Disastrous Emergency Money Myths

By Kellene Bishop

Should you save money in this economy in preparation for a disaster? If so, how much? What kinds of currency denominations should you have on hand? Should you buy gold and silver? These are questions that readers frequently e-mail to me. And while I will address several of these questions in this article, understand that ultimately the best monetary preparedness you can practice is to first prepare yourself mentally for the consequences of unforeseen events. Doing so will inevitably provide you with logical actions to prepare accordingly. Overall this topic actually requires extensive discussion, so we’ll explore it in more than one piece. For today we’ll discuss the most broad “monetary” recommendations in order to prepare and to AVOID making disastrous monetary mistakes in anticipation of an emergency.

An economic collapse or a natural disaster will obviously have an effect on the acceptance, issuance, and availability of money. Think about it. If all of the sudden your community, state, or even nation is disrupted due to an EMP attack, do you really think that anyone is going to give a flying flip about a useless piece of printed currency? The real question is, “how do you appropriately prepare for such events and possess mutually valuable wares to ride it out and survive?” I believe in a two pronged approach to preparation. Store what I know I will need, and then store items that I know others will need so that I can obtain the items that I didn’t foresee.

Should you put some cash aside in your home in preparation for a sweeping emergency? Yes. But don’t go overboard. Within days, if not hours, of a national disaster or an economic collapse, your money will be useless. Absolutely useless. (And in the event that currency is ever recognized at that level of insolvency, then hoarding it during a crisis in hopes that it will rebound is also unrealistic.) I would not recommend you having more than $1,000 cash on hand and be sure that you have it in small increments of 10’s, 5’s, and 1’s. Don’t have this money on hand with the intent to use it to save your bacon once the disaster has actually hit or in lieu of storing what you will need now. If you need that cash to purchase emergency supplies because you were caught unaware, you’ll be hard-pressed to actually spend $1,000 successfully as there will indeed be a rush on the stores. Mark my words. You can plan on there being insufficient amounts available in the stores or limited acceptance of cash in the event of either of these two disasters, suitable for you to spend $1,000. The $1,000 cash recommendation is for unforeseen circumstances in which you are fortunate enough to still have it accepted, not to correct your lack of foresightedness in the face of a disaster.

Yes, you should indeed have some gold and/or silver on hand. This currency has never been recognized under any circumstances as being useless. However, if you are going to invest in such, I would recommend you acquire smaller coins and pieces instead of “dollar-sized” coins. You can also collect regular U.S. coins that are pre-1967, as they were still made with some “real” metals in them. These will ultimately have trade value in an emergency situation.

“Currency” as you know it today is NOT what you should be focusing on for an emergency. Food items, skills, and other hard asset wares are what you should be accumulating if you truly want to be prepared for an emergency. With the exception of a job loss, and striving to eliminate your debt overall, I am 100% convinced that the best way you can “save” for a rainy day disaster is to have useful preparedness items on hand. Items such as wheat, rice, water, ammo, clothing, shelter, diapers, and fuel will be more valuable than anything the Federal Reserve could ever print out. I am so convinced of this, that I would blatantly recommend that those who are saving a set amount of money each month in a bank account to instead actually lower their monthly savings amount and increase the purchase and acquisition of emergency preparedness wares. If you find yourself in need of an item or food you can either trade for it or work for it. Educate yourself on skills that are not common in our society now as the result of the abundance which we now enjoy. The skills of a seamstress, carpenter, cobbler, blacksmith and cook will be much more valuable in a time of distress. With such skills you can always acquire that which you need in exchange for your labors.

Bottom line, currency is not what you want to focus hoarding for an emergency. Rather it is a much wiser choice to store that which currency can presently obtain.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

Preparedness Pro Note: If you would like Kellene Bishop to present an Emergency Preparedness message for your community or church group, please contact us at 801-788-4133. Ms. Bishop is an experienced speaker on Emergency Preparedness topics and also has created a great “Preparedness Party” platform which makes the learning of such a topic more enjoyable for all.

Why You Should Store Food NOW

There are many who I share my expertise with who inevitably ask me, “Come on, Kellene. Your practices are good in the event that there’s a cataclysmic event, but what’s to say that all of your food storage won’t just be destroyed with the catastrophe?”

And so, in appreciation of those who require me to work harder and speak clearer, I dedicate today’s article.

First of all, it’s a myth for you to believe that your food storage is solely for the purpose of surviving a catastrophic event in nature. Emergency preparedness of food stores is indeed useful for such an event, but it is not isolated to such. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s heard stories of individuals who lived off of their food storage as the result of the loss of a job in their family or other hard financial times. While this is a common occurrence I hear in today’s economic climate, it is still not the primary reason why foods should be stored. It’s merely a scratching of the surface. And besides, even that isn’t reason enough for many because hundreds of thousands may rely on food stamps or help from their church in the event of a job loss anyway. So such motivation may not be enough to actually initiate food storage action. Let’s see if the following considerations do the trick for you.

Chemical Tainting or Recall: If you have ample supply of food, then in the event a food has been recalled suddenly or is known to have chemical impairment, you won’t have to do without.

Rationing: Recently big warehouses and grocery stores were rationing the purchase of wheat and rice. Such a ration has not been implemented in our country since the days of the Depression. This is in part because many foreigners have been buying up our supplies in order to feed their struggling nations as well as the fact that we have been exporting a significant portion of our wheat and other staples due to the famines which have affected 3rd world countries. If you have a years supply of food, then you are impervious to the effects of such rationing actions.

Diminishing U.S. Food Production: Over the last 5 years we have lost over 90% of our farmers to exorbitant costs of farming, farming regulations, bankruptcy, bad seed crops, and many more who have stopped growing food and instead are growing “fuel.” Fewer members of our population even know how to garden for themselves, let alone the number who actually do. The small farmers are now under threat with a new intrusion on their way of life, bill HR 875. This bill threatens to eliminate over 90% of the small farmers and to heavily regulate where they can sell their goods and how. Again, if you have a years supply as well as some accompanying knowledge of sprouting, then your dinner table will be unaffected by these awful intrusions.

Devaluation of the Dollar: In addition to the cost of food increasing in the nation, (due to the diminishing supply of it) the money we use to buy the food is becoming worth less. It boils down to supply and demand. Since the Federal Reserve is mindlessly printing up trillions and trillions of dollars without any accounting to the public just how much currency is in circulation at one time, the value of the dollar is taking a nose dive. In fact, thanks to the inflation rate which has been controlled by the Federal Reserve since 1913, the value of the 1913 dollar has now been diminished to a mere four cents today. So, if you purchase your food now, then when there is finally an economic reckoning in the future, your family will still survive.

Food for thought, folks. (Yes. Pun intended)





Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

Preparedness Pro Note: If you would like Kellene Bishop to present an Emergency Preparedness message for your community or church group, please contact us at 801-788-4133. Ms. Bishop is an experienced speaker on Emergency Preparedness topics and also has created a great “Preparedness Party” platform which makes the learning of such a topic more enjoyable for all.