Survival Economics: Should your Financial Future be in a Hole in the Ground?
The Hole Diggers
Smart Money recently ran an article that detailed how many people are starting to bury their cash in their back yards. Their thought is that the entire banking system is going to collapse and that the ’safest’ place for their money is in the back yard.
If we Collapse, would Currency be Worth Anything?
A collapse of the entire financial system may actually happen, but the chances are extremely slim. But this post isn’t about that possibility, it’s about the fact that people think that paper currency and a hole in dirt is a safety net for their financial future.
If we do completely collapse, wouldn’t our currency be completely devoid of value? Think about it for a second – with no financial system in place – what good is paper currency? I would have to imagine that in that environment, food, firearms, ammunition, clean water, fuel, firewood, tools, and even precious metals would reign supreme. But paper currency? A hole in the ground?
If we All Dug Hole in the Ground
At that point, I would expect that hole digging thievery would become extremely popular. You’d have a bunch of hole diggers scouring people’s backyards for areas of fresh soil or dead grass. Ground hogs and prairie dogs would be highly valued for their ground digging skills.
This article brought me back to a few DIY safes that I had seen a while back. At the least, these options seem like a much safer bet than a hole in the ground. At best, it’s also a fun weeknight project!
How to Make a Secret Hidden Wall Safe
Your Own Secret Hidden Safe! For Under $2 – video powered by Metacafe
Or, How to Make a Safe out of a 2 Liter Bottle:
Top Secret Bottle Stash. – video powered by Metacafe
Topics of Discussion:
- Where is your money the safest?
- In the event of a collapse of our financial system – what will be our currency?
- What job do you plan on taking when we revert back to a barter economy?
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Bwaha! Groundhogs! Good stuff. Seriously – I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night with my cash there for the taking in my back yard! Credit unions who didn’t get involved in risky CDO’s are probably the safest bet for your cash. But the 2 liter is a pretty sweet idea also.
Right now I feel like my money is pretty safe where it is – in mutual funds and banks. I haven’t used cash regularly in years, so the idea of hiding it around my house seems rather crazy. As you mention, in the event of catastrophe, cash will be useless anyway, so there is no sense in hiding it around your home and gaining zero interest.
As for bartering, I have no clue what I would do. I know how to knit scarves (but that’s the only thing I can knit!) and I used to babysit a lot – will people need babysitters? This is a good question, I’m going to think on it for a while!
Dead right. That’s one thing that I’ve never been figuring out. If a bank fails, then you have the FDIC….if the federal government can’t bail out the banks… Well. It would make more sense to save beans and rice.
But I don’t think we have to fear anything like this in the near future. The federal government is about to rectify the situation in the next few months, and the market will also auto-correct. It’ll just take time.
Very cool Pepsi video by the way. I can’t imagine people are actually burying their cash. I don’t get it. I still think your money is safest in the banks. There are gov’t guarantees if something happens, so everyone will be fine.
Craig
http://www.budgetpulse.com
Centainly! This figure will happen in a near future. We should aware and prepare for the market changing.
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