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RE: Crimea, learn the lessons
Was the "WW£" a typo, S13, or deliberate? One could say the coming WW3 will be fought across the trading screens!
To get to the point of the thread though, I see investing time and resources into prepping as having two main benefits; it makes one more resilient in the event of everyday "inconvenience" events, such as power-outages, severe weather, fuel strikes, etc, AND, if done effectively, it can protect you from a serious sh*tstorm event. Of course we all accept that such an event could come from numerous sources (EMP, cyber-attack, etc) but, IMHO, the most likely and near-term is a financial collapse (or let's call it a "seize-up").
The point is, if you have to react, you're probably too late. You have to prep in advance for financial collapse. How? Depends what you want to protect.
One scenario is that you would see a recovery from a collapse, with a return to some form of business-as-usual. In this case, you'd want to avoid the Event causing your personal wealth-destruction, so you could continue to operate in the recovered economy. I'm no financial expert, but I'd say in this case diversifying any assets you have would be my choice. This could be done by currency (e.g. open a Euro account at your bank and keep some cash in there) and by asset type (cash in bank, cash on hand, metals, shares, property, land).
Another scenario is that you don't see a recovery, and your focus is on survival; immediate term and longer term. In this case, cash in the bank is ultimately likely to become meaningless. Cash on hand is important in order to be able to function in the immediate aftermath of the Event, when cashpoints don't work, bank-withdrawals are prevented, you can't pay by debit card in a shop, but people are still basically stumbling around using the existing currency. However, physical assets (land, tools, equipment), stocks (fuel, wood, coal, consumables), food and tradable commodities become more important.
So, in terms of prepping, we're back to the old conundrum; do you prepare for TEOTWAWKI and look like a plonker when the rest of the world recovers from the crisis and goes back to their skinny lattes, or do you keep your mindset and preps in a "business will be as usual" mindset and look like a plonker when the guy in the street laughs at you as you try to offer him £1000 for the two paracetamol he has that could cure your desperate toothache.
Me? I'm trying to square the circle by downshifting. We live comfortably, but MUCH MORE frugally than we used to. We have reasonable cash savings in the bank, but I fully accept that these may evaporate in a financial crash. The rest of our assets are in bricks and mortar and productive land. We're relentlessly weaning ourselves off the monetised economy by aiming to be near-self-sufficient in energy and eventually food. My ultimate aim is that the only non-discretionary spend we will have to make in order to stay warm, dry, secure and not-hungry will be our council tax. Doesn't mean that's how we will live; it's nice to have some discretionary spend, but it's also nice to know that you don't have to spend it, and it wouldn't be a disaster if the money wasn't there.
Point is, none of this can be achieved as a reaction to an event. It needs careful preparation and, probably, some quite serious life-choices to be made.
Hope we're not too far behind the curve. It's later than you think!
Find a resilient place and way to live, then sit back and watch a momentous period in history unfold.
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