401 mKay ( article 2 of 2 today )
Sometimes I really hate
answering the tough questions. Most of the time I stick with the
easier ones. I mean, you might THINK it is a hard call on whether to
kill children or women, for instance, but that is actually easy since
it comes down to tribal imperative. No, I'm talking about the kind
of hard questions that might screw people up if you aren't exact in
your logic. Like, “should I cash out my 401K, or not?”. That is
NOT as easy as I make it out to be. It might be easy for ME, but you
have a lot more riding on it.
*
Me? I always figured
that money for retirement is just like money for your whole life.
Stop worrying about getting MORE, and worry about needing LESS. For
me, Social Security is more than enough, a minimum of double what I
make now. If Social Security isn't going to be around, neither is
your private savings, as the whole enchilada already imploded. But
you'all, as I am constantly reminded, ain't me. You want cars and
grid electricity and hookers and blow. I can only nag you so often
before you tire of me. So I'm forced into your world.
*
The average guy smart
enough to read me is probably smart enough to have a good paying job,
and hence will have a 401K from back when times didn't suck complete
ass. I'm sure a few of you on public pensions wish you had a 401K
right about now as your city is in multi-billion dollar deficits and
shortfalls. So, the question remains, what should you do? If I ONLY
answered softball questions I wouldn't be the Survivalist King Of The
Universe. The short answer is, the lesser evil.
*
The long answer is,
that is certainly NOT an answer. Without knowing the future how can
we know what the lesser evil is? I mean, we KNOW how the future is
going to be. As painful as it is, go watch “The Road” ( the book
was great, as one of the most bleak PA universes ever, but I've never
wanted to re-read it because it simply isn't entertaining. Yet, that
was far and above better than the movie. Which did a decent job of
staying true to the book. Which ALSO didn't make it very
entertaining ). That is the future. We just don't know the timing.
*
And when I say “that
is the future”, I certainly do not mean the overcast natural
disaster aspect. I mean more along the lines of depopulated and
without resources. How folks do not view our extraction activities
with stories high excavators ( with each tire costing what a
reasonable house would ), and not worry that means there is ZERO for
future generation confounds me. How they think you can pump the dirt
full of chemicals and compact the ground with heavy machinery, then
believe it can instantly go to organic smallsteads is equally a
mystery.
*
To be perfectly honest,
any rational person would NEVER have believed the US could pull a
miracle out of its ass with the Petrodollar and survive losing its
gold, its military hold over colonies and its industry. Any thinking
adult surely cannot explain how we are STILL not joining the other
civilizations in a dirt nap. I mean, you could envision what it
would be like from the outside looking in and our existence exactly
mirrors Rome months or just a handful of years before its sacking.
You understand that NOTHING working as designed means only one thing.
But you are still unsure about the timing.
*
If a person almost
fifty years ago couldn't see how we were going to save ourselves,
surely, you say, we ourselves could be under the same delusion. I
mean, no way in hell we have another fifty years. But my point is
that it is too easy to get our best guess about the timing wrong.
That right there is what is going to screw most of us. Since the
system keeps NOT collapsing, we think we have another grace period.
Which we could. Or perhaps not.
*
I've been acting like
tomorrow is The End, for a very long time. To me, it is normal. But
I have to keep reminding myself that no one else is like me. Nobody
else could possibly fixate on the apocalypse to the extent I do.
Most folks just want to live their life, with prepping a necessary
insurance program. Me, that IS my life. But don't cry for me,
Argentina. I LOVE this life. Might be faulty mental wiring. Or,
Baby Jesus is speaking through me. Hard to say. But, yeah, you
worry about how your survival preps will impact your budget for the
rest of your life.
*
It is natural to want
to keep hold of your savings. So far, no apocalypse. But what you
have seen, time and again, is your friends and family lose employment
or get into a bind with medical bills, or whatever, and you know you
need savings to survive THAT quasi-apocalypse which is orders of
magnitude more likely in the short term than a civilization collapse.
Bullets and band-aids will NOT pay the bills, only cash type money (
not even precious metals, which ALSO keep screwing the pooch in
expectations and won't explode upwards. At least not yet- all in
good time ).
*
If things limp along,
no savings means you could lose your home, or your ability to drive.
Just because I hate houses and cars doesn't mean you do. I'm all
about worse case scenario, and that is fine. For your preps for the
apocalypse. But it isn't fine for your financial planning. I'm not
just black or white. You might agree with me but in shades of gray.
It can be a sliding scale beyond just agree, don't agree. After all,
I myself had way too much cash on hand for many years. It is not my
prerogative to dismiss your desire to do the same.
*
If you hate the thought
of being savings poor, you should simply keep the 401k. If you more
often have nightmares of being without enough post-apocalypse
supplies, you probably don't have to worry about one. It depends not
on what I say, but what your Lizard Brain says. And I'm as serious
as a heart attack. Either way, the choice is wrong. You end up
broke living like a bum, but with plenty of supplies, or you have a
cash cushion that will disappear. And I don't mean to frame that
like cash is stupid. Without the cash, you will be dropping like a
stone in your standard of living.
*
There are other
considerations, such as supplies being just as vulnerable as cash in
the bank. We just talked about the scourge of crackheads. Not that
THEY will do a home invasion. But they do represent the break down
of law and order, don't they? Things will just get worse. Look at
Turd World countries. Still relatively stable, still feeding
everyone, but crime is at insane levels. This, and more, continued
tomorrow.
( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link click HERE )
*
note-I do not advise buying the Home Despot orange lid for the five gallon bucket. They might have a better lid, but don't buy the orange one for sure. They are now hunks of crap, the inner ring too thin of plastic that is easily bent and torn, leaving an imperfect seal. Bad enough they took out the gasket, now you can't even get a solid plastic seal. And I was even using a proper rubber mallet and still had about 30% failure rates. First time I've had issues with a bucket lid after dozens and scores of them over the years.
*
note-I do not advise buying the Home Despot orange lid for the five gallon bucket. They might have a better lid, but don't buy the orange one for sure. They are now hunks of crap, the inner ring too thin of plastic that is easily bent and torn, leaving an imperfect seal. Bad enough they took out the gasket, now you can't even get a solid plastic seal. And I was even using a proper rubber mallet and still had about 30% failure rates. First time I've had issues with a bucket lid after dozens and scores of them over the years.
*
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