Prayer Breakfast
0700 at BJ’s Restaurant
Hamilton, Montana
O Father, as you have given Jesus Christ to be Savior and
Lord grant us now grace to accept and rejoice in our salvation and in his
lordship. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
1. Opening - Round the Table
Individual Prayers
2. Breakfast is served
3. Morning Psalm: 44
4. Breakfast Reading: Luke 8:22-56
5. Breakfast Discussion Topics:
News around the valley
Community Aid
through Christian Churches; we must to teach our community to fish and to
provide mutual aid to local governments.
Action
Plan
1)
Mission Statement:
Who: Christian Veterans of the
Bitterroot
What: Showing the public how to
construct a 72 hour kit in coordination with the churches of Ravalli County
When: November 2014
Where: Ravalli County
Why: To help our neighbors prepare
themselves for possible local disasters. “For
nation shall rise against nation, and realm against realm, and there shall be
famine, and pestilence, and earthquakes in divers places.” (Matthew 24:7)
“For when they shall say, Peace and
safety, then shall come upon them sudden destruction, as the travail upon a
woman with child, and they shall not escape.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:3)
2)
What is in the kits?
3)
Scheme of Maneuver
4)
Pick first venues:
a)
Darby Foursquare Church
b)
Corvallis United Methodist Church
c)
Bitterroot Valley Church of the Nazarene
5)
Pick topics and speakers
a) Kits and Sets
b)
Communications
c)
Emergency Planning
6)
Always finish with “Breaking Bread”
5. 52 Weeks to Preparedness by Tess
Pennington
1)
Week 44 of 52: Collapse
Investing: Money and Wealth Preservation During Times of Uncertainty and
Instability
6. Closing - Round the Table
Individual Prayers
Upcoming Events:
24 Nov 2014 –
0700 – Push Back with Prayer Breakfast
27 Nov 2014 –
Thanksgiving
1 Dec 2014 –
0700 – Push Back with Prayer Breakfast
8 Dec 2014 –
0700 – Push Back with Prayer Breakfast
15 Dec 2014 –
0700 – Push Back with Prayer Breakfast
22 Dec 2014 –
0700 – Push Back with Prayer Breakfast
29 Dec 2014 –
0700 – Push Back with Prayer Breakfast
4 Apr 2015 –
0645 – March for Jesus Christ
Follow
the Fellowship of Christian Veterans:
On
the Web: http://cvbitterroot.blogspot.com/
On
Twitter: @Walk_April_4_15
Week
44 of 52: Collapse Investing: Money and Wealth Preservation During Times of
Uncertainty and Instability
Special
thanks to Mac Slavo of www.SHTFPlan.com for contributing his time and efforts
on this portion of the 52-Weeks to Preparedness.
We
could spend a significant portion of our time outlining the various reasons for
why the world’s economic, financial and political systems sit on the brink of
an unprecedented paradigm shift that promises to change the landscape of the
entire system as it exists today.
I
could try to convince you that it’s a good idea to prepare for what’s coming,
but the fact that you are reading this article via Tess’ Ready Nutrition
newsletter means that you’re already in action planning and execution mode. If
you’ve been following the 52 Weeks to Preparedness from the beginning, then
you’ve spent the last 44 weeks establishing an emergency and disaster response
plan that would probably make FEMA jealous.
Like
Tess and I, you’ve probably done your research and spent months or years
gathering as much information as you can about the many possibilities that
could significantly impact your life and the lives of your family members and
close friends, and you’ve actively involved yourself in making sure that you’re
as insulated as possible from whatever may befall us.
My
initial inclination when Tess asked me to contribute some thoughts on wealth
preservation during times of uncertainty was to point out the fundamental
economic problems and fraud facing the system. I realized after delving into
this topic that, while the ramifications of an economic or currency collapse
are life alteringly severe, my family’s personal preparedness plans have always
been focused on ensuring we’re ready for anything that gets thrown our way –
not just an economic crisis.
The
strategy that we try to employ is well rounded and considers as many variables
as possible.
Natural
Disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, flood, solar flare
Man-made
calamities like currency hyperinflation, cyber attack, EMP detonation, nuclear
fallout or global conflict
Personal
emergencies like a job loss, injury or over-extension of credit
With
this idea in mind, when we look at the concept of investing and wealth
preservation for uncertain times, we want to employ a strategy that will
provide as much coverage as possible so that if we are hit out of the blue with
something totally unexpected, we’ll at least have the basic necessities to
survive.
While
I’ll stop short of advising you to sell all of the stocks and bonds in your
401(k) account and investing all of your proceeds into ‘preps’, a little
diversification could mean the difference between surviving a disaster, or
succumbing to it.
Keep
your 401(k), IRA or other investment accounts, but consider expanding your
horizons with a new 401(Prep) strategy as well.
The
Currency of Kings
Gold
is the currency of kings, Silver the currency of noblemen, and Debt the
currency of slaves.
While
disregarded by mainstream economists as a relic of civilizations past, gold
still remains a highly sought after asset by central banks around the world
including those of China, India, Venezuela, Iran and a host of other countries
losing faith in the petro-dollar reserve currency system. We’ve seen it rise to
record breaking nominal highs in the last ten years for a reason. Those in the
know – including investors who understand that gold always rises during periods
of uncertainty and crisis – have been acquiring gold and its cousin silver for
over a decade and have seen it’s value increase multi-fold.
We
need look only at recent history to see what happens when economies and
currencies of nations collapse. When the monetary systems of the Weimar
Republic, Argentina, and Zimbabwe collapsed their currencies literally became
worthless over night. During Germany’s hyperinflation people were burning wheel
barrows of paper money just to stay warm. When Zimbabwe’s currency hyper
inflated over a period of about 10 years, a loaf of bread went from one $1 to
$1 trillion dollars; today there are people panning for granules of gold in
Zimbabwe’s rivers so that they can purchase bread to eat for a day.
While
nothing is guaranteed, history has proven one thing about gold and silver.
There is and always will be a buyer for these precious metals. And if there is
a central bank or large investor buying, that demand will always trickle down
into the rest of the economy – even if it is operating as a black market.
If
you want to expand your portfolio to include precious metals, here are some
considerations:
A
single ounce of gold stores more value than silver. If you need portability for
a large amount of wealth gold coins and bars will be your primary precious
metals investment. Currently an ounce of gold is about $1550. With less than a
pound of coins in your purse or backpack you can conveniently move $25,000 in
value.
What
gold offers in portability it lacks in divisibility. This is where silver comes
in. You may not be able to move $25,000 of silver conveniently (weighing around
50 pounds!). But because of it’s lower value per ounce silver is an excellent
mechanism of exchange for things like food, gas, clean water, or tools if the
dollar hyper-inflates or crashes. You can purchase silver in bars (100 oz, 10
oz) or coins (1 ounce, or U.S. government issued pre-1965 halves, quarters and
dimes). With the smaller denomination coins like US quarters you will have
portability for a small amount of cash (40 quarters is about $150 dollars
worth) and you’ll have coinage that should allow you the ability to purchase
just about any item someone is willing to sell.
When
buying gold or silver, buy from reputable sources like your local coin shop or
an online dealer like Apmex or Kitco.
The
only exception we can make to the above rule is for the purchase of pre-1965
U.S. government minted 90% silver coinage. While we would avoid purchasing any
other coins on auction sites like ebay, there are often some great deals to be
found on half dollars, quarters and dimes containing 90% silver (pre-1965 coins
only!). You can also purchase Kennedy half dollars dated 1965-1969 containing
40% silver content. Since these coins are government issued and in such small
denominations, the possibility that they are counterfeit decreases
significantly.
Silver
allows you to make modest, weekly investments of anywhere from $5 to $50
dollars and still build a store of wealth.
To
get the current price of silver and gold, as well as the specific prices for
dated U.S. coins, check out the calculators at coinflation.com.
If
you are investing a large sum of money into precious metals, gather details
about the types of coins you are buying, especially if you’re buying gold.
Acquire a coin caliper and/or testing kit to ensure you’re getting what is
being advertised.
While
you may be able to easily utilize gold and silver as a mechanism of exchange at
the onset of a crisis to buy much needed supplies during a currency meltdown
and use it to exchange for land or equipment during a recovery period, you may
be faced with a period of time when no one will be interested in your PM’s.
Selco of SHTF School points out that gold is not the silver bullet the provides
complete insulation from TEOTWAWKI. When all hell breaks loose, as it did in
the Balkans in the 1990′s, and a war is being fought right outside of your
front window, gold and silver may not get you very far, as people are more
concerned with the immediate need of getting out of harm’s way than they are
with anything else.
With
that in mind, and for those who (correctly) argue that we can’t eat our gold,
let’s continue diversifying our 401(prep) account.
Commodity
Investing with Zero Counter-party Risk
In
this type of environment where nobody can get a safe return on their money
within the United States that beats the official rate of inflation, buying
canned foods and such is actually a better investment than a Treasury bill.
What I would look to do is have a backup supply of at least several months of
the basic commodities you need to live with – canned food, toilet paper, as
well as barter items…
-John
Williams, Economist, Shadowstats.com
One
thing analysts and financial pundits agree on is that, in general, commodities
will continue to rise. As central banks continue to inflate their money and
hundreds of millions of people in once under-developed nations join the ranks
of the global working class, the demand for food once reserved for the middle
class in America and Europe will rise in countries like China and India. The
end result is a higher cost for corn, rice, wheat, meat and other staples.
Thus,
as the experts suggest, investing in commodities may be an excellent way to
grow, or at the very least preserve, your money. Where I disagree with the
experts is how to invest in such assets. While you can purchase Exchange Traded
Funds or contracts that follow specific commodities, the inherent problem with
these investments is that, even though you have a paper receipt that says you
own a particular commodity, if it’s not in your possession your are subject to
counter-party risk. What I mean by this is that if the investment firm (or the
numerous associated firms) has a problem and goes out of business, your paper
receipt may become worthless. A recent example of this was the MF Global
scandal, where the investment firm headed by a trusted former governor of New
Jersey actually took the deposits and commodity investments of their depositors
and transferred those assets to other investment banks days before completely
collapsing. Their clients, who had receipts to prove ownership, were left with
nothing.
If
you’re investing into commodities because you expect prices to rise
dramatically, then you must also assume that those dramatic price rises will
result from either a currency crisis, or shortages caused by exceedingly high
demand or adverse weather conditions (think Great Depression dust bowl). That
being said, the only sound method of investing in these assets is for you to
take physical delivery – just like you would with gold.
For
food, your best bet would be to look at the 11 Emergency Foods That Last a
Lifetime. Dry goods like rice, wheat, beans, salt, honey, and dry milk will
provide you with an investment that will grow in value as prices rise, and also
offer you peace of mind in case paper markets crash because you’ll be in direct
possession of your food. How much food should you add to your 401prep
investment portfolio? It depends on the size of your family and your time
horizon. Think about what could cause a massive price rise in food prices and
you’ll realize that whatever the crisis is, it could be long-term. The Ready
Nutrition food storage calculator can help you to determine how much inventory
you may need and allows you to break your purchases into weekly shopping trips
so you don’t have to invest thousands of dollars up front.
In
addition to food, there are a variety of other commodities that you won’t want
to live without if the system comes crashing down around us – so consider
adding these to your preps as well:
Toilet
paper , various toiletries, hygiene products
Cooking
oils
Off-grid
lamps and fuel
Over
the counter medicine like ointments, aspirin, anti-diarrheals,
anti-constipation meds, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide
Hand
sanitizer (you’ll want lots of this because clear water may be hard to come by
and disease will be rampant)
Lighters
(highly recommended barter item from the Balkan collapse)
Ammunition
Teas,
coffee, cigarettes, drinking alcohol
Off-grid
survival tools like hand saws, hand drills, etc. (this may also include
low-power requirement tools that you can charge with solar power or other alt
energy)
Antibiotics
(Here’s one survival item that will be worth more than gold in a post-collapse
world!)
Read
the Emergency Items: What Will Disappear First for more ideas
Investing
in these asset was a sound practice in January of 2010 when I first recommended
it (you’d be up over 25% today!) and it’s a good strategy today, because as you
well know things aren’t looking any better on the economic and monetary front.
When
investing in commodities you’ll want to ensure that you are able to physically
store your assets so that they are available when you need them post. Be sure
to properly store all foods for the long-term.
Land
and Real Estate
Agricultural
commodities are the place to be in for investors. It will be farmers not
bankers driving Ferraris.
-Jim
Rogers, Contrarian Investor
You
may be surprised to see real estate listed here as a 401(prep) related asset,
especially considering that the average price collapse in housing since the
crash has been about 30%, with some areas of the country seeing in excess of
50% shaved off of bubble-top prices.
With
real estate prices still dropping, it’s certainly not a bad idea to wait for
further price reductions before jumping into a new home, especially if you are
planning on paying cash. One thing to consider however, is that if you aren’t
paying cash for a home and are looking to take on a mortgage then you are in
one of the best interest environments we’ll experience perhaps in our
lifetimes. Money is cheap, and if you happen across the right property, taking
advantage of those low interest loans may be the right thing to do. As the
dollar continues its decline and confidence in our ability to repay our debt is
lost, you will likely see interest rates rise significantly. During the
inflation crisis of the late 70′s and early 80′s some mortgage rates were
running as high as 18%, so getting in now may not be a bad idea, especially if
you are not planning on flipping your house any time soon and you have an
investment time horizon in excess of a decade.
But
what is the right property?
Being
prepper-minded, I immediately dismiss the possibility of buying a home in a
urban or suburban setting. The fact is that these kinds of homes are, in my
eyes, liabilities. They have absolutely no productive capacity whatsoever, thus
I have hard time looking at them as assets. Moreover, if we’re planning on the
S hitting the fan, we want to be in a low population area, something that our
typical cookie cutter neighborhoods in big cities simply can’t provide.
When
we talk about real estate and land investments during times of crisis we want
to focus on a property that will give us the ability to produce something –
anything of value. In the event you lose your current income flow, or if the
system falls apart, you’ll want to be on a piece of property that allows you to
produce some of the commodities we discussed above – either for personal use or
to run as a business if employment becomes difficult or impossible to acquire.
Thus,
when looking at land, look for land that will provide you and your family with
productive capacity. If you can do this, you’ll have turned your home and land
into an asset instead of the typical liability held by most Americans.
You’ll
also be much closer to achieving self reliance by being as off the grid as is
possible, so you are no longer dependent on services provided by the government
or large business conglomerates.
Here
are some thoughts on real estate investing based in part on Ten Things That
Make a Survival Homestead:
Does
your land have the space and soil to allow you to grow a vegetable, herb or
fruit garden? Even limited space can be used to product a huge amount of food,
so you can be flexible on land size if your financial situation requires it.
Are
you able to produce your own energy – perhaps install solar panels, mini-wind
turbines or some type of hydro power if you have a stream or river? Whether the
world collapses around us or not, energy self reliance is a long-term benefit
that will reduce or eliminate your utility bills, something that will insulate
you from not only a collapse of our power grid, but keep the energy flowing to
your home if you experience a personal financial catastrophe that makes it
difficult to pay your bills.
Do
you have enough land to raise livestock? The bottom line is that people will
always need food, and if you can provide that food you’ll always have customers
willing to buy it or trade for it. Space is an important consideration for
livestock, but there are ways to raise poultry, goats and even micro Dexter
cows without a huge pasture. Look into micro-livestocking for some ideas (it’s
something you can even do in suburbia if your HOA allows it!).
You
need a water source. This is self explanatory. You can’t grow food or keep
animals if you don’t have water. Either make sure you have a well, or a river
or stream with easy access so you can collect or divert water to irrigate your
garden.
Another
water solution that provides multiple benefits is a pond. Not only will it
provide water, but you can expand your offerings by raising fish to boot!
Can
you defend your property? In addition to the commodities listed above, other
physical assets to look at acquiring are property and self defense supplies
like barbed wire fencing to protect your inner perimeter, flood lights or
another alarm system for the external perimeter, empty sang bags that you can
quickly fill if needed.
Owning
land is a dream held by most individuals. But, few people understand the
difference between your home being a liability vs. an asset. If you’re going to
be buying (or even renting) land I strongly suggest you look into how you can
make your home work for you, instead of the other way around.
Get
Some Skills!
I
don’t even have any good skills. You know, like nunchuck skills, bow hunting
skills, computer hacking skills…
-Napolean
Dynamite
I
have a friend who is a specialist in piping design and engineering. In his
spare time he builds high quality copper water/alcohol distillation units.
Sitting around testing his first unit, my friend and I began discussing the various
applications for such an apparatus and how knowledge of manufacturing such
units would be an essential skill in a post-collapse world. With his
distillation units one can not only purify their water over an open fire, but
can also produce drinking alcohol, antiseptics and fuel grade ethanol to run a
generator. His project initially started as a hobby, and has since turned into
a fledgling side business. If the system collapses, and my friend loses his job
in the engineering sector, he will always have his skills of manufacturing to
fall back on. In addition to producing distillation units, he is a lifetime
prepper, so he is well versed in the manufacture of anything from traps and
snares for animals, to making his own ammunition.
The
point of this story is that every one of us, even though some of us may sit at
a computer all day or work a retail counter, has something we know how to do.
Get better at it and consider how you may be able to apply these skills in a
post collapse world.
Also
of note is that if you are skilled at something – machining, sewing, food
preservation or some other skills – stock up on the necessary supplies to run
your business now, because they won’t be available. My friend who manufactures
distillation units is heavily invested in copper piping and related materials.
While copper may not be a practical investment for you because of your skill
set, perhaps yarn or canning jars are.
Every
one of us is unique, and we each have different life experiences, skills and
backgrounds. This is great news for post-collapse survivors, because you can be
assured that American innovation will always return with a vengeance. Necessity
will be the mother of invention in a post collapse world, and while knitting
sweaters for the Holidays may be a hobby for you now, it could be the skill
that sets you apart and keeps your family fed if traditional commerce breaks
down.
The
following list is based in part on The Barter Value of Skills and will give you
some ideas on ways you will be able to exchange your time and energy for yield
(money, trade, etc.) in a post-collapse world:
First
Aid or Critical Aid (Whether you are an EMT or just have basic first aid
training, your skills will be in high demand during a serious crisis)
Midwifery/delivering
babies because there won’t be any hospitals
Animal
Husbandry – Those who haven’t developed animal rearing skills will call on you
to help them with their animals or ranching. If you have a large enough
post-collapse survival property, you may even be able to lease space on your
property for others.
Blacksmithing,
Carpentry, Construction, Machining, and any host of other skills that will be
required for jobs that we take for granted today because of home improvement
mega stores.
Mechanics
– Whether it’s for small engines like generators or understanding the inner
workings of alternative energy, there will always be a need for skilled
mechanics. After a collapse it will be difficult if not impossible to buy new
items like we do in our current consumptive paradigm. Learning to fix what’s
already out there will be a fantastic way to make a living.
Food
preservation, sewing/mending, soap and candle making, production of alternative
medicines (with herbs from your garden) will all be skills that are in demand.
Also
see Top Post-Collapse Barter Items And Trade Skills for more ideas
Planning
for the Unknown with 401(Prep) Investing
If
there is one thing we can say about our current economic, financial, social and
political climate it’s that we have entered an era in human history of total
unpredictability. While we can theorize about what may or may not happen, we
need to understand that we are operating on limited information. As Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once said :
There
are known knowns – there are things we know we know.
We
also know there are known unknowns – that is to say we know there are some
things we do not know.
But
there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.
As
humorous as Rumsfeld’s comments were to the press in the room, there is quite a
bit of insight to be gleaned from them.
The
key takeaway is that we really don’t know what we know or don’t know, so plan
for the worst. Furthermore, ensure that your preparedness plans are flexible
enough to be applied to situations that we haven’t even contemplated as even
being possible.
While
the ideas listed above may not work for everyone, I hope I’ve been able to
present an informative enough primer on Collapse Investing to get your mind
working on how you can apply your specific situation and skills to a complete
action and execution plan.
Best
wishes to you all.
Get
Prepped, Stay Prepped.
Mac
Slavo
Action
Items:
Research
how other countries used alternative currencies in post-shtf emergencies. Some
great online resources are FerFAL’s Surviving in Argentina, Selco’s SHTF
School.
Familiarize
yourself with alternative currencies that could be deemed valuable during a
post-SHTF scenario.
Familiarize
and become proficient in skill sets that would be seen as profitable during an
extended emergency.
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