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

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!