Surviving Dystopia: The NEW Financial Tips for Survival

By Tim Gamble

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Dystopia is rising, and we need to prepare ourselves and our families to survive it. There will be no quick collapse followed by a quick reset. Dystopia will last for decades. But we and our families can survive dystopia if we prepare for it. One important area to prepare is our personal and family economics. Here is my list of financial tips for success in the emerging dystopia. Some may prove controversial. Investigate and think for yourself.

• Avoid personal debt at all costs. Except for perhaps a home mortgage, debt is never a good idea. Especially consumer debt like credit cards, car loans, student loans, and payday loans. The saying that debt makes the debtor slave to the lender is very true. Don't do it, even if it means doing without. If you already have a debt problem, see my two debt busting ideas at the bottom of this article.
• Do not go into debt to buy your prepper supplies and cool gear.  Some folks seem to have the idea that they can go into debt now, and not have to pay off that debt after a collapse. What if the collapse doesn't happen as soon as you expect? 
• Spend less than you make, and make savings a regular part of your life. This will mean making some personal sacrifices.
• Have a well-funded emergency account in a safe, well-established credit union or small bank. How much? You'll have to decide that for yourself based on your own circumstances and concerns. 
• Reduce your home energy use. The progressives are dead set on fighting "climate change" by raising energy taxes, taxing carbon emissions, banning coal and oil, and other measures that will dramatically raise energy costs and disproportionately hurt the poor and middle class (the wealthy elites will always be able to afford their energy). 
• Learn to be entertained without having to spend a lot of money.
• Avoid participating in fads and joining in fashionable trends. Don't worry bout what your family, friends or colleagues think. 
• Avoid impulse purchases.
• Be cautious about investing in the stock market. If you do so, be a value investor, and only invest in well-established, well-managed companies for the long-term. Short-term investing is called speculation, and is akin to gambling. Both speculators and gamblers are convinced that they can beat the system that is rigged against them. They can't, not over the long-run. 
• Do invest in precious metals. Within reason, of course. Never put all your eggs in one basket, even if those eggs are golden. Also, I am talking about physical gold and silver, not paper certificates saying you own x-amount of gold or silver. Those certificates will likely be unenforceable and worthless in and after a collapse. See my article Prepper's Guide to Junk Silver.
• Avoid financial gimmicks and get-rich-quick schemes. Avoid any investment you cannot fully understand.
• Avoid Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.  I know cryptocurrencies are very popular with many because they see it as a non-government controlled currency. But there are some things that should concern folks.  First, governments can and are starting to regulate cryptocurrencies. These regulations will only increase in the future. Governments also have the power to ban financial transactions that use any cryptocurrency they don't like or can't control. Never underestimate the government's desire to control everything. Second, cryptocurrencies have proved vulnerable to hacking and other forms of fraud & manipulation. Third, cryptocurrencies are not backed by physical assets. They can fall permanently to zero in value. Fourth, in a grid-down scenario (such as an EMP event), the use of cryptocurrencies will be problematic at best. The Average Joe will not be able to trade or use cryptocurrencies, even if it is still trading in a remote area of the world unaffected by the event. No working computers = no crypto. 
• Learn accounting to really understand the language of business.
• Learn some basic economics. I highly recommend Richard J. Maybury's book Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? and Gary Wolfram's A Capitalist Manifesto as good, short introductions to economics. 
• A homestead and productive land is a great investment. It doesn't have to be in a remote location far away from civilization. My personal preference is on the outskirts of a small town in a rural part of the country, in a red state, away from mega-cities. There is no "perfect" location, but there are better and worse locations. Strive to find a better location. 
  
• Insurance is a good thing. Have enough, and make sure your insurance company is sound. There are a variety of rating services that you can check with to discover the financial soundness of insurance companies, banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions. Pay attention to the news and to the financial reports of your institutions. Again, learning accounting will help.
• Get and stay employable. You may have to change jobs, even industries, several times in the coming years as dystopia unfolds. Don't wait around until you get fired to prepare for that fact. Be proactive. 
• College is no longer a good idea for many people. "If you want to get ahead in life, you have to go to college" is old advice that is no longer valid in many cases. Its simply is not worth going into tens of thousands of dollars of debt to get a degree in gender studies or 18th century French poetry. Education is a good thing. Massive debt is not. Besides, colleges and universities are cesspools of wokeness, anti-capitalism, and anti-Americanism. Instead, consider vocational training at a local community college (much more affordable and useful) while working a real job. If you do have your heart set on a career requiring a college degree, make sure it is a good-paying career (accountant, doctor, lawyer, veterinarian, etc.) and get your degree as cheaply as possible without going into debt. This probably means going to a local community college to get the general curriculum courses, then transferring to a relatively affordable state university to finish your major. It may even mean taking some time of from your studies to work a real job and save money to pay for your studies.

Debt Busting Idea #1 - Making payments on your vehicle? Sell it and buy a more affordable vehicle with cash. Downsizing your vehicle to get out from under the loan is an idea Dave Ramsey often suggests to his listeners. If you can't get enough for your vehicle to pay off the entire loan, you will need to raise some extra cash using other ideas from this article.

Debt Busting Idea #2 - If you own any "adult toys" such as ATVs, boats, sports cars, RVs, pool tables, dune buggies, hot tubs, motorcycles, or other big ticket items that you use only for recreation and entertainment, consider selling them and dedicating the proceeds to debt repayment. Same goes for any home gyms and exercise equipment that you don't really use. Depending on what you have to sell, you may be able to raise anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. That's a lot of debt you can pay off.

Note: One of my degrees is in accounting. However, I am not employed as a financial professional. The tips presented in this article are not meant as professional advice, but are intended as "food for thought" and a starting point for your further investigation and consideration. I don't expect everyone to agree with every tip, and in fact expect several of these tips will be "controversial." Please carefully consider each tip and its applicability to your own particular circumstances and concerns.  

 

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