[Zane Zackerly]

If you've got an IRA, 401(k), bank account, etc., what do you look for as the "sign" that you need to take off work today, show up at their door, and say, "Give me my money!"?

I'm looking for members' opinions AND expert opinions if you can post links.

 

[RogueHK]

NOW! I have my stuff in my safe with my guns. screw banks!

 

[eightbore]

Realistically, you cannot know with any real degree of certainty and most likely extremely effective efforts will be taken to deceive the populace into believing that all is well. Unless you are an insider, the only way to insulate yourself from this is to diversify. In addition to a diversified 401K, paying off your primary real estate, holding physical gold/silver and a few foreign currencies, and maintaining good will with your neighbors, keep...

Food
Water/Purification
Secondary Shelter (retreat)
Guns
Ammo
First Aid gear/knowledge
etc.

This is really the only way to prepare as you will almost assuredly not see the real financial disaster coming. We all think we are smart enough to see it, but the drive to think that "things are getting better" is strong so diversification is really protecting us against our own primitive optimism.

 

[stewie]

back in 2008, i pulled all our money and only deposited what i needed to pay bills. I did it based on what i was seeing. months down the road, i put most back in.

it's really hard to say. no one will tell you the truth. not the banks, not the government, it's up to you to make the move.

 

[jimcola]

Yea, Nobody knows what is gonna happen for sure. I bought some blue chips back when thing were bad, but I sold out way too soon.

I bought some DOG last week, it has swaps in the Dow 30. It ain't doing too well. I pulled about 5 grand out of my Vanguard mutual fund VBMFX that holds treasuries last month. I put that it in a savings account.

With my record, Definitely don't follow my lead.

 

[Kalashnikov-kid]

Now is that time...the rise in gold, silver and other hard commodities are up in proportion to the decline of the dollar. THERE IS NO INVESTMENT THAT BEATS INFLATION AT THIS STAGE. The market is all Government funny money...HISTORICAL GAINS in the market during the WORST ECONOMIC DOWNTURN since the Great Depression??? How can THAT be???? Government Manipulation of the markets...It's FAKE and it's gonna CRASH HARD....you will lose everything in your 401K. as of March 2009 you lost 30-40% in value...right NOW you should have gained MOST of that back.....GET OUT of the MARKET if you can. You'll take a TAX HIT. Put your money in durable goods, pay off house, cars??, buy storable food, invest in property at foreclosure prices, buy quality tools (chainsaws, oil, axes, hammers, screws, nails, building materials, pipe, PM's)....anything with REAL value. Once paper money and electronic money starts to decline in value, HARD ASSETS are the ONLY thing that will keep up with inflation...


READ http://www.zerohedge.com/ once a day...a bunch of economic GEEKS have a blog and they call them as they see them. Good insight into the games being played with gov dollars right now and how terribly fragile the whole system is....

 

[JoeMomma]

Zane,
I'm by no means an expert in this stuff, but if it were me, I'd get my money out yesterday. I'd rather have the actual cash on hand as well as basic hard goods and food. If you have the means, get a small storage tank and keep some spare gas on hand too.

The Wall Street game is rigged IMO, and I no longer bother to watch whats going in the market. Will it crash? Who knows, but I'd look to you and yours right now, and invest some of that money in stuff you use everyday.

With every spare dollar I get, I get food, and other stuff, and am trying to finish a few projects.

 

[drh]

This reminds me of a Covid thread with 1500+ posts (on another forum) where everyone who was a burgeoning constitutional expert suddenly became experts in epidemiology. Anyone who has been on these forums since pre Y2K has read the same comments. Many fell into the trap of pulling their 401k and handing over 40% to Uncle Sugar for the pleasure of doing so....putting their 'cash' into the safe where it dwindles and turns to nothing, eventually, while others remained calm and watched their portfolios grow and grow. It's hard to argue with 40% returns on 3/4 million $$ as opposed to a 40% loss because of fear and interneZ advice.

 

[Averageman]

If you've got an IRA, 401(k), bank account, etc., what do you look for as the "sign" that you need to take off work today, show up at their door, and say, "Give me my money!"?

I got a degree in Business actually 13 credits short of my MBA.
I bailed last October, paid off every debt I have and socked the rest in the Bank.
Here is what it comes down to for me, as soon as it came down to Biden/Harris, I knew we were screwed. You cant milk a cow until the tits come off and expect a happy cow, milk or calves.
They are going to break the Bank giving it all away.
It didn't take economics 1301 to get me to smell the coffee. The guy at the helm has had brain surgery TWICE. I have no doubt that he is not and will not be allowed to run anything more important than Mario Carts in the basement.
As we head toward both bankruptcy and civil war that paper may have hypothetical value now, not so much after 2022.

 

[JoeMomma]

This reminds me of a Covid thread with 1500+ posts (on another forum) where everyone who was a burgeoning constitutional expert suddenly became experts in epidemiology. Anyone who has been on these forums since pre Y2K has read the same comments. Many fell into the trap of pulling their 401k and handing over 40% to Uncle Sugar for the pleasure of doing so....putting their 'cash' into the safe where it dwindles and turns to nothing, eventually, while others remained calm and watched their portfolios grow and grow. It's hard to argue with 40% returns on 3/4 million $$ as opposed to a 40% loss because of fear and interneZ advice.

Inflation is making your savings worthless, and considering things are getting worse, it may work out to pull your money and put it toward hard good, or even gold at this point.

 

[Saiga Man]

I am no expert as many others have stated. That being said, I've pulled what little money I had out of the banking system about three months ago. Not sure why, as, as fast as they are printing that shit, it's actual buying power is dropping like a fkin rock! I had some extra capital about two years ago and put it into silver and some of that real shinny gold stuff. I wish I'd had more money at the time! I didn't do it for investment, more of a way to store with worrying about inflation so much. I've been looking to purchase more metal and holy shit! Silver at spot is around $27.00 per, however, to actually purchase it...... Hold.on because premium price has sky rocketed. What was about $3.00 per oz over premium on ASE is now $12.00+ per oz. It's like trying to invest in a shit state like N.Y. there is not any logic in it! Hahaa Ammo at this point makes sense if you can find it cheap and turn it for profit? But, if you sell for cash? and cash is becoming nearly worthless, then what? I think it's time that getting back to basics is going to be more of needed thing than I want to think about. Wow that was long!

 

[trevorakm]

Well I'll say I don't know or an expert. the covid crash was obvious to be a hiccup which made it fairly easy. A larger crash of total ruins, severe drop from 31000? Definately a possibility but start looking into who is involved in the market in this global economy. The recent recovery was not the little guys only supporting the market. As for the printing of money like it's air well the US is not alone and the effect should be globally felt. It all depends on the economic diversity of each nation. A good example of this was Greece back in the events that played out after the 2008 crash. The US economy is quite diverse and that is part of the strength. I haven't moved any monies but have diversified much more beyond the market. The best thing you can do, and this tactic saved my wife and I finances during the 2008 crash, eliminate debt. obviously you can get by with less when there is no debt. We got married and bought our house in late 2003 wiped out our liquid funds. 2004 we agreed to live very sparsely and save hard, made all the difference to this day. Goal was to save $20k we ended up saving 30K. I was hooked and we kept up for another year and another. Once we reached 100K on a teacher and carpenter salary, we signed up with a finacial advisor. This was the second best move we made. If you don't care enough or have the time to manage your money hire someone with good references from people you trust and respect.

Suzy Ormond got me interested but Dave Ramsey got my wife and I going in the correct direction. Results: house , cars paid off, two daughters both have over 150K in their college funds, I have the toys I want and I was able tofund the starting of a business with a friend from college that only commands my attention 2 days a week. All pretty much set up on a carpenter and teacher salaries.

Whatever you do be disciplined and studious about your monies.

 

[drh]

Inflation is making your savings worthless, and considering things are getting worse, it may work out to pull your money and put it toward hard good, or even gold at this point.

Inflation is at 40% this year?

 

[Saiga Man]

So does anyone think it's possible that the US loses it Dollar as the #1 currency? If it does, what ramifications would that create?

 

[JoeMomma]

Inflation is at 40% this year?

No, but printing money like we're doing is not going to end well.

 

[Averageman]

To have an idea what is going on here go find some history of the Weimar Republic and see how Germany dealt with inflation.
Everyone can't get a hand-out or the money we print to "hand it out", becomes worth less.
Also we are rewarding bad behavior here.
I got my degree's while serving in the Military, no Student loans. I saved and got a 529 for my Sons education, so now his is paid for.
So when you hand out cash for Student Loans, why? I could do it, my Son could do it, wtf over?

 

[JoeMomma]

To have an idea what is going on here go find some history of the Weimar Republic and see how Germany dealt with inflation.
Everyone can't get a hand-out or the money we print to "hand it out", becomes worth less.
Also we are rewarding bad behavior here.
I got my degree's while serving in the Military, no Student loans. I saved and got a 529 for my Sons education, so now his is paid for.
So when you hand out cash for Student Loans, why? I could do it, my Son could do it, wtf over?

I have a few bills from that era that my in-laws neighbors gave me about 20 years ago. The notes range from 100,000 Marks - 2 million marks, and were so worthless that people used them to start fires in their stoves. I've read that during that period, people who went to restaurants would order, then pay for their food before the meal arrived because the price would sometimes rise.

 

[Averageman]

I have a few bills from that era that my in-laws neighbors gave me about 20 years ago. The notes range from 100,000 Marks - 2 million marks, and were so worthless that people used them to start fires in their stoves. I've read that during that period, people who went to restaurants would order, then pay for their food before the meal arrived because the price would sometimes rise.

Guys would get paid at work and give the money to their wives asap to buy food before the prices went up and prices went up sometimes several times a day.
Inflation run amok.
That's what happens when you print money willy nilly without concern for the end result, just like we are doing now.
Reparations, Student Loans, Covid Relief, it just goes on and on and the only likely conclusion is inflation. But keep those printing presses going!

 

[10Gauge]

now imagine a cashless society where the pace isn't slowed down by distribution and your assets can be frozen with a mouse click.

You could still barter, but you would be catapulted back to the 1800s with the ability to communicate since your ISP could shut your 'net down along with your smartphone. Even regular phones wouldn't escape the brr-err-Dd! "we're sorry.. the person you are trying to call is outside the quarantine zone. Please try again after your re-education."

 

[Averageman]

Dude, that's why I want to maximize my gardening and backyard space for food production.
We've reduced the ability of folks to get along, more than anything, they have food to hold over your head in order to gain compliance.
All it takes is blocking major Highways and controlling the amount of food passing through. What if New Jersey said you cannot pass in to New York, pull over we will empty your load here. This is "Executive Action" in order to punish noncompliance in New York.