Friday, June 20, 2014

much much?


MUCHO MUCH?

How much money set aside for a rainy day is too much? Considering the inevitability of either massive inflation and/or petro-dollar collapse and let’s not forget bank forced borrowing, the question becomes How Much Can I Afford To Lose.  You can’t NOT save money.  Even in my worst financial circumstances, once I no longer had credit cards to fall back on for emergencies ( declaring bankruptcy just a year prior to the law changing making the process much less advantageous to the debt holder ), I never went without savings.  I clutched to three months expenses savings religiously.  That was only depleted years later when I moved to Elko ( the infamous Great Tire Failure Event as both truck and trailer tires needed to be replaced en route ) but even though the cash amount was halved, I still had three months expenses saved up ( when city trailer rent was $400 and paying on your own lot is $100, your monthly outlay drops dramatically ).  Yet, a curious thing happened.  I’ve continued to add to my savings, even as my paranoia and fear and realization of true global events has increased.  That sucks.  I know better, yet I keep saving more.  As if subconsciously I know the employment situation is temporary and I must squirrel away more and yet more.  Mucho more!

*

It is easy to say you can’t have enough if you are then laid off for two years.  It is easy to bemoan not having bought more commodities after the crash.  What is a redneck irregular to do?  You can’t spend any money after the apocalypse and you can’t use wheat and ammo to pay for utilities before then.  The uneasy answer is that you must suffer and both programs are less than satisfactory.  No matter what you do, it is the wrong answer.  But how much savings should you have?  I don’t think the traditionally preached six months is realistic.  Even if most of us had that much, it is too big of a hit to lose and too much to be idle since that could really wipe out a bunch of debt or otherwise be used more constructively.  Even my three months,   right for me, both being extra paranoid and able to live off almost nothing, but is probably not right for most folks.  Still too much.  If your household earns $40k ( and I’m sure that is on the low side ), $10k in savings is lost opportunity.  You could already have paid off land and a modest shelter for that amount.  It is silly to park that amount of money, awaiting the bankers to steal it or the government to quickly erode its purchasing power.  One month is far more realistic for most people.  BUT!  You had better have a pretty iron clad escape plan in place for that to be realistic.  You want to use that money to move and restart, not to waste money throwing good after bad into the black hole of middle class living expenses desperately hoping for a miracle.  The drama of savings is just our fears materialized.  We fear collapse, yet also destitution in “normal” times.  You might never resolve the tug of war between the two.  The best you can hope for is a truce of a rickety nature.

END
Please support Bison by buying through the Amazon ad graphics at the top of the page. You can purchase anything, not just the linked item. Enter Amazon through my item link and then go to whatever other item you desire. As long as you don’t leave Amazon until after the order is placed, I get credit for your purchase.  For those that can’t get the ads because they are blocked by your software, just PayPal me occasionally or buy me something from my Amazon Wish List once a year.
*
All My Contact Info, Books For Sale, Links:
 

 

 

16 comments:

  1. I come to Lord Bison because you have a different slant than most others. It's easy to parrot the conventional wisdom. Finding the holes in it and doing something different is hard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I feel complimented. Tell all your basement dwelling friends, you skeevy minions.

      Delete
  2. Jim,

    There is a new must-see post-apocalypse movie out called THE ROVER. Below is the first paragraph from a review in today's Minneapolis paper. (you can legally reprint up to 300 words. It's called 'fair-use' under the copyright laws).

    Forget "gritty". "The Rover" is so rank that if you cut yourself on it you'd need a tetanus shot. The story takes place "10 years after the collapse," an undefined apocalypse that swept away virtually every vestige of law but the Darwinian laws of nature. Part road movie, part survival drama, it's a grungy return to the Outback nihilism of the "Mad Max" movies that put Australian cinema on the world's radar.

    You can read the whole review at startribune.com

    Sounds pretty good. no??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Damn! I must have it. Thanks. Probably won't come here to the Mormon owned theatre, but I'll look out for it.

      Delete
  3. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well put lord James.Thought provoking. I look at my monthly expenses and I have to consider that if I lost my job what would the expenses be? Not working would eliminate some expenses. Gas runs me $400 a month. Eating out with my crazy schedule. I still have the infamous child support and all the extras. I would be hard pressed to save that much. But I am paying off debt and have a couple months saved.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That ex-wife support is THE ultimate monkey wrench

      Delete
  5. I think 3 months MINIMUM but its a moving target. Taxes, health care, vehicles going on the fritz, appliances / A-C going down for the count - all at the same time ! Fun for one and all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, sure. 3-6 months min. for a middle class continuence. But for the same money you could drop out of the rat race. Which was my point.

      Delete
    2. drop out of the infrastructure of middle class life or at least 'gear down' from middle class to lower middle, then to upper poor, etc. step it down now before you have to and use the savings to prep for living at the 'just above subsistence level' when almost everyone else is living at the 'desperate refugee' level.

      Delete
  6. I'd have to admit that I play a dual game of Bison prep combined with Rawles Prep. Get all the Bison stuff ( Long ago covered those bases ) and then work on the Rawles approach ( unatainable lol ) I have wheat, I have bolt guns, revolvers , Black Powder guns, even gasp a few semi-spewers ( I know, I know ) but when good deals come around I just can't help myself.
    Got the junk land, working on a motor home / war wagon heh...
    Gotta remember though James, I been at this game since 76. Changed strategies at least six times now heh. Had the homestead bought and paid for in Idaho, till I came to the conclussion that without oil it is not survivable. Went the sailboat route, realized that there is no place to go where we as Americans won't be shot on sight, let alone the water issue.
    Now here I am in Floriduh...lots of water, plenty of native edibles and game. Don't have to worry about winter ! Just gotta go deep into the bush and avoid the hoards ( most all of which are terrified of the swamp )
    Savings ? Like you, bout 3 months, the rest I put into Rawles nickels and silver. Keep stocking the ammo, powder and of course more wheat !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm one terrified of the swamp- Lucifer's minions WILL drop from trees or swim underwater to bite me and my balls will swell up and I'll die horribly days later. Or a gator will bite off my leg and balls and ditto. It IS a great strategy. I'm kinda sorta doing the same here, hoping without electricity that the bastards will flee in terror of the cold. And I see the strategy change thing. You aren't blinded by other ideology, willing to think and decide for yourself. Well, as old as you are, you should be wise :)

      Delete
  7. When people ask me how that my wife and I afforded to drop out and go sailing. I always state that it was simple, we just did it ! All ya have to do is get rid of all that useless crap that fills your house, sell the cars. Then buy a fixer upper boat and go... Ya don't need a 40 foot expensive yacht , 25 ft. will do. Just as you don't need the ranchette...junk land will do. In reality they both achieve the same end. You are there !

    ReplyDelete
  8. It pays to be rich or really poor. If you are middle class the government will suck you dry.

    Idaho Homesteader

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even if people realize this I think there is always the delusion they will advance to rich

      Delete

COMMENTS HAVE BEEN CLOSED