This has been discussed many times on here. Kind of like beating a dead horse.
Precious metal ownership is an insurance policy for your money that can be held in your hand and traded for other hard assets or sold back at current value. Insurance for the value of money that would be saved and is losing value by the minute as more money is being printed.
It can be an investment also, as it has been going up in value lately.

An investment in precious metal would best be done through owning stock in mining companies, ETF's or royalty companies.
Some people buy realestate, collectables and things that is thought to appreciate and or retain value with time instead of.metals. The value of these things move up and down also. I would guess these people own both. Precious metals have proven themselves against failing currencies for thousands of years.

Green folding money is losing value at a steady rate but is good to have for them good one time deals as mentioned above. ( A dollar saved is a dollar earned )

Lead and brass is also more of an insurance policy rather than an investment. Need some of both or maybe a little of everything mentioned above.

My cash made money by me using it negotiating with the contractor. Banks / companies make money by using your cash thru interest or stock returns. Part is given back to you
Ok I invested my cash in each contractor businesses. My returns were amounts I listed. Did that meet the parameters of an investment? Lol Tomato tomatoe

I agree jbyrd63. Tried to state that by saying " A dollar saved is a dollar earned". I would.say.it would be classified as good business more than investment or insurance.

$420

Buy stamps
They go up every year, sometimes multiple times per year.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/price-postage-stamps-raised-soon-despite-recent-increase

Being frugal/discount shopping is different than investing,,,,

That’s not a negative,,,,they are just different

Edward jones likely wouldn’t hire you

While this debate has gone on as long as the forum has been alive, I'm not going to add anything other than when the time comes to change and liquidate your paper work to cash and bullion, it will be to late to do so, that being said !

How does one go about buying with bullion in gold and silver any way ?

One never hears how or see's any examples of doing so, do carry around a small scale to measure out a payment, how do you protect large amounts of bullion when the world dives off the cliff. One could surely smelt small bars or I guess pellets and weigh them into cute little baggies of cash, LOL, but then you have to stay in one area to do so, unless you have a way to carry smelting equipment around.

Please elaborate on this a bit or direct to a source on the subject

I would also imagine that doing this sort of outlay would invite a large amount of thievery, but settling that would probably be an easy thing for one or two, but what about gangs roaming around.

One other thing I see is that a lot of you are seemingly brave enough to expound on your totals kept at home or easily acquired, do you actually feel comfortable doing this on public forums, with people already moving around trying to access free materials ?

Those automatic checkouts don't have a silver or gold slot yet.

If hollywierd has taught us anything it is what is possible once the zombies and rouge government agents (same thing) come after you. Credit cards go dead. Debit cards go dead. Bank accounts drained. Try to use one and you pop up on the grid and they got you. That is when they turn against you individually, but same thing would happen in a general societal meltdown scenario. Nothing digital is going to work. No food, no fuel, no nothing. Barter or outright theft is the only thing working.

My advice is to have enough non-perishable food for 2 to 4 weeks and at min $1,000 cash on hand and in your home or stashed where you can get at it. And part of that can be held as generic Visa/MC cash cards as a lot of places won't even take cash. Limit size of those cash cards to $100 or so, in case you try to use it and the machine won't give it up. All your eggs not in one basket. Again, all part of a short term survival strategy for when that day comes when the droppings have hit the fan. And that is short term only. Long term, save the last bullet for yourself. Once you get down to the last bullet, you don't want stick around for what follows anyway.

As to the rest of it, there are formulas for how much to save over your lifetime to set yourself up for retirement. I suspect not 1 in 10 are even close to those goals.

You stole my jeans!

All you people who think you have lots of money in stock market investments will be broke at the click of a button.
When SHTF people with useful skills will be fine,people with useless skills will be screwed.

I remember what happened to Canadian truck drivers when they "crossed" the Queen...

I think different than most people here. Have no idea if I'm right...but it's just my opinion. I've worked in finance for 25 years, so there is a base for my opinions.

I've always felt that an "emergency fund" is less than necessary....if you have anything borrowed.[i][/i] Here's the why...

If you have $10,000 in an emergency fund, but have a $20,000 loan sitting out there...odds are quite high that the loan is costing you a higher percent interest than you are earning on your emergency fund. This is costing you money.

The great, great majority of people in the small-town bank that I work with have access to borrow money quickly if needed...this is their "defacto" emergency fund source. It is available yet costing you nothing until you borrow. In fact, you are making money, since you used most of your $10,000 emergency fund to pay down debt...instead of holding the money. Be careful of loans with too high of an origination fee; that limits the viability of this plan.

I've no issue with keeping a few thousand around, but I'm just not a huge fan of holding a bunch liquid.

I also don't mind using credit cards, as long as the balance is paid off monthly. This can be your emergency fund source...in waiting.

Let me know where I'm wrong, folks. I'm approaching 55 years old, but still learning about this stuff everyday.

With the premium when you buy and sell its not a growth investment more of a stable way to hold money against inflation.

And I'm upset because I can only put in 1112 hours a week.

I think you have answered your own question.

The things you hope to achieve are not mutually exclusive IMO. You can maximize them simultaneously. Many brokers pay a reasonable amount of interest on cash balances in a brokerage account. That money is still immediately available for securities purchases or withdrawal if you need it. Some also offer a debit card to use against that cash balance.

A money market account with check writing privileges would also meet most of your requirements and also be available for stock purchases if held at a family such as Vanguard or Fidelity.

I think the key line in your question is .........."the ability to turn it into cash".

I also agree with Husker above. Some reasonable amount of actual cash on hand is not a bad idea but make sure that any borrowed funds are not costing you more than you might be earning ...........unless that interest expense is tax deductible.

You don't need to have the cash stashed to be able to take advantage of someone who wants cash for a job or item to save. Lots of ways to get several K in short order to take advantage of those opportunities.

Bryce

I struggle with how much cash is a good idea to have on hand. $10,000 in a safe is worth less every single morning when you get up than it was the day before. And with this inflation, quite a bit less.

Yet if it's in the bank, it's not earning diddly in interest, and may be inaccessible when you need it the most.

Think I will go back to being a poor trapper and having to sell furs as I get them to pay the electric bill and rent. Life seemed a lot simpler back then.

The best thing you can do with money is to spend it,If you dont some gurrier down the road will when you tip over.
Other than that it is just arsewipe.

Here’s my thing with cash…you ever need it right then and you have it. AC goes out, got it. Poor soul going through a divorce and selling his gun collection for what one gun would cost…got it. Truck takes a dump…got that too. Cash on hand just lets me live a little more stress free.