What will get a person through the coming crisis, 1) a mixture of hard assets (gold, silver, bitcoin, land), 2) a skill that people will pay for, 3) being part of a community, 4) physical and mental well-being, 5) generosity and charity toward others. All of that is familiar to most PP’ers by now.
VT wrote: “Seems to me anyone interested in understanding why a few of us keep saying what we do would have gone and done the research for themselves – if only to be able to refute our refutation of the claim. But no. So, so be it.”
That resonated with me, based on conversations I’ve had with friends. Either there is a total lack of curiosity and interest, or it’s “I spent 10 minutes reading an article about Bitcoin in the MSM, and I can tell you why you’re wrong about it…” ?
“our money” what a quaint idea. in the u.s. unless you are a shareholder in the federal reserve. it aint “your” money. the only our money today is bitcoin.
as for item #1 gold can and has been confiscated ditto silver. of course one only look at land records to see that it has been confiscated for various reasons. bitcoin cannot be confiscated. there are ways to protect yourself. https://thebitcoinmanual.com/articles/can-bitcoin-seized/
Keep Money In A Bank? Perish The Thought.
i emptied my money out of the bank in 08, except for a small convenient checking account, the cyprus banking crisis of 2013 was a real eyeopener . bitcoin went from around $50 to $250 almost overnight. keeping money in a bank when "they " can take it , freeze it or just about anything they wish is stupid. it has been stupid for a long time. real inflation is around 15% the average interest on savings accounts is .16. i really suck at math but i am pretty good at seeing how much money i have. if anyone thinks the cyprus, greek, italy, etc financial fiascos can’t happen here well …good luck
Good article. Thank you. The FUD is endless. But there are good answers out there, for anyone who genuinely wants to find them.
Ira Funds
Hi all!
This idea of being cautious about keeping too much currency in banks, is just another concern in a long and growing line of real problems. I could spend a lot of time basically reiterating all the various facets…and it is good that we do! (I used to concern myself with my daily, weekly and monthly “to do” lists. For over a decade now a new list has taken more and more of my time, a list filled with all the evil crap that eventually floats to the surface. I call it my “doo doo” list. And as you all know, flush and flush all you want, never truly goes away!)
So, to my reason for reaching out because I doo have limited space!
Being retired, I have a good chunk of my life wrapped up in IRAs. I’m not wealthy by any stretch, and a bank holiday/failure would be catastrophic. I moved the IRAs from the hands of the big players into smaller community banks. But if the system does what we all fear it may, what can we retired blue collars do to protect that nest egg!
I have some silver and gold,
even my son’s helped me get “slightly” into cryptocurrency, but if the control that the badguys seek is to have TOTAL control…then what?
We have other bases covered in the whole prep scenario, but I’ve a feeling that there’s LOTS of folks like us that seek to take the grip off of that which represents lifelong blood, sweat and tears!
Thoughts?
Chris,
Thanks for sharing this information.
I have also received this bank post email around 10 times, so you might have been hacked.
Thanks again.
How About Brokerage Accounts?
Does anyone know if these banking rules would apply to a TD-Ameritrade or a Schwab brokerage account
I received an email from PP admin saying they were on it. I haven’t received any more duplicate emails for the past 2 or 3 hours.
“[Bitcoin]…. can be deleted with a few key strokes”.
- No.
- If “real life” excludes the internet, the digital economy, and trillions of dollars' worth of financial instruments & financial markets, then sure. Whether you or I like it or not, slow-moving precious metals cannot be the base layer of a modern economy which increasingly operates on fast, expanding digital platforms.
How Do I Pick A New Bank?
I’ve known for a while that I need to get my money out of my current big bank, but I find I’ve been dragging my feet because I don’t know how to evaluate my other options.
Is there a set of criteria one should consider when choosing a bank that is likely to remain solvent through all of this? I hesitate to assume a local bank is financially stronger just by virtue of being local.
Word up. 
Hi VTGothic. Where is a good place to start investing in Bitcoin quickly and safely? I would like to diversify into it but not sure of the best approach. I have a hunch it will be the poster child for a safe
monetary system used to justify CBDCs. Grateful for any guidance.
No, we weren’t hacked. We had a glitch in our system. Pretty sure it’s been resolved. Let us know if not?
VTGothic is the one to ask, alright. So much has been written that it is sometimes hard to find a beginners “how to” instruction sheet.
As you invest a bit more, you continue to read. Confidence in this form of money grows. There are many objections and fears that will need to be encountered and thought through.
But you can get started now.
Here would be my getting started list.
- Go to coinbase.com and open an account. They will ask for your photo, drivers license, etc. 30 minutes. Good instruction at coinbase.
- Link you coinbase.com account to your checking account at your local bank. This gives the ability to transfer funds between your checking account (in $US) and and coinbase.com (in $US or BTC). Wait for 2-3 day. One coinbase.com account holds $US and another holds BTC--these accounts are called "wallets."
- Down load the Google Authenticator App to your cell phone.
- Make a $10 purchase of BTC on the coinbase,com website. First purchase can be made about 1 week after starting this process.
- Buy a Nano Ledger S on Amazon.com. This is a "hard wallet"
- Down load the 'LEDGER Live desktop" software program This is the manufacturers soft ware to run the wallet.
- Ledger Live has a tutorial for setting up the ledger. It is all kind of new and scary the first time...
- Plug the Ledger device into your desk top computer with the cable.
- The Ledger hard wallet will have you write down and SAVE 24 key words. Do this very very carefully and double check. Then make a backup copy and hide them well. (a safe?)
- Sign into coinbase.com and ledger live at the same time. On coinbase choose "SEND" bitcoin. On Ledger live choose "Receive BTC."
- The transfer of funds takes about 30 minutes.
- Now look at your Ledger Live software and see that the Ledger now holds that little bit of BTC.
- Look at your coinbase.com wallet, and see that the BTC is gone.
Joint Accounts
Chris, what is your reading about FDIC coverage on joint accounts. In the past each person got the 250k coverage.
I’m sure the total you mentioned taking savings, cds, etc is correct but if it’s all joint? How would that work?
That is very sound advice. Start with a few small purchases. And the hard wallet is essential.
Get gradually comfortable with purchasing, transferring, and storing your bitcoin, as sand-kitty described it.
And start learning ?. Listen to some podcast interviews of Michael Saylor. Read “The Bitcoin Standard” and “The Fiat Standard” by Saifedean Ammous. Familiarize yourself with the arguments of Bitcoin opponents and arrive at your own conclusions as to their validity.
There’s a small but knowledgeable BTC community here and they are glad to help.
Thank you for this explanation. I have a very small amount in Coinbase and have been baffled by the hard wallet thing. I still don’t understand how you actually pay someone using the hard wallet.
Paying someone from funds stored on your hard wallet.
I will use the Ledger Nano S (a hard wallet) and the software program that runs it Ledger Live in this example.
The situation: You want to send Bob (actually, Bob’s hard wallet) $10 worth of BTC.
- Plug your hard wallet into your computer with the cable. Ledger Live will have you do a couple of steps to confirm it is you (enter a PIN) as you login. The software guides you.
- You will need to know the "public key" of Bob's wallet. I call Bob on the phone and have him sign into HIS Ledger Live software and connect HIS Ledger Live to his computer with HIS cable.
- Bob choses "Receive Bitcoin" in HIS Ledger Live Software. On his screen he is given a QR code and a long string of letters and numbers--his "public key." That is the address to which the Bitcoin needs to be sent. This is a one-time address of Bob's Ledger. (It will change next time you send BTC to him) [Ignore the QR code]
- Bob copies and pastes that string (the public key) into his email program, and emails the string to you.
- You receive the string in your email. Copy it, and on you own computer, go to Ledger Live, choose "Send Bitcoin"
- Ledger Live asks you for the amount of bitcoin to send, and the address of the place you want to send it. [3 things must be right: The amount, the specific cryptocurrency--BTC in this case, and the public key to which you are sending it.]
- You paste Bob's "public key" in the field marked "Recipient" and the amount of BTC, and specify BTC. Double check everything. Once you hit send the BTC is forever gone and you can't retrieve it!
- Then you hit "send."
- Takes about 30 minutes to get to his Ledger.
What happens if there’s a nukular war which takes out the satellites and deep sea internet cables? It’s not like any deep sea explosions have happended recently.