Best way to store your wealth in the Coming Dark Times. - Seeking opinions.

[Overly Serious]

So I'm actually not a doomer - the lockdowns have a radically different cause to the usual recessions and this recession may even be a necessary adjustment - who knows? So I think there's a good chance the markets will bounce back faster than some think. But that said, it's alarming times according to some and I don't have much experience in the financial world being just a humble worker who's managed to save some money and doesn't want to see it gone.

So what's the best way to protect my money right now? Keep it in the bank? Buy physical gold and put it under my pillow? Put it in one of these "funds" I hear about? I've actually considered buying some gold for years but every time I came close I thought 'it's already reached a high, now is a bad time' and then it got higher. I'm not rich but no longer poor - I have low tens of thousands of £'s. I was inclined to just keep pumping any excess into paying off my mortgage as quickly as possible but with all this talk of recession I'm wondering if I should find some way to protect against runaway inflation.

I also have a friend who has more money than me and also has it simply sitting in a bank. In his case it might be enough to buy a small property, possibly abroad. So sort of asking for him as well. We are both quite risk averse, me a bit less so.

So in the scenario of an actual depression coming the West's way, how do you weather that?

 

[gurutu]

I've been considering buying gold too, and land. Fertile land with a small house.

 

[BingBong]

Put your gold in your ass. nobody will find it there.

 

[Marco Fucko]

The trouble with an economic depression is that every aspect of society is affected, so buying a property to rent out to a tenet is a flawed strategy if inflation and unemployment is on the rise. How will a renter give you money if they can't work? I suppose the government could issue a voucher program that might compensate you, but that's a maybe.

Investing in the market as a whole is a vote in the stability of your society at large. Warren Buffet's baseline wisdom is that we will not go through any significant social upheaval and that the investor won't chickenshit out and lose their money by pulling out like what happened to a lot of people in 08. If you're playing the market you're playing long: keep your money in there no matter what, and barring a revolution that dismantles or replaces the stock market your money is technically secure and growing.

Then there's gold, which I would argue is useless outside of preparing for a depression. If you invest in gold and you weather the depression you'll be able to effectively get your money back (or a significant return) and have had it saved from inflation by being tied up in a hard asset. However, there will be periods where gold's pricing goes up in the expecting of an incoming depression and goes down once everyone thinks they're in the clear, so much like the stock market you are partially at the mercy of what other people think.

So if you think depression is coming to the EU it would be wisest to buy gold, then stocks, and save property for when you won't be at risk of losing a huge investment because the people renting your property from you somehow can't pay. That's my thought process, anyway.

 

[Astro Galactic Megalul]

... in the balls.

 

[ddlloo]

Rare pepes.

 

[dirtydeanna96]

Amiibos, plush Pokemon, and Transformers.

 

[Boris Blank's glass eye]

Depends on what you're preparing for: gold is useless outside of an actual recession like 2008, as @Marco Fucko stated. If you're preparing for when the shit hits the fan, stock up on imperishable goods: coffee, booze, canned food, seeds, sugar, etc. And guns, too.

Amibos and plush Pokemon.

I doubt @Overly Serious is Kevin Gibes.

 

[DumbDude42]

if you are thinking about societal collapse, read this: https://www.silverdoctors.com/gold/...hellsurviving-a-full-shtf-collapse-in-bosnia/

if you are just thinking about ways to get your wealth through the recession without losing half of it to falling prices and inflation, that's difficult. you can try to put it into material goods (gold etc) but then you risk losing it if the gold price crashes.

personally, i'd put my money into stocks, preferably companies that have business models which are unaffected by the pandemic, or even benefit from it. you know, shit like amazon, microsoft, google, netflix, etc.

 

[Overly Serious]

I've been considering buying gold too, and land. Fertile land with a small house.

I want to protect the money I've saved up, not give up my job and become some subsistence farmer! I can't afford a second home though my friend could. Either way though we can only live in one place so property purchase would be for rental.

Put your gold in your ass. nobody will find it there.

Trent will.

The trouble with an economic depression is that every aspect of society is affected, so buying a property to rent out to a tenet is a flawed strategy if inflation and unemployment is on the rise. How will a renter give you money if they can't work? I suppose the government could issue a voucher program that might compensate you, but that's a maybe.

Investing in the market as a whole is a vote in the stability of your society at large. Warren Buffet's baseline wisdom is that we will not go through any significant social upheaval and that the investor won't chickenshit out and lose their money by pulling out like what happened to a lot of people in 08. If you're playing the market you're playing long: keep your money in there no matter what, and barring a revolution that dismantles or replaces the stock market your money is technically secure and growing.

Then there's gold, which I would argue is useless outside of preparing for a depression. If you invest in gold and you weather the depression you'll be able to effectively get your money back (or a significant return) and have had it saved from inflation by being tied up in a hard asset. However, there will be periods where gold's pricing goes up in the expecting of an incoming depression and goes down once everyone thinks they're in the clear, so much like the stock market you are partially at the mercy of what other people think.

So if you think depression is coming to the EU it would be wisest to buy gold, then stocks, and save property for when you won't be at risk of losing a huge investment because the people renting your property from you somehow can't pay. That's my thought process, anyway.

A lot of this seems predicated on the idea that we'd have to borrow in order to buy. Whilst yes my friend might not be making much from the property during a depression, he'd presumably have a store of value as he can afford to buy it outright. I don't have nearly enough to buy a rentable property though so that's not an option for me. Would now be a terrible time to buy gold? And how do people store it? In a safe in their house?

Depends on what you're preparing for: gold is useless outside of an actual recession like 2008, as @Marco Fucko stated. If you're preparing for when the shit hits the fan, stock up on imperishable goods: coffee, booze, canned food, seeds, sugar, etc. And guns, too.

I'm not preparing for the collapse of civilization as (a) that's already happened looking at the trans threads; and (b) you can't prepare for that in the UK. Not in a meaningful way. They'll arrest you if you buy guns, there's nowhere "off grid" you could move to. Mad Max scenario you're basically on the same playing field as everyone else. I'm talking about preparing for depression level stuff - runaway inflation, high unemployment, people voting Labour, that sort of scenario. It's not about running out of coffee, it's about having worked for years to save up a bit of money and seeing that wiped away by a wave of the invisible hand. I'm already worried about how much the government has borrowed to pay for furloughed workers and business support. Money that will either have to be paid back (paid for by taxpayers) or solved through some radical and horrifying default or similar.

I doubt @Overly Serious is Kevin Gibes.

I already said I had a friend in the opening post. So clearly I am not.

personally, i'd put my money into stocks, preferably companies that have business models which are unaffected by the pandemic, or even benefit from it. you know, shit like amazon, microsoft, google, netflix, etc.

Should I do that via some kind of managed fund or should I just find some broker service, look up the trading names of big name companies and buy stock through it? I know my bank has an investment ISA scheme that both has direct buying of stock and funds. So presumably that would be the approach. I'm not looking for immediate and wild returns. I just want reasonable assurance that the money I have to save right now will be there and have kept pace with inflation five or eight years from now.

Also, does it make sense to be saving when I have a mortgage or is it best to just pay that off asap? In general terms. Mortgage rates are low at the moment and I'm on a good deal. What have other people done with that?

 

[TaimuRadiu]

I'm going to doom at you.

First, what actually matters? Can't eat gold. You're going to need to need food. If you can get it, storeable food. You used to be able to get it in the beforetime. You can't get storeable food? Get a food dehydrator and learn how to can. Get seeds so you can grow food. Get tools so you can more efficiently grow food. You can grow a lot of food in your yard if you only tried.

You'll need water more than food. Get a good water filter that can process about a gallon at a time.

You'll still need cash. Somali niggers are still using their "shilling" after all this time. USD will still be used even if $100 will just buy you a bullet.

Oh, get a good handgun, a good shotgun, and a good rifle, and make sure you have ammo for them. Learn how to make your own ammo. Learn how to handload.

edit: Oh, you're in the UK. Disregard all this I suck cocks, just get crypto so you can import dildoes from the USA

 

[DumbDude42]

Also, does it make sense to be saving when I have a mortgage or is it best to just pay that off asap? In general terms. Mortgage rates are low at the moment and I'm on a good deal.

will the returns you get from saving/investing the money be bigger than the interest you pay on the mortgage? if yes, then invest. if no, then pay off the mortgage ASAP

generally in 99% of cases the mortgage interest rate will be significantly higher than any returns you could realistically get from investing the money, so generally i'd say pay off the mortgage before even thinking about investment stuff

 

[TaimuRadiu]

I'm no econ major, but after deep diving PM/Fiat information I have come to certain conclusions.

1. Fiat currency is literal monopoly "money", not backed by anything Real or Tangible, is Debt based, and Debt is Slavery.
2. America was fucked when Nixon took the nation off the Gold standard (many would argue we were fucked even earlier). Slave nation.
3. Corrupt Governments throughout history have always, without fail, printed their currencies to death during times of crisis.
4. The FED has printed countless amounts of Fiat already, continues to print, and will print more. True hyper-inflation is ongoing right now.
5. Hyper-inflation turns you into Weimar Germany or Zimbabwe eventually.

USD is backed by petro. We'll never actually be in danger of defaulting.

 

[Overly Serious]

USD is backed by petro. We'll never actually be in danger of defaulting.

Eh, the USA invaded Iraq to prevent it selling oil in Euros. It destroyed Libya in part because of that. It's put as much pressure as it dares on Germany not to co-operate with Russia on the Nordstream2 oil pipeline. Whilst the USA has so managed to blow up anyone who credibly threatens its control over oil, that can't last forever.

 

[Thumb Butler]

What wealth?

To answer your question, give some to me - please.

 

[Overly Serious]

What wealth?

To answer your question, give some to me - please.

Well I have a mortgage that is several times the amount of savings I have. So I am actually in debt. Would you like some debt?

Although technically you did say wealth, not money. I have some used computer parts and a couple of boardgames you could maybe have.

 

[Thumb Butler]

Well I have a mortgage that is several times the amount of savings I have. So I am actually in debt. Would you like some debt?

Although technically you did say wealth, not money. I have some used computer parts and a couple of boardgames you could maybe have.

I think I'll pass.

I did not mean to shit up your thread, so my real answer would be to avoid speculating abroad right now.

 

[gurutu]

I want to protect the money I've saved up, not give up my job and become some subsistence farmer! I can't afford a second home though my friend could. Either way though we can only live in one place so property purchase would be for rental.

It depends on your country, I guess. In my country there are rural properties with fertile land at ridiculously low prices, cheaper than a new car. Quite affordable as no one wants property in an almost abandoned village in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Marco Fucko]

A lot of this seems predicated on the idea that we'd have to borrow in order to buy. Whilst yes my friend might not be making much from the property during a depression, he'd presumably have a store of value as he can afford to buy it outright. I don't have nearly enough to buy a rentable property though so that's not an option for me. Would now be a terrible time to buy gold? And how do people store it? In a safe in their house?

A lot of capital investment is based on credit, but basically everything I listed is within your reach. Stocks and Gold don't require loans to start. I'm not invested in gold so I don't know what to tell you about the storage, but the initial scare for buying is probably over.

As to your friend buying property outright that's definitely preferable over buying on a loan. If they don't have an issue soaking up tax and maintenance with no return while finding a tenet or, in the case of your desire to prepare for a depression, potentially having an inactive tenet, then by all means.

Call me complacent but I just can't see actual depression hitting from a virus that hits an extreme minority of the pop, kills even fewer, and over here in America at least is already being worked around to keep the economy active.

 

[Get_your_kicks_with_30-06]

Guns.
They usually can only go up in value (as long as you don't beat the shit out of it).
Also, if things get really rough it can protect and feed you.

A win win if you ask me