PowerSwitch

The current instability of the markets is a bit concerning.

I have an increasing yearning to dash to the bank and withdraw a few grand to stash under my bed for a week or two.

Is this just plain silliness, or a wise move?

No I don't think you are! As me being one of the dimwits hereabouts I work purely by intuition. It rarely lets me down! I have already split my savings into 3 currencies and deposited them in 3 countries. Now I have started, albeit slowly, to start to purchase Gold (sovereigns). My guess is we have a little time yet, but not much!

I would agree that now may well be the time to withdraw savings, not so certain about keeping a lot of it in cash though, except perhaps in the very short term.
IMHO, spending the money on a stash of supplies as disscussed elswhere on these forums might be better than a lot of cash.
A moderate amount of cash could certainly be useful, but consider the risks of fire, flood and theft before keeping a lot.

For those who have a good stash of supplies, and a moderate amount of cash to hand, then I believe that gold coins should be considered.
Gold is less vulnerable than bank notes to thieves, flood, and fire, but great care should be taken to conceal it.

And unless disaster appears likely in the next day or two, dont forget to keep a little money in the bank, debit cards and cheques are very useful for ordering goods by phone or post.

Norm wrote:No I don't think you are! As me being one of the dimwits hereabouts I work purely by intuition. It rarely lets me down! I have already split my savings into 3 currencies and deposited them in 3 countries. Now I have started, albeit slowly, to start to purchase Gold (sovereigns). My guess is we have a little time yet, but not much!

How do you buy gold?

There's a lot to be said for intuition. I've had an intuition since long before I knew about Peak Oil that our civilisation was "winding down".

My family has it's savings split between two banks and three building societies. Hopefully they would all go belly-up on the same day...

RalphW wrote:My family has it's savings split between two banks and three building societies. Hopefully they would all go belly-up on the same day...

... but then what would you use to buy your food etc for the week or two it would take for a Mega Bail Out to be put in place?

RalphW wrote:My family has it's savings split between two banks and three building societies. Hopefully they would all go belly-up on the same day...

I presume thats a typo and that you meant "hopefully they would NOT all go belly up on the same day"

... I think he was saying that he was prepared to lose his savings as long as the mortgages disappeared too ...

Vortex wrote:... I think he was saying that he was prepared to lose his savings as long as the mortgages disappeared too ...

I think there is going to have to be some massive plan to allow people to keep their homes, otherwise the scale of what's happening will mean that most people in the country are homeless while the homes stand empty.

Ludwig wrote:I think there is going to have to be some massive plan to allow people to keep their homes, otherwise the scale of what's happening will mean that most people in the country are homeless while the homes stand empty.

Considering the general level of stupidity and desperate clinging to the "normality" narrative, I would not be the least surprised to see a lot of empty houses, a lot of homeless people, and a lot of newly recruited "government security staff" who keep everyone in line in exchange for a bowl of food and a mattress to sleep on. And everyone accepting it, unable to formulate any alternative way to do things.

My excursions in the world of "normality" give a very strong feeling that we will have to hit bottom before any significant number of people start to consider alternative views. And we have quite some way to sink before we start to see something like a bottom.

Ludwig wrote: How do you buy gold?

Start with Chards: http://www.taxfreegold.co.uk/

Would recommend buying Krugerrands:

http://www.taxfreegold.co.uk/krugerrandinfo.html

What is "savings"? Is it an obscure chemical element, like "Leisure" only heavier?

RenewableCandy wrote:What is "savings"? Is it an obscure chemical element, like "Leisure" only heavier?

No, it's what people like me who are old, in poor health, have had the forethought to provide for their own hard times ahead, have to worry about!

Norm wrote:

RenewableCandy wrote:What is "savings"? Is it an obscure chemical element, like "Leisure" only heavier?

No, it's what people like me who are old, in poor health, have had the forethought to provide for their own hard times ahead, have to worry about!

Are "savings" a little like "death" then?

MacG wrote:

Norm wrote:

RenewableCandy wrote:What is "savings"? Is it an obscure chemical element, like "Leisure" only heavier?

No, it's what people like me who are old, in poor health, have had the forethought to provide for their own hard times ahead, have to worry about!

Are "savings" a little like "death" then?

Or even "children" ?