My financial goals are usually pretty simple – increase amount of money in a particular account or fund by xx%. For 2022 my goal was to increase my emergency fund by 50%. I figured that might take me into the summer or late fall before I achieved that. But, 12000 rounds of .30-06 and .50 BMG later, I seem to have hit my goal 11 months early. Go me! So that frees up money I was allocating towards that goal to now be free to go to other things. Like what? Well, increase my HSA, gold, and silver stash by 50% also. And when that’s done, funnel every penny into getting that piece of land later this year. That’ll be the major accomplishment if I can pull that off.
If interest rates are indeed going up, then I am hoping that the real estate market will cool a bit and prices will come down to unreasonable from their current high of what-the-hell-are-you-thinking.
And, fortuitously, I got a raise at work so I can have a little more every paycheck to tuck away into things like gold and silver. I’d thought about keeping my emergency fund in gold to protect it from inflation but when you need your toilet back in working order right now, that is not the time to find out what plumber does and does not take 1/10 Eagles.
I know that financial stuff isn’t nearly a sexy and fun as gear-and-gun stuff. But…it’s gotta get done. Bunkers just don’t finance themselves. And 90% of the diasaters you and I are likely to face in the immediate future are resolved with fifty dollar bills rather than .50 BMG.
I cashed out a retirement account I inherited, as all my work ones I can’t touch for a number of years. Party to diversify and get $$ out of the stock market and partly a house that will really benefit me came on the market. Same size as my current place but not a duplex and has a full basement so ~3x the living space, or, more importantly, with that basement 10x the storage space. It was a foreclosure so it needs some work (all appliances, furnace, etc) but I got it for a good price and could pay cash. So two properties near each other fully paid for is a nice cushion.
I’ll fix the side of my duplex I’ve been living in and then rent it out once I get the new place fixed up. I just hope things don’t totally crash before the end of summer. Worst case scenario is I’ll have a winterized cold storage that I have to pay reduced taxes on (they think it froze up) and I’ll stay where I am for a while. Hopefully I’ll get everything fixed and new appliances during the big 4th of July sales.
I’m looking at a home equity loan for the work, mostly to get the current fixed low interest. If things go sideways I’ll be able to pay it but otherwise it will let me get things going sooner and I should still be able to pay it off by the end of summer (supper seasonal OT in my work, make more then double in the summer). I have the cash but I’d rather pay an extra 4% over a year and keep that money in reserve.
I actually decrease my emergency fund by 50% this year… well 50% cash, it was well more then 6 months reserves (and I keep near the same in savings) so I finally upped my AU as my silver is already getting near the “cant carry it all at once” range.
Haven’t gotten any really good deals like you did with that ammo (and if I didn’t just buy that house you would have gotten an email from me, can always use more -06) but with all the crap that’s been the last couple years I can’t really complain about my personal situation, just gives me a chance to stock up extra fro some friends and organize with some of them better.
Thanks for doing what you do, there is a lot of “yep, been doing that” but more then a little “oh… good I idea, need to check on that” that I find here, in the comments as well, so thanks to all of you as well.
I’m finding the financial side to be very interesting. I enjoy mostly silver and some gold. I decided to start a new collection, $100 bills. The goal being $10,000 as a 3-4 mo the emergency fund. Guns are fun, but I’ve had to sell some in the past during a financial emergency. Your wisdom of needing a $50 bill more likely than a 50cal spoke to me. Take care.
Living in Florida near the coast, rather than keep $100 bills, I keep a collection of $1, $5. $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills for my emergency funds. In the event of a hurricane, if the power is down, I suspect no one is going to make change.
One way of building the supply of these is to not spend them, I only spend $20 bills and put the others aside, bundling them into $100 stacks and then putting those in the safe, After gathering $10,000, I put any excess into a separate bank account for the more normal emergencies (AC, plumbing, car repair, extended family emergencies, etc.). What is amazing is how quickly you can save following this method, Kind of a way of fooling yourself into saving, but It works for me and a number of folks I have told about the concept.
I like that. I may give it a shot.
Take care
If you don’t focus and pull the trigger, that land purchase will forever remain an unfulfilled dream. Buy it.
Gotta have the money first, man.
Landowners are picky like that.
I’m in the same boat as you are myself, CZ.
Working hard to make it happen before everything goes pear-shaped.
I’m saying that since your preps are well advanced, you should position the land acquisition fund as primary. Every spare cent goes into it. That’s assuming you goal is reachable within two years. If necessary, consider financing the purchase. Otherwise someone else buys it and you keep searching, forever.
Im in no hurry to get back into debt. I think I can get the cash together by the end of the year. I think as interest rates go up, and people start having less money due to the economy, real estate prices will come down a tad and ‘motivated sellers’ will hit the market.
That’s probably true for your current property, but not likely for your future needs. Especially in the timeframe you want.
To me, being fully prepped means not being a debt slave as well..
Last year we paid off our modest 1600sf home, both autos, zero debt now except for house opex and my business opex, but my revenues covers it nicely..
Do have cash stashed and coinage, other supplies stashed and cached too..
Good for you mate…