Survival Cache, What it is and What it Should be
A survival cache (some people say Cash-a and others Cash) is just about what it sounds like. It is a store or stockpile of something of value you can use in the future for you and your family to survive if needed.
This is not like life insurance or a traditional investment program; this is “no holds barred”, “rip the meat from the bones” hard cash storage of money (or valuables) that you can get at in a moments notice while a dramatic situation is happening.
What is a survival cache? What should a survival cache be?
These are two very important questions and they can only be answered by you. Your situation and foresight will determine these answers.
If social and / or political instability are issues, or if there is a possibility of a government collapse, the storing or hording of paper cash from your country is probably not the best solution. Confederate dollars, old Russian money, Yugoslavian “Yugo’s” and pre 1971 Argentina Peso’s are a perfect example of paper that is worth less than newsprint.
With the fluctuation in prices of major “global” currencies, their true value is in question also. If you follow the value of your home currency against the foreign currency market, that can be a good indicator whether you are too “heavy” in your local paper.
Traditionally the values between gold and silver have been about 20 to 1; that has been turned upside down lately with demand for gold being so high. With the failure of so many banks, governments and currencies, people with the big money are moving it to gold. Silver is not practical when you are talking about amounts in the tens of millions dollars so this has created a market shortage in addition to the increase in value.
Even with this uncommon price manipulation, the value of gold really has not changed for the last 2,000 years. WHAT did I just say? Do you think I am crazy when gold is up hundreds of percent over the couple years?
It is true that gold is unusually high right now, but since recorded history, one ounce of “fine gold” (probably 90% pure or higher) was the cost of a fine suite, which it is today.
In today’s world the price of precious metals does move up and down a lot and sometimes quite violently, but with the total deterioration of a banking system and society in general the value of these metals will show their true colors.
There is a very real possibility that at some point in the future, the value of the Euro or the Dollar will be the same as the old confederate money and you will need to run to the bakery with a wheel barrow full of bills to buy a loaf of bread before the value drops so much you need to run there with 2 wheel barrows full.
The value of gold and silver on the other hand never changes. Your paper may go up and down in price, but the price fluctuations are against the value of the metal vs the demand. The price of a loaf of bread is still 1/20th an ounce of silver, the only thing that changed was the value of your Dollars.
If I was putting together a survival cache, I think I would probably try to focus more on gold and silver than I would on paper. I would really be disappointed if the piece of paper I held yesterday was worth an ounce of silver and today it is only worth using to light the fire because the electricity has been shut down.
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