Recent events over the past year with regards to wide scale cyber attacks should have you worried. If they have not, perhaps you have a false sense of security.. Here’s just a couple of the top hacks that have hit the US:
9/3/14 – 2,200 Home Depot Stores Hacked -Credit card data breached
8/5/14 – Russian hackers obtain 1.2 billion internet user names and passwords
12/23/14 – All Target Stores credit and debit card information breached by cyber hackers
And according to Forbes; Ebay, The Montana Health Department, PF Changs, Evernote, and Dominos were all subject to major cyber hacking infiltrations.
Now, the average citizen is not all too concerned with these events because they are “insured” by their banks, the FDIC, or identity fraud insurance. They give us that nice, warm, cozy feeling that we don’t need to worry about anything and they have it all covered. Well, if you’re into the preparedness movement, it’s all about being self sufficient and not having to rely on others. And personally, I don’t want all my eggs (money) in one basket (banks).
Back in March, 2013 Chase customers saw their bank accounts drained to $0. Chase quickly covered their tracks and said it was a glitch in their system, but were they hacked as well? Could there be an instance of where you account gets hacked and your “digital money” is gone? Do you have full trust and assurance that the bank could reclaim all your losses? After all, you’re depending on a bank’s integrity that they have adequate digital backup systems or paper records. Personally, that’s A LOT of trust you are putting in a bank…also consider that the banking industry is one of the most corrupt entities of all time.
What to do?
It’s pretty simple really. Ask any investor and they will tell you to DIVERSIFY. When I talk about diversification, I’m not talking about stocks. Quite frankly, the stock market is so rigged and unstable at the moment that I would not even know how to tell you to invest. Instead, diversify by not keeping all your wealth in the form of digital notes / debit card.
- Keep enough funds in the bank to handle your every day life style plus 20% or so extra for overdraft protection.
- Get a fireproof safe, and bolt it down somewhere in your basement concrete. It doesn’t have to be a huge expensive gun safe because we are talking about holding cash. How much cash to hold? That is of personal choice, but some recommendations are 1-3 months worth of expenditures.
- While your digital bank cash and physical cash is very liquid and easy to use in trade, hold on to other forms of wealth such as gold or silver. While gold and silver are less “liquid” than cash, they have proven to hold their value over the long term. My favorite website to order from is JM Bullion.
- Lastly, invest in hard assets as you’re able to. It’s difficult to mentally wrap your mind around storing wealth in things other than currency, but its a smart thing to do. I’m talking about investing in physical items that are “unused” and will retain wealth. Some obvious examples are – collectibles, real estate, firearms, ammunition, etc. These are less liquid than the above three categories, but depending on how you invest, they can hold wealth better than the dollar.
If there is one thing to take away from this article, it is the fact that you should store some cash in a safe place in your possession. Whether it’s a cyber attack, a “bank bail-in”, EMP strike, or any other situation that would down the banking sector, you will need cash in the near term to survive.
Don’t end up like these people…
Cyprus Bank Bail-in Bank Runs March 2013
