Question for those of you who prepared for this financial crisis long ago.

[Mike03]

How do you feel today?

Relieved?

Vindicated?

Nervous?

I am still as nervous as I was five or six years ago when I began to sweat over the collapse of the dollar, the ascent of petroleum, hard assets such as gold, paladium, timber, steel, soybeans, wheat, and so forth.

For how long a period are you prepared to hunker down or go underground?

What is your worst case scenario for the coming two or three years?

Do you feel prepared?

Or is no amount of preparation enough?

[kikiek]

1. Been talking about it for years, What can we do? Will we lose our homes if the dollar collapses?

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Phase two is coming and it is going to take all by shock

Mike... phase two is disaster capitalism. This is not a disaster for them, but an opportunity to destroy the new deal and return the country to the 1800s.

Yes, what is coming will make the last seven years look like a walk in the proverbial park and if anybody expects a new deal... if McCain wins, forget it. Hell I have my doubts about the Dems at this point.

And vindicated? No

Relieved, no

What is coming will make what has come look mild

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. slightly vindicated, but not at all relieved.

I would have much rather been wrong. :(

[melody]

4. Having lived through the 70s when my father and his friends all "prepared for the end"

I have my doubts it's ever going to be as bad as the alarmists say it is.

That said, there is a faction of our government (BushCo) that wants to destroy everything FDR put in place.
But they aren't the only people in charge -- shortly, they won't even be the main people.

And yes, I paid off all my bills and house, saved money and grains, and otherwise prepared. But I doubt
the nightmare scenarios will come true.

[Quakerfriend]

5. Funny, you should ask Mike03... I actually feel a bit drained

by it all.

Three years ago I began 'begging' my husband to make the necessary changes with our finances etc. to prepare for this. We debated and haggled about what to do.

Well, to make a long story short we are now pretty much where we need to be. Of course, had we done things a bit sooner we would be in an even better position.

Long story short we are in as good a position as we could possibly be.

My husband said to me the other day, "well, You have been 100% spot on"- with respect to the real estate market, the falling dollar, skyrocketing wheat prices etc.

And, I HAVE DU TO THANK FOR THAT !!:toast:

I live close enough to walk to work and my husband works from home, so we are very thankful for that.

Despite this, I admit that I am still very nervous. I fear an increase in violent crime. I worry about my teenage boys...the possibility of an upcoming draft, lack of adequate food.

We are very knowledgeable re: building/fixing things, growing our own food, natural medicine, keeping chickens etc. And, we hope that this will be of help. Right now we have only a six month supply on hand- Not enough storage space!

I don't know anyone else who is getting prepared for anything though....

.:eyes: A friend of mine did mention that a friend of hers was taking all of her $$ out of the bank. I would love to hear about what others are doing.

[Mike03]

6. There's no pleasure or comfort at all in my life/situation

It's in bad taste to respond to one's own post, but all those years of prep, anticipation, hording, etc... They may help, in the final analysis, but this worry has also made me a nervous wreck like I can barely even describe here.

So... trust your intuition, common sense and intellect to navigate the treacherous waters ahead.

Good luck, my dear friends.

[selador]

7. GOOD, very good

there is always money to be made in the markets

everything that ticks up is making somebody money who is long, and everything that ticks down makes somebody money who is short.

i feel very prepared, but then i spend 6 frigging hours a day starting at a bunch of monitors, and managing trades and investments.

the general hint i have for retail traders and investors is THIS.

be a contrarian. the time to LOVE gold was 1998-2001 . not now. sure, it could go higher . but when EVERYBODY is talking about an asset class, the move is probably close to over - think real estate a year or two ago. think tech stocks in 1999-2000

etc. etc.

there is some immense value out there in the markets, and the MORE panic you see, the more opportunity that is for assets to get mispriced due to panic, capitulation and forced hedge fund selling (hundreds of hedge funds get wiped out per year)

for example, it wasn't long ago that you could buy oil FORTY DOLLARS cheaper than it is now. either through USO ETF, options, or futures.

and people DIDN'T like it because it had sold off

NOW in hindsight, people are kicking themself. never fails

yes, i feel vindicated. i can't (fully) credit myself because i am a massive jimmy rodgers fan and he called the commodities boom YEARS ago.

there is no reason to "hunker down" or "go underground". there are ALWAYS great trades (if yer into that) or great investments (longer term) evrey single day.

personally, i would LOVE a panic selloff of another 1-2 k in the dow.

realistically, as i posted in my other post, nearly every contrarian indicator points to (at least) a bear market rally soon . and bear market rallies are the sharpest ones there are.

the key is to manage risk, diversify, stop listening to talking head morons, do your own research, and if you trade - take your stops diligently

i feel great. made about 12 trades today. the more emotion is in the market - panic or euphoria, the easier opportunities present themselves, because with emotion comes mispricing of assets.

it really is that simple.

there has NEVER been greater opportunity for individual investors to have access to diverse asset classes, indexes, etc.

never have commissions been lower. or spreads.

for those just in it for a long haul, dollar cost averaging into mutual funds or index funds, remember there has NEVER been a 20 yr period in history (even including the great depression) where this was not a successful strategy.

otoh, if you are more active, there are a myriad of screening devices and information available that has never been greater.

filter out the hype and the morons.

and take advantage of opportunity

[Xenotime]

8. How were people to know?

How is it everyone got this "wisdom" that nobody else did?

[pitohui]

10. and even if they did know...

one thing i learned from hurricane katrina is that in the event of a disaster there is no guarantee that you will be able to get to your stockpiles of supplies or that they will be in any condition that they can be used

if i'd replaced my grain stockpiles from the y2k bust, i'd be out a lot of money for some soggy bags of non-edible grain for example

the trouble is, there is only so much you can do to "prepare" and stockpile -- and having stuff stockpiled also exposes it to hazard, how many floods, how many fires, have occurred between now and the first time we were warned that it might be "the last train out" for the economy in the early 1980s?

i don't know if people who live in fear really come out ahead in the end -- people who stockpiled gold in 1980 have waited an awfully time to break even (they are not ahead yet in real dollars because of inflation)

as for "going underground" not sure why anyone would do that who has not broken the law

[slampoet]

9. I love America too much to feel good about being right.

Darn i wish spell check was on the title line too.

[girl gone mad]

11. Still concerned.

I've been talking to my husband about it for years now and I think he just tuned me out, but lately he pays more attention. Even though we hedged as much as we could, I still don't feel secure.

Worst case scenarion? 10%-20% unemployment, high crime rates, some gas and food shortages, a lot more homelessness and poverty.

We bought a cheap house on land in a rural area. We can grow food and raise a few chickens and goats if it becomes necessary. I wish we didn't have any dollars at all, but at the same time I don't see other currencies or gold holding up long term.

[dysfunctional press]

12. what happens, happens...i'll take it as it comes.

but you seem to have a hard-on in anticipation.

house and cars- paid for.
NO credit card debt.
monthly social security will mostly cover expenses.

bring. it. on.