Doom + Gloomers: What are you doing to prepare?

[rmark]

Pretty much stay the course - mobile home and land payed off a while back

But just in case

National Lampoon's Animal House Delta Tau Chi Deathmobile

I know where an old Lincoln rests in the weeds.

 

[rmark]

Although at current gas prices, I'd rather be Moped Max than Mad Max.

A moped with a hood scoop and a barbarian would make a great model.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I think thats where the shotgun comes in.

All the free gas you want.

 

[lawman]

The main issue with that scenario is if your neighbor wants your stockpile.

+1

 

[FIREd]

So basically live like most people did a couple of hundred years ago, before we invented the workplace hamster wheel and a brazillion dollars worth of electric, electronic and gas powered toys?

Yeah pretty much, nothing wrong with it though, but certainly not the lifestyle I would WANT if I could help it. That's why I called it plan Z... The situation would have to become so dire before I implement plan Z that living like most people did a couple of hundred years ago would sound pretty darn good!

But like I said, I am not a doom and gloomer. I am quite optimistic and confident that the current situation won't last and that I won't have to implement plan Z anytime soon. I haven't made any changes to our investment portfolio and I am currently buying lots of stocks, so no apocalyptic scenario on the horizon for me.

 

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

I've decided to go with the gyrocopter and boomerang wielding feral kid adoption option. By all accounts he was the only one living the good life in the soon to come 'pockyclypse.

 

[socca]

I'm working harder to produce something that I can actually sell someday. Previously, I was doing more basic research (long-term payoff) than product development (short- or medium-term payoff).

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I've decided to go with the gyrocopter and boomerang wielding feral kid adoption option. By all accounts he was the only one living the good life in the soon to come 'pockyclypse.

But he had really, really bad teeth.

 

[Nords]

This post is made partly in jest, but I am curious to know what those of you are doing who believe the current financial crisis is fundamentally different and that some really bad times are ahead.

You need the option "Will console myself with repetitive posts to E-R.org about how the sky really is falling and it really really is different this time. No really."

Because the doom & gloomers on this board don't seem to be doing anything constructive with their angst-- other than splattering it around for everyone to share. Heaven forbid this little short-term gut check should be used as an opportunity to set an asset allocation that they can actually sleep with, let alone live with.

 

[unclemick]

You need the option "Will console myself with repetitive posts to E-R.org about how the sky really is falling and it really really is different this time. No really."

Because the doom & gloomers on this board don't seem to be doing anything constructive with their angst-- other than splattering it around for everyone to share. Heaven forbid this little short-term gut check should be used as an opportunity to set an asset allocation that they can actually sleep with, let alone live with.

In the 1970's, I actually took this crap seriously - timberland which provided a future home for some stupid Spotted Owls, 10% of a non working gold mine too expensive to meet modern mining requirements.

I even had books! - from Mother Earth News and Rodale Press. Pretty good with a shotgun but could never properly marinate or learn to rotisserie clay pidgeons.

And then I moved to Psst-Wellesley.

Everyone here does realize it's so stone simple to weather a little rough patch like 1966-1982 that we we have to pontificate, crack some jokes, otherwise there would be nothing to post.

Right?

heh heh heh - Hey maybe for laughs we can repeat 2000-3. Or not?

 

[Nanita8140]

I don't consider myself a doom and gloomer but considering that I live in South Florida, I am always prepared for disaster....can food, flash lights, batteries, etc. In 2005 when Hurricane Wilma hit, we lived without electricity for three weeks.....we ate can food, barbequed, fought in the stores with people for water(LOL)...we bathed in my mom's swimming pool...to tell you the truth it was no big deal to me.
Sometimes when I read the news, or come here and read some of the threads I feel like I'm in the twilight zone because what I truly see out "in the real world" doesn't match what I read. In 2001, in Argentina "all hell broke loose".....if you get a chance, recently a documentary of the happenings of Argentina's "collapse" was posted on You Tube(it's posted I believe in twelve parts). Now that was a collapse!!!.....banks closed.....ALL banks.....people banging pots and pans in the streets yelling "WE want our money", people went and hounded politicians day and night at their residences, massive store lootings, police beating up people on the streets, people being kidnapped, food shortages, the president "escaped" via helicopter from "the casa Rosada"(Argentina's White House), there were a whole host of different currencies (different regions used different pesos), inflation skyrocketed, unemployment in the double digit, we had 5 presidents in the span period of I believe one month. I was here when it started, but when I heard from my family, I took off to buy a house. I have learned that it is during these times that you buy...some trains only come by once or if you are lucky twice in a life time. So, you better believe I'm not getting off of this train!! I don't see a collapse or nothing even close. Could it happen? Surely, and I will profit from it. I hate to tell people to stay the course because we are all different...what is right for me may not be right for my neighbor.

 

[unclemick]

Katrina - no more house, no insurance(over water).

Now 1000 miles inland on a hill in Missouri - tornado touched down a mile or so south while we were on vacation in New Orleans but mostly they stay in Kansas or at least 'the flatter land'.

also renewed my Passport.

heh heh heh - not to worry. Party on! You don't want to leave too much money on the table - I still believe you can't take it with you.

 

[Moemg]

I'm stocking up on the important things books & wine just in case !

 

[LRS]

I prefer deadfall traps and packs of savage hounds to guns. In a doomsday scenario, which this is not, we could fall back on our family farm and grow everything, including wheat and winegrapes. Lamb is the specialty meat in grown on farms around here, and I prefer it to eating rats or even canned dog food. If it weren't for the teenager and the kid in college, we'd be there now instead of ... the bad word.

 

[ladelfina]

Could it happen? Surely, and I will profit from it.

Nanita, I have read some other accounts of those who have had to go through the Argentinian collapse. Unfortunately guns and ammunition figure heavily.

What are your (financial) defenses and how do you structure, generally, your investments.. given all you have experienced (outside of buying your house -outright?-, which instinct I understand and share)..?

Are you willing to share what you see as the "profitable" position in such an extreme circumstance? Thanks in advance..

 

[Zoocat]

Here's a really interesting and contrarian article on survival in tough times by one of the most intelligent bloggers I read.
charles hugh smith-The Art of Survival, Taoism and the Warring States

 

[laurence]

One of my parent's houses is set on 8 acres in Colorado, up in the mountains with few neighbors. We have a Jeep 4x4 SUV. As long as we can get enough gas to get there, there is enough space to grow potatoes, plenty of deer for meat, and plenty of trees for firewood.


Alternately, DW's relatives own literally thousands of acres in Wisconsin, he's a lumberjack and they have about a dozen trout ponds, and deer everywhere as well. It is colder though...

 

[CitricAcid]

the president "escaped" via helicopter from "the casa Rosada"(Argentina's White House

Don't you mean Argentina's pink house?

In any case, not a doom-and-gloomer in the least and no change of plans.

 

[NW-Bound]

heh heh heh - not to worry. Party on! You don't want to leave too much money on the table - I still believe you can't take it with you.

In case a forum member plans to take it with him/her, it pays to allocate assets. Half in the attic, half in the basement.

A miser joke

 

[Dawg52]

I'm willing to go with the '73 falcon if you throw in a cool scruffy dog and a few cans of dog food.

Don't forget a few cans of beer.

 

[NW-Bound]

Forgot to add: I did not vote, because the way the poll reads, the prerequisite is that you must be a doom-and-gloomer.

In the late 80's or early 90's there was a period of economic downturn. The Berlin wall had come down, and the defense industrial sector was being downsized. If I recall correctly, that was also the time of the S&L meltdown. People were abandoning their house in California, which was also the location of many defense-sector companies.

With that as the backdrop, it would not be surprising that there were several books written on the impending depression. I personally knew of some people who liquidated their 401k and took a big tax hit to buy gold. Yes, physical gold, because there were no gold ETFs as they exist today. Then, gold went down from $500 to <$300 over the next decade. They missed out on the stock bull run of the 90's. Then, seeing that gold was going nowhere, they moved back to stocks, just as gold climbed to near $1000 where it is today.

How many cycles like that could you afford to mess up before your working life is over?

 

[Ultimate Cheapskate]

Gosh, no doom or gloom for the cheapskate.

I'm thinking/hoping that the current market corrections might prompt some long over due lifestyle corrections. Heard the other day that gas prices are causing more Americans to take public transportation, walk, or bicycle. Heard that soaring food costs are forcing Americans to eat less meat and processed foods. And heard that with the economic slow down, we're spending more time at home, with family.

God, I hate to think what's next: Obesity epidemic declines? Divorce rate drops? Honey bee populations replenish, signalling environmental turn around?

No end to the bad/good news, depending on your perspective.

Stay Cheap!
-Jeff Yeager
Author, The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches

 

[Running_Man]

So when one looks at the subsegment that calls themselves doom and gloomers 65 percent stay in stocks and 6 percent are getting out of stocks. Mmmmm I may have to rethink how low the market may go.......

 

[NW-Bound]

... then we would ... go live in my family's compound high up in the mountains on the Swiss/French border. Seventeen acres of fertile farmland, another 12 acres of forest, three houses (with only 1 occupied right now), enough land to feed all of us and enough wood to heat the houses for a lifetime. We have a stream filled with fish traveling across the compound, plenty of wildlife to hunt in the forest, and a massive rain collection system plus 2 springs that would provide adequate drinking water reserves. Also plenty of euros/swiss francs/USD in case any one of those currencies is still worth something.

I read in another post you said you planned to go back to Europe to retire. The environment sounds perfect to me, particularly the stream. People living their life on city water may not appreciate the availability of water.

We spent a week in Switzerland, which was way too short to really go into the countryside. From the train, I saw that the typical Swiss chalet was cute and very small. And many little villages have a communal vegetable garden, divided into small plots. The Swiss have no need for gyms. They get plenty of exercise the natural way, by working in their garden or hiking.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Don't forget a few cans of beer.

I figured with a shotgun and a testy dog, I can get all the beer...and pretty much anything else...that I want!