Sunday, September 7, 2008

Avoiding Financial Crisis During a Disaster

During a disaster or crisis there will be a large number of people with little or no cash reserves. All of these people will be needing money. Many of these people will also have no food or water, since they plan to pick up whatever they need on their way out of town like everyone else. They will most likely be in for a rude awakening when their money isn’t available to them because the power may be out and their credit and debit cards will be useless. When having to bug-out due to a natural disaster or other emergency you will not want to be standing in line at the bank for your money or burning gas while waiting in line at the outside teller window. A little advance preparation will help you solve this problem.

During a natural disaster or emergency, even some of the major regional banks may not be able to access their deposit records which may severely limit access to your money. It may be a good idea to have a back-up bank account with a national bank. This way your money would be available anywhere they have a branch location. Keeping all your money in a single local bank or credit union where you may not be able to access your funds may not be your best choice. This option should be in addition to your back-up funds of cash on hand for emergency purposes. This will also enable you to avoid keeping excessively large amounts of cash on hand which could lead to a whole different set of problems.

If the disaster or emergency moves from being a short term event to a long term event your emergency stash of cash will disappear in a hurry! Don’t get caught without financial back-up!

Got cash? Got back-up?

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker

9 comments:

gott_cha said...

good advice.....never put all your eggs in one basket

Preparedwarrior said...

I am so happy that I never got into the ATM card thing. Don't have one and don't know how to use an ATM machine.

I am not new to crisis planning, but I think you have great advice on avoiding financial crisis. I wish everyone could get on the preparedness bandwagon- less worry about having to provide for the have-nots when SHTF.

Marie said...

I like the idea of having access to funds in a national bank so that you can access your money wherever you may be. In my family, when emergency funds are discussed, it has been suggested that if you are able to have cash on hand for emergency purposes, try to have it in small bills if possible. If there is an emergency, people may not be able (or may not want)to give you change. Thanks for the ideas on financial back-up!

Anonymous said...

Marie: I am not so thrilled with the so-called national banks. I have been merrily going down the road with Wachovia, only to find out this super duper national bank is in the top five the Federal Reserve is watching right now. Wachovia made some really bad mortgage investments and has had to scale back on its operations to stay financially fluid.

Ryan said...

Having cash is a good thing. Having the stuff you will need (food, water, fuel, etc) is good but even that doesn't remove the need for cash on hand.

Unknown said...

I finally learned how to log in so I post a remark or two - I really enyoy reading your posts - Keep up the good work.

Belwether

riverwalker said...

Thanks for all the great comments everyone. You need to do your homework first in order to choose a sound financial institution - there are still a few out there but even so I would use them as an alternative option to 1) A regular bank account in my local area and 2) cash on hand for emergencies.

Thanks.

RW

Staying Alive said...

I can't help but feel that money, even cash in hand, is necessarily the answer. I read one blog this morning that says a full scale depression is inevitable now. And that came from JWR. Being as how that is the case, I would maybe have the land tax money on hand, in hand, and the rest would go into TANGIBLES. If you haven't got a retreaat then you aren't going anywhere so get your food and do the best you can.

America has lived too long depending on money. A depression will weaken that addiction. And I may actually go to work making some of it today. But it is a puff of smoke, a mere wisp, in the future history of mankind.

Taxes and Tangibles. Water, food, guns and ammo, medical supplies, etc. You now the drill. But if you have property, do not forget the taxes. Or you won't have the property.

Michael

riverwalker said...

To Michael:

Thanks for the reminder! If you think the "tax man" isn't going to remember you ... think again! He's going to want his share regardless of your financial state.

RW

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