Creating a dual-purpose preparation plan can make prepping activities more effective and cost less in the long run.
Being prepared is more than just storing enough food, water and other supplies. Having a plan for any eventuality, as best you can, is also key to being prepared and feeling secure. That includes mentally thinking through all the different scenarios that might present themselves, and devising ways you can eliminate or at least reduce the risks associated with those threats. But, what if the threats you have prepared for don't happen in your lifetime, what then? Did you prepare for nothing? Is all that time, energy and money wasted?
Ideally, since nobody really knows what the future holds and which threats are likely to play out, having a "dual-purpose" preparation strategy can reduce the overall cost of preparation and help reduce stress levels.
An example would be dual-purpose financial preparedness. Many believe that runaway inflation is just around the corner, due to an unprecedented expansion of the money supply after the 2008 housing market collapse. One way to prepare for price inflation (higher prices for goods and services) is to have a hedge against the dropping value of the dollar.
One such hedge might be buying actual (not paper) precious metals, like gold or silver. Another might be obtaining and storing some crypto-currencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, if you believe they are here to stay and will become useful in the future, thereby retaining their value.
In the event the value of the dollar dropped rapidly (hyperinflation) or collapsed entirely where nobody wanted to hold dollars, you could potentially use either the precious metals or the crypto-currency to trade for your necessities. Of course, the places you would be trading with would have to also value and accept those alternative currencies, in order for them to be useful as a hedge against inflation. At the moment, crypto-currencies like Bitcoin do not enjoy wide acceptance, and regulators are still trying to decide how they want to classify them and tax them.
So a dual-purpose strategy would be one where we invest in things that are useful or valued in a SHTF scenario, but also are likely to be valuable if the stuff doesn't hit the fan. An example of a financial hedge, would be to invest in a mix of stocks that target high tech companies, perhaps in an ETF or maybe even in an emerging market. The high tech investment would increase in value (potentially) as high-tech products came to market, and we would benefit financially from that appreciation. That could help offset some of the cost of purchasing supplies, for example.
Incidentally, silver is believed to be in short supply and is likely to be in high demand as the world moves toward solar power. Silver is also used in many electronic components, and so it might be an ideal dual-purpose hedge on it's own, if you don't mind storing it. Again, invest only in the actual physical metal itself, as the paper investments are rumored to be over-sold.
A dual-use preparation strategy is essentially adopting a mindset that if this (insert calamity here) happens, we are prepared, but if it doesn't happen, this hedge can still be useful even in a non-SHTF scenario. Or at the very least, we have a "balancing" hedge against the original hedge, as in the ETF investment above.
Another scenario that keeps some people up at night are fears about how fast technology is moving and the direction it is taking us. For example, some people see micro-chipping humans as a way to streamline and improve efficiencies for healthcare, while others believe that having a chip inserted into their bodies under their skin would be invasive and troublesome from a privacy standpoint.
Weather we like it or not, the tech world is relentlessly marching forward, and the fear of being left behind and not being able to function in a society that increasingly revolves around high tech gadgetry, is a very real one. One way to hedge against that scenario might be to move from a city environment to a more rural area, or even a different country, where technology is less pervasive. Making that location a beautiful vacation spot or a location that would be increasingly valuable if things were to normalize, is how this could be a dual-purpose prepping strategy.
Man-made or natural disasters also weigh heavy on our minds, and can result in less than ideal feelings of stress and anxiety. Things like nuclear war, EMP blasts taking out the electrical grid, runaway climate change resulting in devastating droughts and flooding, and other end-of-the-world (TEOTWAWKI) scenarios that may or may not happen weigh heavy on most people's minds.
If you think about it, there are any number of hedges out there that can be used in just about any scenario, if you have a dual-purpose investing mindset.
Our community is all about dual purpose hedging. For us, living in mountain paradise not only provides us and our families a safe retreat where we can grow our own food should any one of many nightmare scenarios play out, it also gives us a wonderful place to go to enjoy life and relax in the meantime. And, on top of that, prices for organic land with water, electricity and internet are very likely to go dramatically higher in the future.
Get in touch if you'd like more information about our community and goals.
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