Some signs of a financial crisis are many people losing their jobs, companies declaring bankruptcy, banks collapsing and so on. During times of uncertainty, you may find yourself out of a job.
The stores may run out of supplies as people panic and buy whatever they can get. You may find that trying to withdraw all your money out of the bank may not be as easy as you think.
When people lose confidence in the banking system, everyone will try and take out whatever money and valuables they have in their bank. If too many people do it, the bank will go on a run.
At times like these, the bank may even deny their customers’ requests, to maintain the bank’s standing. If it loses all the funds, it will collapse.
As a survivalist, if you’ve saved all your money in the bank for a survival situation, you’ll be stuck between a rock and a hard place if you can’t access your nest egg.
So, how do you prepare for this?
- Start early
For starters, you begin preparing early. You’ll need to make contingency plans to factor in what could possibly happen if there’s an economic collapse?
Do you have access to other funds? Where can you go? Is there a Plan B? By being prepared that’s half the battle won.
- Secure supplies
If you’re riding out the crisis at home, do you have supplies of food and water to last you 3 months. Generally, during an economic collapse, you’ll still have running water since the government will still be trying to get control of the situation.
Food and other supplies may be difficult to obtain. So, it’s imperative that you have enough food, medicine and other supplies to tide you through this period of economic upheaval.
- Stay silent
Do not tell your plans to others. Even if you’re well-prepared, act clueless like the rest. If people know that you have food, supplies, money, etc. they will come to you for handouts and expect you to give it to them out of humanitarian reasons.
Even if you barely have enough for yourself, you’ll be deemed selfish and unhelpful. The fact that you were preparing for years for such an event will slip everyone’s minds.
- Store as much as possible
When storing items, try and store as much of the necessities as possible. Any extras can be used to barter trade with others. During a recent natural disaster, it was shown on several social media sites how some people were trying to profiteer from the crisis.
People were selling bottled water for ridiculous prices. By having extra, you could quietly help those who really need the supplies. If you wanted, you could sell the items at a reasonable price.
Selling bottled water at $5 a bottle will be deemed reasonable because even cinemas charge an arm and a leg for popcorn and tidbits. People are accustomed to paying these prices.
They would willingly pay you the 5 dollars. Asking $30 a bottle, however, is going to annoy and anger others. Trying to make money off a crisis is distasteful to most people.
- Diversify your risk
Finally, don’t keep all your money in one bank and don’t keep all your supplies in one place. Split up your money and keep some in one bank, some in another and ALWAYS have cash at home for an emergency.
Keep it in a safe. In the event you need to evacuate, you can grab the cash you’ve stored and go. You’ll not need to look for a bank (which might be closed) and you won’t need to frantically search for a cash machine (which might have no money in it).
Keep these tips in mind and you’ll survive an economic crisis better than most. Being prepared is crucial.