What can we, the average Joe do to protect ourselves?
(Avg Joe- bringing in money, has debt but not crippling debt, is somewhat self reliant but far from being 'off the grid')

What can be done NOW , in our lives that can help us carry thru until it gets better?

ETA clarification-
Mult threads today about the rich fleeing or securing themselves, inevitable stock crash etc
ie, assuming we are heading into an economic collapse, what can we do to best/better/secure ourselves ?

What bubble is about to pop this time?

ETA: I guess it doesn't matter what bubble, the avg joe just needs to get out his check book because the .gov is only gonna take his money before going after its rich donors and FSA voters.

Bubbles seem to always be about to pop.  Emergency fund, extra food, water, ect to live off of for a while is where I would start.

Go ahead and tell your wife that you are banging her sister?

Nah, my wife looks better anyways!

In before the SHTF fap fest.

Put all your money in your gun safe for start.
As we saw with MF Global, the first people to take the money and run is the bank.

If you don't have it already, get yourself a hulu subscription.  Tons of useful information in the National Geographic documentary series.  Step 1 is to promote yourself to Colonel and get yourself a Sgt Maj Tomahawk to back you up.

Doomsday Preppers

run to the hills.....run for...your liaaafe.

Its moar like
TWO!
Minutes
To
MID-NIGHT!!!

Beef jerky futures.



 

Lol

Generally if the stock market collapses gold and silver would rise.  IMO if you genuinely believed the market was about to fall apart you would be better served with the majority of your cash converted to gold or silver and then stored in your safe.



 

It needs to wait just a bit more to pop. I'm really starting to get my sh#t together here!!!

When it pops, invest more. It will come back. Remember 2000 and 2009?

If it never comes back, we have bigger problems.

I have no money (in stocks or otherwise), so what "check book" should I use?

For all the doom and gloom we probably have a bit of time yet, more than months, but less than a decade.

I am a pretty average Joe and here is my plan...
Continue to budget the household so we take in less than we spend.

Pay down the debts we have.  Ideally I would like them gone in a year, but probably looking at two.

Keep the gas tank 1/2 full or better, the pantry stocked with a few weeks worth of food/water, and enough basics to get through a major winter storm, tornado that doesn't take out the house, ect...

I do not expect Mad Max levels of bad, more of a steady decline in the quality of life.  Luxuries will slowly fall away and most families will be spending the bulk of their income for necessities and have very little disposable income or income to put towards savings.  Not having any debt may let you put some money back in savings.

The bubble could grow for some time, it could all blow up tomorrow.  Prepare as best you can, but make sure you take time to enjoy life, and spend some down time with family, especially kids if you have them.

First serious answer.  Thank u

Meh.  Average Joe should keep being average but take a good hard look at spending habits, skills and relationships.  Find where you can save money to put back for tomorrow, where you can spend a little less for the things you use today, and how to make yourself recognized as "a decent guy" if not an invaluable one in your local community.  Develop skills and knowledge that aren't dependent on expensive tools, drugs, or specialty materials.  Know how to fix and/or build stuff (home repair, improving drainage/irrigation, keep a car running), learn enough Spanish to translate (second most-spoken language here), learn some wilderness first aid (handle sprains, strains, fractures, hyper/hypothermia - but DO NOT be the doc that might have access to narcotics or could be asked to remove a bullet).  

Be thrifty, be useful, be off the Top Ten List of Assholes to Target for Crime by the local jackals either because they see you as "a'ight" or because they think you don't have any juice worth the squeeze.  

This is a pretty smart way to live with or without impending bubble-poppage.

(Edited to add a little emphasis where needed!)

I am the apex predator.


I will take what you have.

My first thought too.

Get on the .gov tit. Not only will your quality of life stay the same, it will probably improve( free medical, increase in EBT/section 8) Or you can work 50+hrs a week and watch it decline to keep a little bit of pride.

You should do the following:

* Find Jesus

* Have 72hr kits for you and your family members, to include meds, important documents, water, food, emergency shelter items, basic survival kit, 1st Aid Kit, grab bag things.

* Build 1 Year's supply of food/water/stores for all that live in your household, and any family members that you anticipate to absorb in a disaster.

* Get out of debt.

* Be a good neighbor.

* Relax and enjoy life.

Feds wont let anything pop after what hapend in 2008/2009. at worst we'll see stagnation like Japans stock markets where it stayed level for over a decade.

i could see the feds raising rates a little during the second half of this year , just to slowly bring the markets down a little.

Sewing machines.... I am investing in them.... fixing them, women are starting to get back to sewing stuff... when SHTF it will be real popular

BUY when there's blood in the streets.

This.

Except moar ammo and weapons.

Stay employed.  Stay out of debt.  Has worked for centuries, will work for centuries more to come.

Dude....did you not get the memo?   I'ts THREE minutes to midnight.

The priorities for survival are, food, shelter, protection, skills & wealth.

Food, best long term storable stuff you can get, but stacking a few extra cans in a pantry's fine too.

Shelter being owning your own home, land, bug out location or some camping gear.

Protection being, guns, ammo, armor, etc.

Skills being able to use anything above & being able to provide for yourself & then some.

Wealth is being debt free, having all the above, then you can  invest in some precious metals or trade goods etc.

.22LR?



 

I'm 36 and I have heard that the world is ending, the economy is crashing, etc for as long as I can remember. Chill out and just live

ETA I do keep several weeks of food, plenty of ammo, and a good emergency fund but other than that I don't spend my days thinking about what ifs or bad things.

As far as the dood thing goes...have it...

You shouldmake it a point to visit a local restaurant suply store...many will allow you to join with a biz license...

As to Sams Club and Costco are to your local grocery...same as the restaurant supply store is the Same/ Costco...

I bought 4 PALLETS of canned goods, vegetables and meats, 50 lb sacks of rice, beans, sugar, coffee, tea, evaporated milk, salt, wheat flour(now stored in nitrogen Pac) yeast, enough to feed my family of 10 adults and 3 childen for 12-18 months if we supplement with fish and game...all for less than $2k...

I also have 35k gallon pool, 220 gal of drinking water and a 9 acre stocked pond behind my house, Chesapeake bay on the other side...

8 propane tanks stay filled, as well as 2 55 gal drums of gas that gets rotated...

Guns and ammo is a given...we have 5 AR, 2 bolt guns and 17 Glocks between us, all 9mm...plenty of ammo for all...

time to cut some shooting openings in the exterior walls......

time to cut some shooting openings in the exterior walls......

Scenario 1: We fall into a mad max end of the world, SHTF world after a global financial and political collapse. Basically anything you saved and did to prepare wont matter and youre f**ked. Luckily the chances of this are nearly impossible.

Scenario 2: Much more likely is we see a similar recession/depression that we have seen in the past due to the abuse of the economic system. While this is more of a likely event, some even save inevitable, there is a lot you can easily do to prepare.

Start by evaluating your finances. Too many people live way above their means using debt and credit cards. That works when times are good and there is regular pay check coming in every two weeks, but soon as that stops it becomes a problem very quickly. Stop the spending and start paying down your debt. Assuming a financial collapse (not SHTF) you will be in decent shape if you have no debt. Its amazing how cheaply you can live if you have no car payments, no mortgage, no student loans and no credit card debt. And if you do loose your job during tough times you start by getting rid of cable (i think there are close to 30 free over the air channels where i live and im considering cancelling cable and using an antenna combines with basic internet + netflix). Reduce cell phones down to basic no data or even get rid of one line, xm radio any subscriptions need to go as well.

Another thing is to learn some skills. Being able to name every player in the NFL and what their stats are is not a valuable skill other than impressing your friends at the bar. Being able to plant a garden, fix a car or appliances, sew torn clothes, hunt, etc... are all things that can be traded if we find ourselves in a recession/depression with very high levels of unemployment.

Have some supplies stock piled. I dont mean dig a bunker and fill with a 10 year supply of barrels of grain. I mean keep that pantry stocked with cans and non-perishables. Typically a couple months of food is a good idea just for handling natural disasters like earth quakes, floods, hurricanes, blizzards, etc... and yes it does happen. My parents were once stuck in their home for a month back in 78' and apparently my sister was born about 9 months after that blizzard

Just for reference my finances are setup so one income pays all the bills while the second income is just saved or fun money. If my wife or i get fired we wouldnt have to change much, although im sure we would still cut back.

I think most people expect a big event, like one morning you wake up and you know for sure this is it. When i all reality it will probably be a slow and gradual. So slow that the avg joe wont even see it coming until their bank account is empty, they have tens if not hundreds of thousands in debt and over the course of a few months of years, the stock market slips, companies cut back and massive unemployment follows. It happens all around the world all the time. We have just been sheltered from it here in the US and assuming bad things will never happen, that somehow those things only happen in "third world countries" when they can happen anywhere.

Also keep in mind that there is always some sort of the end is coming scare. Since humans began recording history every civilization has tried to predict the end. It might also skip a generation as my grandparents were all about stock piling and keeping cash and what not on hand, but they lived through the great depression. My parents dont do that but they lived during good economic times. This generation has seen a severe recession, lost their jobs and homes and been financially ruined so they are a bit more paranoid of what might happen in the future.

You work for Them, don't you?

You know, the bubble...the bubble that's always just around the corner.

Hear, hear!

Oh, snap!

Bigger problems will be,  money is worthless..inflated to squat.  All items not owned outright will be foreclosed on or reposessed. WILL BE NO JOBS.   NO ONE will be immune.  DO NOT WANT TO GO THERE.

Do you just say this shit to be "edgy" and provocative? To be sarcastic? To illustrate the sometimes-retardation of GD? To point your fun-finger at "chicken littles"? Or what???

Seriously... any apex predators that REALLY worry me aren't posting bullshit on teh interwebz. If that's your "plan", you will find-out just how far from the apex you really are in short enough order. And may you have enough time before his bullet penetrates your brain to realize the error of your calculations...

Is it Thursday,  already?

If you truly believe that an economic collapse is inevitable, then you should borrow as much as you can and buy hard assets with it. Gold, silver, etc.

Why can't anyone in GD give a good reason why everything is going to crash besides out debt and china.? Seriously, these threads make my brain hurt.

 

Pretty much this.

I keep a couple months of food and water on hand also (just because... I have actually come upon times where I needed it), but staying employed and out of debt is a pretty good way to conduct oneself. It works out for the most part.

Do you follow other threads?

Apprantly not.

LOL WUT