Imagine the shit hits the fan big time, your stock portfolio is essentially annihilated, there’s war expanding through a trifecta of conflics (Russia-Ukraine + Israel-Iran + China-Taiwan) and increasing risk of civil unrest right here in utopian Switzerland… what do you have as a plan to deal with that?
Here’s what I have sofar
As part of integration activities to eventually get a Swiss passport, purchased several pistols, a sub-machine gun and roughly ten thousands rounds of ammo
Acquired physical gold
Without going full ‘prepper’ mode, I’m going to explore getting a good radio with hand wound battery as well as some gear for cooking and storing water. Should probably also buy some fishing gear for the lake close by and a hunting rifle. I’m sure I’ve missed a few points.
I live in a fairly small town and up on a mountain so lots of neigbours looking out for each other.
There are several layers to it but basically, the key parts of my plan are:
have friends in various parts of the world that would be willing to welcome me;
have some amount of money in 10CHF notes in order to be able to reach the border;
have some amount of money in €5 notes to sustain me across the border;
keep my skillset sharp, which should help with making a living/dealing with harsh conditions;
keep in good enough physical form that walking/running are a legitimate way of transportation.
I’m not convinced in the use of having a store of weapons in a doomsday scenario. The scenarii I fathom where weapons would be useful involve them also being plentiful for a resourceful person. Tarp, warm and waterproof clothes/blankets, a few key tools, “non-perishable” food and a mean to purify/filter water could help.
Friends looking for each other are probably your best bet at getting some truly restful sleep and in a doomsday scenario, the well rested probably have an edge on others.
In case there is an electricity shortage, BTC is nothing worth. In the world wars, cigarettes were uses to trade stuff. Nowadays it could be water bottles.
Qell yeah, then we are really talking zombie apocalypse. Then you need a farm with water and food production and lots of weapons.
But seriously this is highly unlikely.
A war and asset seizures seems to be at least imaginable for me
Always wear a Rolex. Luxury brand which will always enable you to get a ride to the airport, etc. no matter where you are in the world when the environment becomes hostile.
If you want to go more low-key, a decent cross-bow is fairly affordable and does the job as well (fun for target shooting, you can hunt with it and inevitably there’s dual use capability for home defense).
The vast vast majority of us are. A cohesive society and solid diplomacy, and keeping every bad and good guy’s money under Matterhorn are one’s best bet. Nukes, aircraft carriers and cornfields are the other best bet.
Watch lots of zombie movies to learn what not to do and play the Fallout and Last Of Us games to know what to do instead.
On a more serious note: take really good care of your body and mind (nutrition, exercise etc.). Haven’t seen lots of heart transplants and chemo therapy in Mad Max.
Major Coolidge really hid that watch well, so shiny too
The 90s Yugoslav wars had some recent real-world examples of barter over longer period. Ammo, medicine (antibiotics etc) and cigaretes, followed by food and drinking water. If having the space in basement, quite some water in glass containers is always good, rotate regularly.
For the less doomsday situations, a banksafe nearby with some cash and documents, other things, in case of fire/theft/death are also a good idea. A ~30L safe isn’t too expensive.
Friend of mine went full preppy (not in CH) with 5k liter diesel tank in the earth, two generators, photovoltaic and 20kWh of batteries, gun ammo assembly machine thingy, 20kg of gunpowder etc. Prolonged power outages in his area make him apprehensive of keeping the light on. In a real situation though, he likely will get raided first by the neighbours Maybe that’s the learning, know someone who preps nearby and not waste resources yourself.
I think this covers quite a bit of scenarios where running away doesn’t help or is impossible (think general shortages).
Disappearing in a hidden bunker for some years probably helps all situations where others lose the means to systematically search for people like you (e.g., global famine due to blackout skies from nuclear war).
For where running is the better choice, I like:
If doomsday doesn’t kill nearly everyone, there will be an oversupply of human capital knocking at the doors of every safe place. This will reduce your ability to live from that. So how to hedge your bets?
Could be worth zero, but could be worth the same or more. Much easier to hide than gold. Not as established in bribing border guards, but they will learn if they can enrich themselves. Still have gold and cash (and Rolexes) too.
Something similar is the classical splitting of brokerages and assets into different jurisdictions. Maybe Ireland will be less affected and their funds still worth something. Maybe the USA manages to come out on top. Maybe there are acceptable brokerages and funds in Singapore, Australia, Brazil? Though it could take some time to get some money out for consumption. But once you get it out, I could imagine crypto being the most resilient means of global transportation.
Edit: Thinking about that, holding some cash on different crypto exchanges could be smart. Even if crypto drops, you can just convert it a the daily rate and instantly consume it wherever you are.
not expensive? Just checked, and cheapest i found was 75 CHF/year for 5L.
Maybe he will… unless he is quicker to put together his
Jokes aside, for me it doesn’t make sense to overprep. If you have a family or dependents that cannot run faster than average humans, then I see the advantage of some basic precautions like water supply, canned food, ~200.- in cash, and some gadgets that work without electricity (hand-powered flashlight etc.).
But weapons? In my eyes the risk/disadvantages (misuse) overweigh the perceived added safety here.
I forgot to mention that we also installed a solar system in our house. Not so much for the environment or to save money, but more to be less dependent on the grid.
Regarding weapons - we’re not talking Rambo style here. They and their ammo are locked in their own vault. Consider it insurance - it’s too late to get it once the s#Yr hits the fan.
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Maybe that’s the learning, know someone who preps nearby 
and not waste resources yourself.