept the lights on,freezer frozen,refer cold and kept the lights/tv on at the neighbors house too with our battery backup/inverter running on genny off times, we had 24/7 power.

Plus the EU Honda is fuel efficient,has pure sine wave power and is QUIET!

Might not apply to apartment living folks but its been one of the BEST preps we have for really coming thru when needed.

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Speaking of generators... Be sure any of those who have one that is not on an automated maintenance schedule to turn them on and put a load on them at least once a month (I will frequently run my to power yard equipment).

The last thing you want to be doing to repairing your generator after the power has gone out.

Also, be sure to not let your gas sit too long or at the minimum treat the gas in your generator tank to prevent spoilage.

Just do this little bit of maintenance will save you a lot of headache down the road.

Dave

Re: Priorities
 

I'm glad I asked you guys for a bit of advice. My mindset has totally changed on this. I already started to grab a few extras last night, and now, each time I'm at the store I'll just start to pick up one or two items. I can plan with my buddy who is dehydrating stuff and we can get some good buckets and make a "long term" list. I want to drive out in the country and see what they want for beans.

A Gennerator is a great idea. I'll look into the one you mentioned. I'm not sure how I'd get my furnace to work with it, but I'm sure there's away.

Have a good day folks, and thanks for your help. Any more sugestions will be greatly appreciated and added to the list.

-Sewneo

Re: Priorities
 

Ive also seen folks claim using synthetic oil will increase genny life 2-3 times! It shines in hot high rpm usage,so thats what I do,I also change it religiously.Heck,it only holds half a quart.And the once a month run,thats what I do too,on the first of the month and load it up.