Offgrid Organic Farmer
Full time employment: Posting here.
... DW and I are in the accumulation phase and I wonder if the doomsday scenarios I come up with in regards to cash reserves (or not having enough of them) are far greater than the reality of what can be done in a downturn (e.g. spend less, get a job, etc). Nothing is predictable, of course, but there is considerable wisdom on the other side where you and some of the folks on this site are at. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
'doomsday scenarios'
When I retired, we bought 150 acres of woodlot out in the woods and began building a farmhouse; where we raise pigs. We are vendors in a local Farmers Market barter honey, pork, fiddleheads, maple and assorted herbs. We are on solar-power, and we use firewood for heating and cooking.
My wife and I decided to focus on achieving this lifestyle as our goal, back when we were dating in 1980.
We associate with many other self-sufficient 'homesteader's and small-scale farmers, many of whom came here motivated to prep for various 'doomsday scenarios'.
At the time when I was forced onto pension, we were living in an expensive city and it would have been difficult to get by on my pension [if we were not living in an apartment complex that I already owned]. Since we moved rural we have been seeing our efforts toward self-sufficiency, to get a little better. Now living on a farm we do not need but maybe half of my pension income and we are doing really well with our Net Worth.