Yep but note that in Revelation lots of people survive without the mark...so reading between the lines it's apparent that either lots of merchants were selling illegally or people had forged marks....

Where does it say lots of people survive without the mark? A "forged mark" seems improbable. I'm assuming there may be some theft and barter going on.

too true

Look, if "everyone" (100% of all people on earth) got the mark.... then no one would be left with faith to triumph with Jesus.

Against whom would the huge armies of gog and magog be assembled and against what force or army would they be advancing with all their weaponry if 'everyone' got the Mark?

Seriously, if all Christians at the end are harmless, disarmed, peaceful pacifists waiting for the wolves to devour them....why would the enemies of God need armies? Against who would they need such numbers and such weapons? Obviously they will feel the need to assemble a vast host and thus untold numbers of people will have not had the Mark.

I understand your point now. I haven't really settled on an interpretation of the timeline.

And to tie this all back into my first point, read 2 Timothy 2:15.

To each their own.

Some will likely be unprepared in some aspect and may not survive. Some will be very prepared and still die from unforseen issues.

Personally I bought my family 40 acres in the middle of nowhere and built a small cabin. Between growing stuff in the garden and shooting an elk or antelope (way more elk and antelope than people in the area) whenever needed, we may do ok for an extended period. Maybe not. I'm not going to stress very much about it. I will just continue to teach my kids self sufficiency. If (when) I die then perhaps they will have a better than average chance.

As it is now if we arrived with virtually nothing on our backs, we would be warm, dry, well fed and well armed..

As is always the case, there is still more to do, like stock more meds, but that will come with time.

Meh, so many f'ormally educated peoples are nothing moar then...

HI IQ Idjuts...

Very interesting thread.  

I only have s few comments...

Those that preach self criticism should probably listen to ones own words.

Until you have lived a specific lifestyle in a particular geographical location, in a specific social setting its probably not the best to cast an imaginary mold on how that lifestyle would serve them when the time comes.

Until you have lived in back woods 'Murica you might want to hold your judgment prior to painting with a broad brush stroke.  What is shown on TV is not true reality.

Otherwise, good thread with good info and banter!  

Same thing here. I write thousands of words each day. I try to keep my grammar in order and avoid any typos as much as possible but then again I dont go nuts over it and I LOL at people that make such a big deal out of it. (Yes, LOL, take that you grammar nazis ) In my case, writing is a tool to communicate what I want to say, but even in great works of literature, perfect grammar isn’t as much of a big deal. In fact, many of the great authors of our time don’t give a fling fuck about grammar and care more about the emotions and feelings they evoke in the reader with their work.
Every now and then I even get a nasty remark on youtube as well because of my accent. One was along the lines of "rule#1 of survival, learn English". I didn’t bother replying but someone did it for more, saying "How many languages do YOU speak fluently?". Exactly.  Smartass intellectual wannabes that dont speak a second language, never experienced life outside the county they live in but feel entitled to lecture you about both.
Back to grammar and spell-checking. Yes, its important, but at the end of the day its probably the smallest, least important problem to work on, especially when the errors are  few and far between and the message does get across. For those that need validation from “experts”, here ‘ya go. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29529578

Glad you feel that way.
Keep in mind that "sexy" sells. Work hard, save money, stay fit, take care of your family and use your common sense isnt NEARLY as appealing to the masses that look for entertainment in "preppring", not to mention, it makes for one hell of a crappy TLC reality TV show.(not that the one they air is any good, but at least the freak show factor is there).
FerFAL

I am not talking about nit-picking. I have seen a lot of people in the prepper community who simply cannot communicate accurately. The sad thing is that often they have something valuable to communicate. But when they use words that mean other than what they are trying to say, the communication fails, often completely. Imagine someone who really knows how to get the best production out of soil in a certain geographic region, but he is so uneducated that he cannot put what he knows in readable form; his knowledge will be lost. Or what if you leave emergency instruction with someone but they can't understand what you are trying to say? My point is that in all the different ways people prep, too many overlook formal education. And far too many of those have a real attitude about being told this. Why is it I can show someone how to tie a bowline and they really appreciate the instruction, but if you tell them the difference between there, their and they're, they lose.. their... fucking... minds!?

And then you get this:


So deep, meaningful, and full of content. This guy is a real contender for a seat at the Algonquin Roundtable.

1. Point was hardly anyone carries MUCH cash anymore- witness the idjits holding up the line at the C store running a credit or debit card for $2.25 worth of pogue bait.

2. It won't matter much if I have six month living expenses in cash. However let's remember my initial response came from a ""it won't get bad till people run out of cash" post. My response being- NO ONE KEEPS CRAP OF CASH ON HAND. You proved my point with the "why keep cash" freak out that you did.

Further, $10K in cash will not last you as long as you think. Again, personal experience here, go a good while without income and see how long it lasts. Car needs repairs, couple hundred to a couple thousand, monthly bills need paid $500-1,500. some other crap comes up, hundred here couple hundred there. TRY IT, don't talk crap, TRY IT, then come back and tell me $10K is "extreme."  Hell even the OP once wrote how "cash is king of kings" during their economic downturn. Your slurping up his stuff, why don't you actually read it?

3. I'm not "ruling out" metals. PERFECT EXAMPLE- use your $1600. an ounce gold coin RIGHT NOW. What the hell you gonna get for it? Maybe $1200. MAYBE (Spot $1171. right now)  How about the silver you bought at $38. an ounce? It's around $16. an ounce now. What would you get cashing some in? Less than spot.

So, because you thought $5. cash and your now overpriced PM's would get you through everything, now you HAVE to sell your metals AT A LOSS because you thought "$10K cash was extreme."

THAT my friend, is yet another reason you have ample cash. The same could be said about 401K, Roth, etc. if you only have $3.50 (tree fifty) in cash after you dug through the ash trays in the car, guess what, you'll have to cash out some of your RETIREMENT FUNDS in order to pay bills- bad planning. All because Mommy wouldn't let you keep cash or you were scared of the boggey man coming and taking it?

You wrote- Help me, oh "if you don't drive more than 15 hours to pay cash for certain items" you are probably a "sheep" who shouldn't be posting in this forum (really, what does that have to dow ith preps?  Stopping the boogie man NSA from tracking down your generator?) - exactly what scenario are you envisioning, where banks go down for weeks but paper money still holds its value?  Maybe things are different in Botswana or wherever you are.

Never said that, again, was making an example- people use cash for certain items to avoid paper trails. Course if your swiping your debit card for a $2. coffee every morning cause "momma won't let me have cash" then you'd probably never get the concept...

Cyprus, suddenly having to flee- hey I think you even mentioned that..... Yep, you'll probably be able to swipe your debit card to bribe that guy to look the other way won't you? Again, ask the OP or read the very stuff he wrote if your going to use him as a justification- "cash is king of kings."   Hell  him and I disagree and have disagreed about all kinds of crap but we are pretty close on financial matters for the most part.

"And then you get this:"




I happen to know abt degreed Hi IQ Idjuts, ----because I employed a bunch of them.

They can often excel in their fields, and some in related areas, -the ones I interviewed and hired could, the most advanced is still an Asian friend with a PhD in nukeleer phisics who did work at CERN...

But performance in the REAL world ---not to mention the Business world..

Falls amazingly short for MANY of these folks.

Mostly due to a lack of fundamental Common Sense.



Just because someone uses good grammar and spells each word correctly and can construct intelligible sentences...

Doesn't mean they don't have to be told to come inside when it starts raining.




All you have to do is study the HI IQ Idiots in the Leftist Arena to get a feel how Goofy and maladjusted, highly educated folks can -too often, be.


Put a bunch of these smarty pants together, and you don't need to go to the Circus for entertainment.

I've posted /told this lil story before -
Cash shtf -
Back in 2004 we had a few hurricanes bust through my area. Lots of damage.  I lost two cars ..had to move etc.due to home damage.  I wasn't the only one. Power was out for around 7+ days. During this time no ATMs...stores were turning folks away because ..."cash only ".
Saw few people get stupid fast when clerks /cashiers said sorry "no cards...cash only..." and their stuck holding products going nuts over it. Saw some fights erupt over it as well.

Since then we've tried to keep a bit of cash on hand ....last big "scare "we stuck a months worth in the safe.
Pm's hold their place ...I bought real low and at highs thought of flipping them but replacement cost wouldn't make it worth it.
I also keep non USD stocked as well in case I need to visit a certain other country.
Ymmv but the more you have on hand the more options are available to you shtf.

Oh and I love bad grammar and typos....I know it annoys the living shit outta people....oh and tons of periods....

:)

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Give a doctor a ceiling fan...and sit back with a beer for the laughs..
Book smarts vs real experience ...we've all seen it no matter wut R IQs be yo!


Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Not to mention Diver Down doesn't know how to construct smaller paragraphs to make his assertions more comprehendible.

Jesus man, get help.

Yes. People who educate themselves are really stupid. I have learned so much this day.

Is a plumber stupid because he can't program a computer on a NASA satellite ......




Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Many of them are wildly stupid.  Not all.  Mostly the ones who feel superior to those self taught among us.

I make allowances for typing on a phone and the fact that internet forums can be informal places, but incoherent or poorly organized posts are another matter. Typos are no big deal.

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a hastily/poorly explained thought and a genuinely dumb or uninformed one. Good structure and grammar begets good explanations and good understanding.  It's the cornerstone of communication. What the people who retort "it's just a forum I don't have time and I don't care to spell things correctly" ought to consider is that the point they think is important enough to post about is clouded and diminished by lazy writing.

But you touch on another subject that I want to comment on: there is an anti-intellectual streak a mile wide in a large number of today's conservative politicians. And it's driving moderates away from the Republican Party when we need the votes. Evolution vs creationism in schools, climate change, vaccination, science funding. You see it here in this forum often, in the smug dismissal of "buk lernin" and the professional opinions of professionals who post. Read any EMP thread, or the fish-antibiotic thread of the hour.

Bias and ideology often trump facts here, and that's more worrisome to me than lazy sentences.

Thank you. I'm glad somebody gets it.

All I said is that you may have an important idea to communicate, but if you don't communicate effectively, you have silenced yourself. And the replies include "you have a secondary education so the odds are you have no common sense." This is a reply dripping with irony.

It is this simple: if you think your ideas are important enough to pass on to others, these ideas have to be communicated properly. You can get all mad that you sound like a bumpkin and think that you posses some kind of hillbilly chic. It's just laziness. That is all. It is hard to study esoteric material.. It is hard to read for hours every night. It is difficult to take exams and make school every day and work 2 jobs to pay for college tuition. Most people don't have what it takes to undertake a task that difficult. So I expect to hear people denigrate the educated and make such asinine statements, as if only people with no common sense have formal education. Where do you even start with that? Non-hacks will always say that your accomplishments mean nothing. I will accomplish anyway.

You are correct on how people see you on the "internet " vs how you really may be.
There are many that have met me flat out say "your nothing like his you post online.."
Part of it is laziness ..part just not taking the web serious.  
But it does detract from the information your trying to pass on.
If I put up a long how to thread with perfect spelling /grammer folks say "wtf "..
So in the end you do pay a price for "acting " a certain way.

Now...not all edgumacated folks lack commonsense.  But many do let their lil papers on the wall get to their heads.
Two examples - my father is a doctor...but is my ceiling fan example. Sure hell ask me ten times how,but I normally have to wire it for him.
My FIL - is a structural engineer Guy is smart as fuck. He can do to an extent what my dad can't, does his own re modeling etc  Both well educated...but do give one a screwdriver because he'll think its a hammer :p




Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

I have actually timed the transactions at numerous places, and virtually every time, a credit card is faster than other forms of payment.  If someone is slow with a credit card, imagine how slow they would be with counting out cash or writing a check!  Because someone uses a credit card doesn't mean they don't have cash.  Personally, I never use cash if I can avoid it because it is a pain in the ass to keep going to the bank and change sucks.


In what scenario do you envision bank accounts being unavailable yet banks still expecting the mortgage?  If the banking system ceases to function, so with all business shortly after since the entire system is based on the banking system.


The idea of "you were scared of the boggey man coming and taking it" when discussing a breakdown of the banking system or a long term SHTF scenario seems to indicate an unbelievably warped threat assessment.

During the NE blackout of 2003, everything was cash only for about 24 hours.  If a store couldn't power their credit card readers, they couldn't power their refrigerators, lights, gas pumps, etc.  By the second day, a lot of places were using the old carbon paper card imprinters.  I just had a store use one this summer when the power went out.  I absolutely advocate keeping cash on hand for emergencies, but at least around here, the power goes out and there isn't much of a problem.

Banks can be very funny (well, its not funny, its pretty evil) in the way in which they have selective measures when they close down or downright steal your money. I can tell you that I've seen them freeze people's accounts, downright steal your savings, yet at the same time expect you to pay every single buck in a timely fashion. They dont let you take your money out, but they "let" you make payments, including your banking charges of course.
Banks can "cease to function" in all but the functions it profits from the most while screwing the client.  They have done so in various country, in pretty recent history too. Argentina, Cyprus, Iceland, and Isle of Man, banks will not hesitate to steal from you if at all possible.
FerFAL

Thank you for stating that.

Evidently a few here seem to think the gubmint and banks would never fudge them over.... Or haven't considered that one day they as gunowners could have their accounts frozen, etc.

The "boggey man" reference was the words used by a previous poster- sarcasm. Why else would someone be afraid to keep $10K cash at home?




I wouldn't rule out any possibilities. As Fernando already pointed out, crazy stuff happens when gubmints get desperate.

Personally, I have no mortgage and never have had one. I'm on that crazy save up and pay as you go for things plan. 6 years out of debt, a $40K addition to my house and two new vehicles we paid cash for in that time period would be proof that thinking outside the mainstream, not going into debt for anything, paying cash for stuff, etc. does work. And FWIW, your coveted FICO score does NOT go down when you don't use credit- that's a myth. I have ours checked every time we buy a new car, mine was 787 in 09 and was up to 812 just a few months ago when we bought a new vehicle. No debt does NOT equal no Fico score, that's BS.

That's great that you can use your CC so quick to pay $2.25 for your coffee. You'd be one of the few. Hell I can zip through the drivethru ATM in 35 seconds while everyone else takes 5 minutes or more doing the same thing, but it's not the guy that zips through in 35 seconds that wastes your time, it's the tard that takes 5 minutes that wastes your time. Like the idjits that wait till everything is rang up at the walmart check out before ever swiping their card or pulling out their wallet. If your quicker, your the exception, not the rule.

Still, for prep planning, not carrying cash is straight up foolish. If your afraid to carry cash, you got bigger issues....

So, you're defining "commonsense" as the lack of a particular skill set?  Those of an electrician and carpenter?  That's a very odd use of the word/phrase.

I wouldn't attribute my FIL's inability to start an IV as a lack of "commonsense" any more than I'd attribute my own inability to rebuild a transmission as a lack of "commonsense" ...

But hey, I've installed ceiling fans, and just today I walked out of an operating room, drove home, and built about 30' of fence behind my house before it got dark.  Now, I don't count my fence-building skill as "commonsense" but I do count my decision to put the tools away and come inside when it got too dark to see as "commonsense" ...

The more "common" use of the term "commonsense" would reflect wisdom or good judgment borne of experience or cleverness, not any particular technical skill.

I'll tell you, when I read this forum and its frequent fish-mox threads, I think about "commonsense" and how the people choosing self-diagnosis and self-treatment via internet-order gray market Canadian aquarium pharmacies, or wherever they get the stuff, lack it.  Not because they lack the knowledge or skill set to buy and swallow a pill (though they usually do lack the knowledge to swallow the right one for the right reason), but because they lack the wisdom to go to a doctor after being bitten by a stray dog.

My point is just this:  once again we have someone mocking highly educated people (gently and kindly to be sure, they are family after all) and then conflating some particular skill (NOT learned in a formal school, of course) with the working-man equalizer "common sense."

What were the exact circumstances that involved banks not allowing you to transfer money from your savings or other financial institutions to your mortgage while still demanding payment?

In Argentina, it was the presidential decree 1570/2001passed the 3rd of December of  2001. The 9th of January of 2002 it was the decree 71/2002 that turned your USd accounts to pesos, stealing 70% of your savings in the process.
If you didnt like it you could go cry with the rest...

Or try hitting the doors of the bank to see if that got you your money back.

I like the funeral corwn in the back with the articles of the Argentine constitution that gives you the right to private proverty.
FerFAL

While that is a disaster, that isn't the same thing. In that case, there are bigger issues than keeping 10K at home instead of 3K.  We are talking about a complete freeze on financial transactions.

ETA: Can you provide a description of that decree?  What I am seeing says it limited withdrawals and transfers except to other banks in the country.

I have the pleasure of working with some incredibly smart people. Some of them restore old cars to make hot-rods out of them. Others don't have enough sense to come in out of the rain. Remember one of my old sayings: Ignorance is a treatable disease, stupidity has no cure. Some folks I know with PhDs are more like "Renaissance" men in that they have a very broad knowledge base. It is true, however, that many PhDs have a knowledge base a mile deep but only a millimeter wide.

I also work a lot with students in college. It amazes me that some of them in Engineering school cannot write a sentence that is comprehensible. I've seen some good writing, but none of it was "great". I've also seen some kids that cannot communicate at all, either in their writing or their spoken words. The inability to communicate in words and in writing is a HUGE liability that can (and often does) directly impact your ability to get past a SHTF scenario, especially one of the more common ones, job loss. I read hundreds of student written resumes when picking my summer interns. Some of them put complete garbage on their resume. Those kids don't get more than a passing glance in my selection process. If you can't communicate well enough to put together something as simple as a resume, you're likely not organized well enough in your thinking to do well in my lab. Same with any employer, bad resume or bad interview = no job for you.

I find that if you assume you are the smartest person in the room, you will be incredibly embarrassed on a frequent basis. In the case of some politicians, mostly on the left, I find that they think they are MUCH smarter than you because they got elected, and they know better than you how to run your life. I've yet to see an actual conservative politician with that kind of attitude. In my case, I don't assume anything about the intelligence or skills of others that I do not know and/or have not worked with. Typically, one finds that out rather quickly in both situations.

Just my $0.03 (inflation, you know).

Just because the retail branch down the street closes up doesn't mean the bank went away
When a bank "collapses" it just steals the money from the regular customers to pay off their big creditors
That's what MF Global did. They even sold off contents of safe deposit boxes to pay off JP morgan
Think of how many 2big2fail banks survived WWI, the great depression, WW2 are still around today to dictate the worlds monetary policies
If you have a mortgage, the bank isn't going to forget it owns your house just because they "collapsed"
The banks will swoop in a scoop up all those assets everyone was unable to pay for and they'll show up at your door with a foreclosure/evection notice
and they'll bring the sheriffs department too. They'll be in your driveway with an MRAP

and since 90% of mortgages are ultimately backed by Freddie/fannie, the fedgov may just skip the middleman and show up themselves

So what is your protection against that? We have gone past the bounds of the initial comments.

ETA: link to something saying they sold off the contents of safe deposit boxes?

I have no debt

I guess that will be handy if the financial sector goes tits up entirely.

Having achieved...

NO DEBT...

And especially acquiring a lot of assets... Incl reaching a Critical Mass of Lifetime [or until stolen by the PTB] Financial Independence...


Has a certain Quality of Credibility...

All in itself...




Vs. the Talkers...  

laugh all you want
I also have food, water, firewood, ammo
no debt means my entire paycheck (less a few hundred $ per month in the usual expenses) goes right into my pocket and not someone else's

One of the reasons that I'm debt free except for the mortgage I'm about to take on is that instead of keeping my money "in my pocket" is that I invested it.  Planning for the most likely outcome first, then on down the list of probable outcomes.  Ammo, food, water, firewood (kero/propane/whatever) is great, and doesn't take much to acquire and stockpile. Shunning the banking system because it might go to hell makes you less prepared IMHO.

True.  One of the things I try to remember when teaching is that the student might be smarter than me ... and while for a fleeting moment (relatively speaking) I have the advantage of experience and technical skill, soon the student will have those things too.  And at that point he'll still be smarter than me.


I'm not surprised by your experience reviewing resumes.  Written communication seems to be a declining skill.  Maybe that's just me getting old and thinking "kids these days" or maybe there's something to it.

I've been sort of hoping for the last 10 or 15 years that the ongoing explosive internet growth, especially internet forum growth, would result in a generation growing up and using written communication far more than the previous one.  And simply by virtue of more practice, they'd be better at it.  That doesn't seem to be the case.

I attribute much of my own current ability to write to time spent on Usenet back in the day, arguing and debating everything from books to politics to religion and every other non-dinner-table subject.  Parts of Usenet demanded proper netiquette or you'd be killfiled and totally ignored, so if you wanted to participate you simply had to get your quote attributions right, use complete sentences, avoid basic logical fallacies and ad hominems, and so on.  People wrote responses, considered them, edited them, revised them, and then hit submit.  Most groups weren't moderated.  People just made an effort to write well so they'd be taken seriously.  Now, people are in too much of a hurry (and are too lazy) to even bother with complete sentences and basic punctuation, let alone consider structure and presentation of their thoughts.

Forums get the lowest level of discourse that the users tolerate.  Just look at GD, where anything is OK.  The technical forums like this one are better, but the more we just accept sloppy writing the less value there is to the whole.  Even good ideas can get lost in a mess of uncapitalized, unpunctuated, unparagraphed abbreviated sentence fragments.

tldr - bah, kids these days!

Oh God, the resumes.

The first thing I look for is whether they have an "Objective" statement. If so, I throw it away. Every single resume objective statement says the same thing: they want a job that will use their skills and help them maximize potential to the benefit of the company blah blah. No shit. You are applying for a job and you want to work? That's novel. Drafting an objective statement tells me they cannot think out of the box and I need people to whom I can grant great latitude in problem solving and handling clients. I don't need a warm body in a chair.

Meh, that's VERY short sighted, an amateurish process typical of "Book Lerned" folks, who have little Common Sense.

Folks who do are so full of Stuff and Hubris that they can't think straight...




When I interview, I overlook those sorts of silly statements --so as not to pass by any OPPORTUNITIES, and get to the nitty gritty of an interviewee's POTENTIAL competence.

I ask them what area of specialization ---in their field of work, ---that they are most knowledgeable about.


Then I begin to ax questions and probe them regarding that specialization.

I'll know in a few minutes if they are competent enough in their field, to pursue further. Or if they are Hi/Low IQ Wannabee's to shoo out the door. Or off the phone.

That's one way a REAL interviewer handles such things....





Expy/whoz interviewed more folks than he can remember...

Each one like opening a Christmas present.

Never knew if he'd find a box of coal [that he actually got for Christmas under the tree once abt 9 YO and din't know if he should shit or go blind]  

Or a 'Special' box with a long term reward ---for the effort.




Actually found lot's of those good ones, particularly ones from 'off the street' who were appreciative to be given an opportunity to succeed, and many did exactly that!


That's right, some of my most VALUABLE and productive employees were good people that other employers couldn't manage sufficiently to extract their value ---and the employee NEVER had a fair opportunity to succeed.

I gave opportunity to lots of folks ---and fired a bunch too...



Hiring folks was one of the fun parts of running my company.   The company had a GREAT team, and still does with the new owners to a degree.

Abt the New Owners, I don't have much to say except they sure knew how to throw good $$$ after bad...

Thank you New Owners with your BIG Egos, Advanced Degrees and Book Lernin!  

It was nice to take your $$$, you were completely out of your league and had little almost NO Business Sense, for Bankers and an Investment Group.




Sheeit, I don't think they could have managed an Ice Cream stand profitably.

His post was an excellent, excellent perspective...

He didnt completely discount guns... But he didnt over-state them, either.

A guy with no resources, but a gun reminds me of a guy at work who said, "I don't need to store any food, I got a gun."

I asked him what gun he had. He said he had a .45 1911.

Huh.

What an idiot. He will be dead the first five minutes of any real scenario.

Having food and preps, and making it throught the first month of any mass scenario without using any force means you just won half your battles. All the unprepared, stupid people will be dead.

People *want* civilized society... They don't want ruffians stealing and running amok... The majority will enforce the rule of law, and the prepared (in food and resources) will be calling the shots... Thieves will be hung or shot on sight... They might win here or there, but they will die in the end.

Guns are not the only element of any real survival plan. They are a central element of any real plan, though...

Yup...

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. When people read your posts we file them in the "Shit That Didn't Happen" folder.

No not really, I always read  Expy37's posts. He has a lot of good comments,

My internet dick is bigger than yours...LOL come on.really.

Hell I've done a few hundred interviews for my old company before moving on. I've had guys who on paper look great. Like finding a diamond I a turd pile. Only to sit them down and they couldn't get past when and how much...and stalled when technical questions were asked about their skill set.  Ive seen others like exp posted about become some of the hardest working individual on the team.

I've dealt with many higher ups that who should be knowledgeable about the field they "manage "who couldn't comprehend the basics needed to complete our goals . Sure they could sit around for a two day meeting at a resort to think tank...but had zero idea how to implement those ideas besides telling us "well...moving forward...". Its grand that folks have the knowledge base but if they can use it practically IMHO they are useless and normally end up costing a company money.

Example - president of the company comes back from said think tank mini vacation.  "Protus we came up with x and believe it will help us with xyz.." me no problem "but you do know x with cost B and by next quarter we will be over budget.by Y and that will double by years end.."
President short answer "do it our team is the best..blah blah... " . Four months later down the email and phone chain "why are we over budget? "





Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Let's be clear that having some cash- evidently more than mommy "lets" some have-   is NOT the same as "shunning the banking system."

Financial planning for the survivalist in  a nutshell-

*Out of debt- gives more INITIATIVE to the survivalist, initiative being the FREEDOM TO ACT, rather than being forced to REACT.

*Six months or more living expenses in cash, yes FRNs. Means any hiccup in banking system does not affect you, means critical missing items can be bought at the proverbial "last minute" if necessary when most smart retailers probably wouldn't take CC or check or when that "system" is down. Cash also helps the "flee in the night" scenario and the coveted "bribe the guy to look the other way" scenario.

*Precious metals, have their place as a -SOMETIMES- inflation fighter, as a -SOMETIMES- decent investment. Some people, myself included, look at them as another way to save and squirrel away money to pass along. Subject to upticks and downturns like any INVESTMENT (I know, someone will say not an investment). Reason you don't relay SOLELY on these is that market can and does change- the 1 ounce gold Kangaroo that was a "deal" at $1600. an ounce is now a $400. LOSS if sold now. Which is one of the reasons why the CASH in your financial preps is there. I don't personally think people will "barter" with PM's after a collapse because their isn't that many of them out there in the hands of the GENERAL PUBLIC. But if that does happen, so be it, I'll be ready for that also. Best use could likely be paying your property taxes.

*Physical preps- year or more of food storage (someone will no doubt call that "extreme" also , defensive preps and a good amount of training for same, medical supplies, water storage and numerous water sources

*Land and homes- a place out of the way wherein you can hold your own, produce some (not all) of your own food, produce your own power, preferably debt free. Producing your own power = no power bill = more money in your pocket and less to live on. Producing some of your own food= lower grocery bill. Having your own water sources = no water bill. All this with no mortgage = very little money going out monthly which = more money in your pocket. In retirement means retirement savings go further and less money is needed to live on.

*Retirement savings- here's the most argued one. Yes you need to be saving for retirement. "But but but, the S is fixing to HTF and..." Trust me, you NEED to be saving for retirement. Do these other things yes, but save for retirement. I know a lot of people that pulled their money out of 401K's, IRA's, etc. in 93, 95, 98, 99, 2001 etc. thinking that "this is it!" that are still working. Most are old enough that they might not still be working if they hadn't made that move. Start a Roth IRA as probably sometime in the future, the gubmint will likely stop "allowing" them.   You don't want to go into retirement with nothing but a stack of Mt. House cases and a few black rifles all because you thought the S was fixing to HTF tomorrow.  Yes if the stock market tanks you will lose some, their are ways to negate this. Even parking the money in low risk things over time will help.

*Save up and pay cash for larger purchases. You can buy a new vehicle for cash. You can't probably can't tomorrow, it may take a few years as it does us every time, but hey we are survivalists so we should be good at PLANNING right? Also, when you pay cash for things like that, you tend to under buy, versus over buying.

When your not saddled with a mortgage, 2 car payments, student loan death, card from your master, American Excess, etc. you CAN DO MORE. That seems the opposite but it's true. We have taken more vacations, played more, etc. in the years we've been out of debt than in all the others combined.

Now the sucky part- getting out of debt is hard work and a lot of suffering. That's why few achieve it. Just like getting in shape it requires discipline, it requires WORK. It requires looking past the current day and well into the future. We "suffered" through for several years getting out of debt. When we began that, we had a much much smaller income to work with as well. I truly believe God was teaching us things.

Finally, adjust your spending based on your income. For those of us with variable incomes, spend based on what you have currently coming in, not "expected" sales, not last month's sale figures, etc. That was hard for me as I was 26 and making super big dollars and then the bottom dropped out for a time. It took me a few months- and a lot of $$$ lost- to adjust to the fact that the big dollars were gone for the time being. Anywhoo..

Guys, the financial preps are just as important as your weapons training, food storage, etc. More so in many ways as proper planning in finances opens up more possibilities for training, for preps, etc.
Good luck

Lowdown3

If we agree that yes, financial institutions are the best place for most of your money but you need some cash on hand, we can narrow down the discussion. That is my policy and what I suggest to others.

My main disagreement is over how much and this applies to food as well. Keeping a years worth of food isn't tying up much money and the opportunity cost is lower. Keeping tens of thousands in cash at home carries more risk, and carries a higher opportunity cost. Everyone's risk assment is different and what one person deems reasonable or even likely is absurd to someone else. That's fine, the real goal should be to assess what you see as possible or likely, consider all the possible outcomes, and prepare accordingly.

Personally, I think that at this time, a years worth of food and tens of thousand in cash is excessive and my time and money can be put to better use. That doesn't mean I have $20 and a pack of ramen for preps, but the answer for me is somewhere in between.

Like gear...some guys wanna rock 12 rifle mags ..some 6.... some 4.
Like packs ...some rock 50 lbs...others 25....
Who's right /wrong...who thinks 12 or 50 lbs is extreme, in either direction.

Each one of us will vary in how we prep for mystery events...I've met some who think four weeks of food is all they will need..I met some who think 12 mags is the only way to go....
Who's right....I don't think there is a one size fits all when it comes to this.

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