Depression survivors concur that hard cash is what saved them in the depression. Specifically, COINS. They don't have to valuable coins, just coins. Like you said, if you can hire an employee for 50 cents an hour when the world economic system melts down, or you want to buy groceries for the week, US quarters would do the trick.
One other thought, you can get rolls of coins from the bank whenever it is convenient for you. You can also ask for mint rolls of coin which might have a bit more value if the world falls apart. Mint rolls come from the mint directly, and are not the same as rolls that the bank bundled.
Along with your survivalist foods, be sure to include toilet paper, and other necessities.
Lastly, you might consider paying your utilities one month ahead. That way if there is a meltdown, your grace period would be a lot longer than most peoples.
I agree that the greatest risk is losing one's jobs. If having 6 months of income stashed away seems formidable, these are all steps we can do.
If you are seriously convinced we are in a meltdown, be very careful what bills you pay and consciously choose not to pay some bills if you are down to your last 6 months of assets and no job in sight. This is particularly true for the over 50 crowd, where it will be harder to find work of any kind.
I agree about withdrawing money regularly from your 4x broker. If nothing else, take it from one broker and send it to another. You don't want ugly suprprises. Even if your accounts are very small.
Make a personal plan for 4x. For example, on a $3000 account using no less than 85% margin, I will make a daily goal of 1% a day (
microlots), keep my account close to leveraged at all times (personally I will not use a broker that does not allow free margin leveraging), and withdraw 25% of my monthly profits on the 15th of every month. If my margin drops below 85% I will close positions at a loss and/or immediately deposit funds from my emergency fund. By the way, DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY HOURS IT WILL TAKE YOUR BROKER TO CREDIT YOUR DEPOSIT INTO YOUR ACCOUNT AND MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR TRADING?
Closing trades at a loss is not so painful if it keeps you in the game. You can survive a couple of large hits a year if you are consistantly making 15%+ a month.
Hope this helps some members in the brotherhood/sisterhood of trades avoid some of the mistakes I have made.
Long live Forex for the Common Man
Kimbo
Depression Survivors -
10-24-2008, 10:18 PM
04-15-2009, 03:17 PM
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