All I want to know is...

[SaraBeth]

What signs should I be watching for to allow me to get to the bank and get our money out just before TSHTF?  Just a very simple set of warning signs will do...I am not a financial wiz kid...basics are what I need to know. We have very limited funds...  we will need ALL of it to survive...

And yes, I have been investing in silver coins... but I have to keep money in the bank in order to pay the bills...and we have direct deposit for all money coming in.

[rat boy]

What signs should I be watching for to allow me to get to the bank and get our money out just before TSHTF?  Just a very simple set of warning signs will do...I am not a financial wiz kid...basics are what I need to know. We have very limited funds...  we will need ALL of it to survive...

And yes, I have been investing in silver coins... but I have to keep money in the bank in order to pay the bills...and we have direct deposit for all money coming in.

This is my sign
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/17/news/companies/merrill_earnings/index.htm?postversion=2008011707

[BlueOwl]

My situation is great.  I have most of my savings in a high-interest earning on-line savings account.  I get 4.5-5% interest instead of the 0.75% or so my local bank offers.  The downside?  3 days to x-fer money from the on-line bank to my local bank.  So I need warning signs 3+ days in advance.  Lovely.

And yet...if TS does not HTF anytime soon I really don't want to keep it at the local bank which is so close to putting it under the mattress it's not worth it.  With inflation running 5-10% I can't afford to loose* money every month by simply possessing it.

[SaraBeth]

This is my sign
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/17/news/companies/merrill_earnings/index.htm?postversion=2008011707

And this is helpful, how?

[SaraBeth]

My situation is great. 

I'm happy for you.  Mine isn't. I am really looking for some help...   

[Jofiga]

I don't know of a good warning sign, but some good advice is to keep a stash of cash in a firesafe box in your house.  I keep $500 in cash at all times.  I know its not alot, but its enough to get some last minute supplies if the bank decides to put a hault on all accounts.  You could always store more than that.

[Jofiga]

Acually, you might as well just keep enough in your account to pay the bills,  take everything else out in cash and store it away,  why not? all you will be losing is your 1% intrest.  Thats a sacrifice i'm willing to make

[Chesire]

With the price of wheat  and other food items going up . I made 110 % last year on the extra flour I bought . Screw the bank and its shitty interest rate.

[rdenner]

How much are you talking about.

several thousand?? Or Tens of Thousands.??

If it the former, I'd at least keep 1k or so in the house. I think unfourtunately there won't be any clear warning signs(other than the thousands around you already).

The final act will come swiftly and without any more warning than you are already recieving..

If it the later. I'd take the money now and put it to better use. Pay off debt, buy something solid of longer lasting value(that you can convert back to dollars if we are all crazy and everything does work out).

I think keeping 10's of thousands of dollars in the banks right now is playing chicken with the unknown. Use it or lose it, is the place I'm playing from right now.

See my post about living 2 months at a time back in June/July 07 for some ideas.

Robert

[oklahoma89]

There is a big problem.  A bank only hold 10% of deposits as cash in the vault.  YOU MONEY ON DEPOSIT IS USED FOR LOANS.  LOANS HAVE BEEN THE PROBLEM LATELY. So if even 15% of deposit holders demanded cashing out, some would be left w/o.
if a bank goes insolvent.  FDIC would kick in, and in a mass exodus...FDIC would go insolvent...ENDGAME 1.0

[prepbuff]

If it the former, I'd at least keep 1k or so in the house. I think unfourtunately there won't be any clear warning signs(other than the thousands around you already).

The final act will come swiftly and without any more warning than you are already recieving..

If it the later. I'd take the money now and put it to better use. Pay off debt, buy something solid of longer lasting value(that you can convert back to dollars if we are all crazy and everything does work out).

I think keeping 10's of thousands of dollars in the banks right now is playing chicken with the unknown. Use it or lose it, is the place I'm playing from right now.

(several snips removed)


This has been our exact plan.  Unless you are psychic, the odds of timing the turning point are slim.  If you OWN stuff and have it WITH YOU, it's yours.  If all you have are some stranger's promises (and they don't even have a physical building to egg), you don't really have anything, do you?

Keep enough cash on hand to pay the bills, or put it in the account if you need to pay online/debit card.  The rest, pay off debt, or buy land or stuff.   I wouldn't trust anybody in the financial business these days. Period.   

[tacoma_for_life]

My situation is great. 

I'm happy for you.  Mine isn't. I am really looking for some help...   

Sarah - im in the exact same position (i think) you are in, I have limited resources (income/savings) and I am just trying to get solid answers as to when I should be moving from day to day normal living to emergency living mode.  I dont think we are there just yet.  Alot of the folks on these boards are highly educated in the finance sector so they see very detailed indicators that show them problems down the road but with no time table.  never never beiieve anyones time factor as to when anything will happen.  there are many reasons for that - one is rules do notapply in the current financial situation we are in as a country and as a global economy.  as individuals we are literally at the mercy of those in the reserves and the IMF to keep blowing more hot air in the bubble.  everyone who is in the know is just waiting on that bubble to burst its allready shown signs ( which is what you are asking for) that a bust is iminent but what will be the straw that does it , is anyones guess.  

Practical non-financial Signs -  (1)  When you see a halt in trading in anyone of the markets (2)  when you see politicians especially Fed Reserve chairman/president/senators litarally warn/communicate to the public we will experience challenging times and go into their spill that we are a strong nation and we will get through it.  (3)  if you lose your job because your employer can not afford you and in this case you should see others in your job leave with you with same reasons (4) when basic food items start to cost more than you are willing to pay for them and you actually start to have an empty refrigerator.  (5) price of gas if it shoots up over $3 depending on where you live, if it shoots up half a dollar over two day period then - TSHTF - now this is not a free fall crash.  this is only the next phase in the crash.  most of us will survive this phase, the one after it is alot more destructive to us all as a society because thats where we as a 'society' begin to conflict between the haves/have nots and first thing is govt protects the haves from the have nots and in doing so oppresses them until the point of no return.  the moment you oppress the people in need, you lost your credibility to rule the people.  and in my opinion at that point things begin to fracture as a nation.  very laymans terms of what to expect.
JMHO
Tacoma

[tacoma_for_life]

My situation is great. 

If you think your situation is great - then you have no real grasp as to what dark era we are walking into,  the only person who can make such a statement is maybe ~ maybe a farmer whose farm is self-sufficient /organic and not in the alley way of global warming (drought/desert/floods etc).

JMHO
Tacoma

[tacoma_for_life]

Sorry for the triple post everyone but after I posted her i browsed over to CNN and i think everyone needs to log this as a TSHTF sign

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/17/news/economy/fed_bernanke/index.htm?cnn=yes

this is one of them i described in my earlier post - Sarah\


JMHO
Tacoma

[vaporiser]

The final act will come swiftly and without any more warning than you are already recieving..

Robert

I don't believe that you'll get a reliable warning sign like: in three days all banks will be closed.
When the mainstream media reports something similar its already to late.

convert the money to stockings while you still can, dont keep it as numbers on an account or as paper.
don't wait with converting: prices will go upwards only.