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Economically, how can concerned Americans prepare for the worst? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I do not want this to be a political debate nor an opportunity to post recent headlines. However, in my opinion, this administration seems to be taking actions which history suggests may lead towards a near or total economic collapse. Whether you agree with this or not is irrelevant.

This post’s question is: If one were to have a concern that they’d no longer be able to afford common household goods or that mainstream (S&P, Nasdaq) financial investments were no longer sound, what can one do to prepare for “the worst”? What actions could someone take today to minimize economic hardship in the future?

I would also like thoughtful insight from older adults to offer younger adults about how they should be better preparing themselves for an uncertain future, outside of current events or place of residence.

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[–] ultranaut 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That might potentially work if you timed it exactly right but I'm skeptical of the idea of gold as a store of value, I think it will get hammered like every other asset class if we're talking about the end of the US as a liberal democracy governed by the rule of law. Especially if you have actual physical gold you need to keep secured, if things get bad enough that becomes a real liability. If its not physical gold will it still be there without the US legal system to enforce your rights? I would much rather have a pile of freeze dried food than a pile of gold or a pile of GLD ETF shares if it's actually a worse case scenario.

[–] andrewta 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Think of what a bar of gold is worth. 1,000,000. That's 25 pounds.

I don't have that much money so for me the weight would be significantly less. That would be super easy to conceal and head some where safe. If the US fell the gold can be converted to any currency. Even if it took a year or two for another country to pick up and be a stable place to go, the gold would still be good.

So that makes gold a solid place to store the value. Go back hundreds of years people still wanted gold. Hundreds of years from now people will probably still want gold.

If it's a serious crash but the US dollar comes back. Gold will still be a good solid place to store the value. If the US changes from dollar to something else, then gold still works.

The only question is timing the market, but to me still not a big deal since generally safe gold goes up in value.

1990 price was $383 an ounce in 2023 it was $1943 an ounce. I'd say do the math to those that doubt. And yeah timing is tough. But even if the US doesn't fail gold goes up in price generally speaking