PROTECTING MY ASSETS (Is My bank safe?)
For those lucky enough to still have Assets, here are some protection strategies:

• Risk Factor 1: Inherent Risk in Cash
Bank deposits take on the individual company risk of the bank. You are also taking on government risk, as all cash is a promise from and a belief in the government.

• Risk Factor 2: Global Bank Run
Many countries around the world are currently in the process of guaranteeing bank deposits. This would seem to indicate that in these countries, cash deposits should be “safe”. However, there is significant fear globally of a mega bank run on deposits. How the system would hold up in the event of a global bank run is uncertain, and many believe it will result in the shutting down of the global banking system for a period of time. For this reason, many are recommending that people hold an amount of cash on hand equivalent to 3 months requirements, in order to ride out any period of disruption.

• Risk Factor 3:Hyper-Inflation.
Even if deposits remain safe, there is the danger that savings will be wiped out by hyper-inflation. Hyper-inflation is basically caused by the various governments printing too much money in an attempt to stabilise the economy. Prices of goods go up on an almost daily basis, and the value of savings rapidly approaches zero. Precious metals such as Gold and Silver are an excellent hedge against Hyper-Inflation. However if Deflation occurs (where prices decrease due to lack of money circulating), then the price of precious metals could fall sharply. A balanced approach is probably most sensible, whereby a percentage of wealth is invested in Gold, and possibly other precious metals, and a percentage of wealth is retained in other forms, such as cash deposits, treasury bills, physical bank notes etc.

• We believe one of the safest way of preserving wealth is through investment in physical equipment used in the production of essential items. These “useful things”, such as industrial plant and equipment, farming equipment, generators etc. will hold their value regardless of turbulence in the economy, whereas wealth in the form of cash or gold could be wiped out.

• Lower cost items, such as hardware, tools, camping equipment, matches etc. will also retain their value and could be bartered for needed goods and services.