finances for collapse book 3

FINANCES FOR COLLAPSE BOOK 3

DEBT

Let’s make this section pretty easy.  You believe in the collapse and want to survive, or you don’t believe.  You are serious, or it is just a hobby.  That is fine, if you are just engaged in an interesting and rewarding pastime.  After all, you are reading my wisdom worthy for the ages.  But be honest with yourself.  Are you just arming yourself with cool guns, and throwing in a few months worth of food, just in case?  Again, no big deal.  A months calories cost $8, a 25 pound sack of flour ( at least for the first month, while you still have more nutritional supplements to go along with it.  After that, you might need to spend a bit more.  Or at least if you are spending less, put more effort and planning into it [ hint, hint, whole wheat kernels ] ).  A prepping hobby is rewarding, but largely delusional after the fun part.  If you really think the crap is going to hit the fan, you need to make REAL lifestyle changes.  Not just Business As Usual But With More Money.  If you honestly want to prepare, as far as finances are concerned, you need to get out of debt.  Now, I’m not discounting basic preparations such as a food stockpile and an arsenal, plus basic clothing and shelter.  Those are more important than eliminating debt.  As long as you have put aside a bare bones stockpile ( cheap bolt gun, wheat, a few affordable odds and ends such as wool and a DIY water filter ), that is good enough.  Then eliminate debt.  Don’t fall into the trap of dragging out preps to keep your current lifestyle.

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Do you think that sounds improbable?  No, because that is what is, mostly, taught and that is what happens when you confuse a hobby with an obsession.  The Yuppie Scum Survivalist guru’s do admonish one to get out of debt.  But they also sternly lecture that without oodles and gobs of high cost gear, there is absolutely no way you are going to survive.  And how else does one acquire said nifty necessary gadget if not by using credit?  If you simply MUST have twenty acres for field and forest and babbling brook and pasture, not to mention a really big McMansion, how else but a thirty year mortgage?  Granted, SOME readers might be able to save for a few years after cutting down on their spending, then move to a part of the country so economically devastated that they can actually find an affordable country retreat ( an issue all by itself ), but most average survivalists think they need to get into debt for a better place to live and have no other way of doing so.

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This is trying to satisfy a hobby but remaining firmly in the current paradigm.  Unless you are one of the few rich preppers that can actually pay for a personal consultation with said guru, you have a choice to make.  Debt, or Prep ( I know, my wit is astounding ).  By which I mean, be a frugal prepper, or not really one at all.  Because even though you have cool and expensive gear, if you are in debt you will have a much harder time surviving.  You think a homestead exemption is going to save your home if you owe serious gobs of money to the government or bankers?  They can, and do, change the rules to suit themselves.  In the quest to secure their money, Rules and Laws mean nothing.  What, you didn’t pay attention as Hilary Clinton got away with murder and fraud and theft, all easily documented?  In a financial collapse, debtors have few to zero rights ( the poor have just as few, but being poor and out of debt means they probably won’t notice and come after you directly ).  Debt in itself is not a huge deal.  It is having it is an economic collapse that is the problem.

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Debt eliminates options when you get a pink slip.  Or even if your hours are cut.  Really, since the housing bubble popping, who can claim debt is a good idea, while keeping a straight face?  We saw the whole rationale for being in debt, owning a home, collapse.  Why worry about a credit score if you need a 20% down payment, on property STILL overvalued at least three or four times?  If you can get a no down loan, why spend the extra?  If you spend the extra, why would you if the market can lose half its value overnight again?  Why would you want to pay the insane property taxes that Social Security or unemployment or only one income are incapable of covering?  There are only, really, two good reasons to be in debt, and both are short term and you can walk away from them at any time.  A cheap piece of owner financed land and a car.

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First off, neither require good credit.  So you can nuke your credit score and far more quickly get out of debt.  Do it legally, because just walking away is only doubling down on the pain even if it is delayed.  But surrender all the items you owe on and pay the penalty on the rest.  If I could pay the ex-wife tax on minimum wage, you can certainly cover the student debt and remainder on other debts on payments as I’m sure most of you earn more than myself.  I had a current wife to support, was making a land payment and was paying 60% of my gross in taxes and child support.  On minimum wage.  I could do it because I had no other debt, wasn’t paying rent and didn’t own a car.  I understand this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.  I bring it up to both point out the advisability of being out of debt as a financial coping mechanism and to illustrate how easy it is to live after you cut the debt cord.  I know it is easier to stay in debt than to live life an impoverished barbarian.  But that is only because the real economic collapse hasn’t slagged your job yet.  Wait and see how hard it will be then.  Again, if you truly believe the collapse is nigh, make the sacrifices now.  You have little options besides.

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If you must have a car, say if you have a property so cheap it makes sense to commute, you can ALWAYS find financing for it, irregardless of credit score.  You may not like the finance charges, but you’ll get a car.  And owner financed land, or at least cheap land which is what you want anyway, is always No Credit Check.  The land is the collateral.  You stop paying they keep your payments to date and the land.  You aren’t chained to either the land or the car.  Things get rough, you walk away with no problems.  You don’t need debt for anything else, and it is unwise to have it for anything else.  “Good Credit” is a bullseye to enslave you.  Once you chose to discontinue kissing the bankers asses, life is a lot easier and a lot safer.

END

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