5 Collapse-Proof Investments With Tangible Fundamentals

Eric Blair
Activist Post

Anyone who has followed the investment world since the 2008 financial collapse knows that fundamentals no longer have any relevance.  The curtain was pulled and the wizard of manipulation was revealed.  Yet, the stock market managed to climb from lows of around 6,500 to recently over 12,000 with no tangible growth in the main-street economy -- while insider selling has reached astronomical levels.

During this time the housing market continued to plunge; 15% of the U.S. is on food stamps and climbing; real wages have plummeted; international currency wars have broken out; and more bailouts and dramatic austerity budget cuts ravage the debt-ridden Western world.  In other words, there has been no measurable recovery for anyone but the bailed-out financial institutions who caused the crisis in the first place.

The fallout from the 2008 collapse makes it difficult to grasp why the markets are up when the fundamentals point in the wrong direction. Even investment spikes in commodities seem to be more connected to a weaker dollar than to authentic economic growth with increased demand.  Investors and average people alike are beginning to recognize that nothing is as it seems in the illusory global economy. Fundamentals and so-called reality no longer matter; it is universally understood that a much greater crisis looms no matter how much happy-talk comes out of our policy makers.


It seems that the major lesson from the financial crisis is that all paper investments, including suburban housing, no longer have realistic market price discovery.  In other words, it is impossible to arrive at a real price for anything when artificial subsidies, restraints, or monopolistic cartels determine prices.  The entire paper economy clearly has become a giant Ponzi-scheme, so true values cannot be determined or trusted with the available data.

Here are five tangible collapse-proof investments:

1. Food: Although your ConAgra or Nestle stock may seem like solid investments in times like these, they're still locked up in the phony world of paper assets.  Food commodities are also a highly manipulated market that, in the end, is still not tangible.  Therefore, if you are fortunate enough to have large sums of money invested, why not use that money to provide for your family's immediate food security first?  If you believe food is a good long-term investment, then invest in converting your lawn to a perennial permaculture garden, create a seed bank, or simply stockpile your pantry.  In other words, remove your money from paper food and put it into tangible food security for your family.  Once you've reached a comfortable level of personal food security and you have reserve funds, only then consider investing outside of your immediate needs. The mega-money is moving to buy vast stretches of global farmland.  If you possess the capacity, then you would do well to buy fertile farmland too.

2. Alternative Energy:  If you believe, as many do, that alternative energy will be one of the only growth industries in the near future because of unstable oil and coal supplies, along with environmental concerns, then you should not look for the hottest new solar power stock symbol, but rather use your precious nest egg to invest in getting yourself off-the-grid first.  Due to the ever-increasing prices for energy consumption, your return on investment will be realized immediately by making your residence more energy efficient through weather proofing or by installing solar or wind power.  Another investment to consider is a personal fuel refinery like the biodieselFuelmeister or alcohol options to run your vehicles.  Reducing your dependence on outside energy sources will be a priceless tangible investment even without the prospect of economic collapse.

3. Tools:  This is a very broad topic which can be defined more easily as anything useful or required to help provide necessary consumer goods and services during a crisis or even moderate hardship.  Important tools can be as small as garden and construction tools, sewing machines, food processors, guns and ammo, or as large as a production plant for solar panels.  If there is an interruption in the supply of necessary goods, owning a means of energy production will be far more valuable than a collapsing stock portfolio.  Again, once you have supplied yourself with enough tools for your own self-reliant needs, and if you have additional funds, consider buying or starting a local garden supply store and nursery, or buy small factory equipment to produce something of value.  Even if you just break even on these endeavors, their tangible production capacity far outweighs the risks associated with paper investments, including letting devaluing cash sit in a money market account.

4. Precious Metals: Precious metals, especially gold and silver, have represented a tangible store of wealth since the dawn of modern civilization. Their intrinsic value is deeply embedded into the global cultural psyche, and demand for silver and other metals has never been higher.  Some may argue that the "foolproof" investments listed in this article are not liquid in terms of quickly converting them to cash -- which is true for many of the items for self-reliance. Gold, silver, copper, and other metals are much easier to liquidate if cash is needed. Therefore, investing in metals may prove to be one of the most advantageous strategies given the fragility of the financial system.  Rather than investing in ETFs and other commodity securities, take possession of physical gold or silver and store it in a safe place.  If you have a limited budget, buy junk silver, or forage for used roles of copper wiring when you hear of office closings.

5. Useful Skills: You can never go wrong learning or polishing useful skills. Investing in yourself is never more vital than in times of great uncertainty.  Don't be confused, however, I don't mean to go out and spend a bundle getting a worthless new college degree.  It is far more beneficial to learn how to expand your hobby skills or other passions into productive capacities.  In the best-selling book How to Survive The End of the World As We Know It, author James Wesley, Rawles, proclaims that every household should have a side business as a cushion in case catastrophe strikes. Well, catastrophe has already struck 53% of the American workforce who are unemployed or under-employed.  Since the job market is not secure, it is worth the investment to develop skills to weather a collapse scenario.  Learning simple skills such as making candles or soap, building sheds, gardening, etc., not only provides valuable products, but also gives you a chance to have fun family projects.

Due to the larger economic crisis that seems to be approaching, and the utter lack of trust in paper "assets," we would be wise to invest in tangible investments that provide for our self-reliance.  It is the most important investment you can make during times of crisis where only human necessity represents the real world.

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Ten Reasons to Become Self-Sufficient and Ten Ways to Get There

Michael Edwards and Jeffrey Green

Activist Post

We are now three to five generations removed from the rural backbone that strengthened America.  The world at large has undergone a similar transformation as the promise of easier work has created a migration to big cities.  These mega-cities could be seen as an experiment gone awry, as general well-being has declined, with suicide rates increasing across the world.  Crowded conditions and economic strife have led to rampant crime, pollution, corporate malfeasance, and a dog-eat-dog type of competition that can be described as a temporary insanity.

The economic crisis we are living through has been the final straw for many people, as promises of a better, easier, and more creative life seem to have been sold to us by carnival-style tricksters who are laughing all the way to (their) bank.

Here are the top reasons for becoming self-sufficient; these are based on fundamental, systemic concerns for why undertaking this life change will not be a fly-by-night fad, but rather a long-lasting means for personal independence.

10 Reasons to Become Self-Sufficient

1. Freedom from market manipulation - The traditional market-driven investment vehicles are more and more obviously controlled by traders and banking institutions.  The debacle of the private Federal Reserve Bank is just the icing on the cake to a previous decade full of Ponzi-type schemes.  Now, the institutionalized looting of retirement money is being planned.
   
2. Hedging against inflation - Have you noticed the price of goods lately?  Even Wal-Mart issilently raising its prices.  People might have a choice whether or not to buy stocks or gold, but people have to eat -- the current increases in basic goods portend hyperinflation, and will not ease anytime soon.  Food shortages could make the problem exponentially worse.
3. 1. 3. Increasing health and wellness - It has now been revealed that some "organic" items have been falsely labeled.  In addition, a host of "GMO-free" brands have been exposed as deceptive.  GMO food lacks the nutritional value of what can be grown in the average backyard.  GMO mega-corporation, Monsanto, has a sordid history and has continuously trampled on our trust.  It is time that we do the work ourselves.
      
      
   2. Building community strength - We constantly hear people say, "I don't even see my neighbors, let alone know anything about them."  Of course not:  80-hour workweeks and grabbing meals-to-go doesn't exactly promote community interaction.  With such little time to interact with our immediate community, it is no wonder why many people report feeling disconnected.   In these trying times, it is a local community that can offer the best support.
      
   3. Working for yourself - Working hours are increasing, pay is often decreasing, and corporate executives are taking bigger bonuses than ever.  This is leading to a prevailing disgust, as people are being forced to admit that they are living lives of near-indentured servitude.  Even for those not working in corporations, working for someone else is rarely as satisfying as creating and working for something where every minute you spend is yours alone.
      
   4. Having more free time - We have been taught to believe that life on a farm is arduous sun-up to sun-down drudgery where you collapse at the end of the day.  This is not so much the case anymore.  Sure, the setup of any farm or self-sufficient endeavor is often time-consuming and laborious, but new technologies and new skills of manufacturing food viapermaculture and aquaponics are offering low-cost start up and minimal maintenance, as these techniques serve to create symbiotic systems that are remarkably self-governing.
      
   
   5. Generating food and energy security - The planet is running out of food and traditional energy.  Climate volatility, market forces, GM foods, and rising costs of harvesting and transporting food are all conspiring to create food shortageseven in the First World.  This trend will not reverse.  And our oil-soaked way of life is being threatened by mounting evidence that the oil lifeline could be disconnecting rather soon.  We should be looking to the air, sun, geothermal, and wave power to wean us from the energy grid.
      
   6. Acquiring an appreciation for life - As one gets closer to life-giving forces, there is a natural appreciation for how things come into being.  When you have created your garden, toiled there, selected the best for harvest, and have prepared that food for your family and community, the significance of what you have taken part in can be transformative.
      
   7. Restoring balance - Nearly everything in our society is at a peak, or is drastically out of balance.  The systems and governments to which we have looked for balance restoration are missing in action.  We must take it upon ourselves to restore our own financial and environmental balance sheet.  The best way to do that is to reduce our overconsumption.
      
   8. Becoming a producer, not a consumer - This is the best way to reduce your cost of living and increase your self-sufficiency.  In the U.S. over 70% of the economy is based on people buying things.  This is a clear sign of imbalance and, by extension, it is not sustainable.  Furthermore, we also have seen corporations race to the bottom to find low-cost production on the backs of desperate people.  The exploitation of the Third World to clothe, feed, and entertain the First World is something that most people do not want to think about, but it is abominable.  Again, new technologies are making it easier than ever to produce your own food, and even your own clothes.

   As the cliche goes: Freedom is never free.  But it sure beats the alternative.
   
   
   10 Ways to Get to Self-Sufficiency
   The global economic collapse has become an eye-opening experience for many people. The ongoing crisis continues to create more joblessness at a time when the cost of essential items like food and energy continue to rise.
   
   Inflation is only expected to continue due to excessive printing of money to compensate for the bursting economic bubbles, which were arguably created by printing too much money with artificially low interest rates in the first place.
   
   The 2008 price shocks in oil followed by the financial collapse have led many people to begin taking measures to become more self-sufficient.  And recently the ominous signs of food shortages, the weakening dollar, and the rising price of oil all point to a similar atmosphere as 2008.  Some have taken steps to conserve electricity, reduce spending and consumption, while others are planting kitchen gardens and installing solar panels on their homes.  Even living off the grid is becoming a mainstream concept for those seeking independence.
   
   Indeed,  becoming more self-sufficient is proving to make common sense whether one anticipates more hardship to come or not. Sure, many of us would love to live completely off the grid without giving up everyday comforts, but this is not practical for most of us.  However, there are many steps that can be taken to move towards self-sufficiency which can be relatively painless and quite rewarding.
   
   The following are 10 suggestions that can lead to independent living:
   

   1. Reduce your debt: Especially get your credit card debt under control, since it is entirely corrupt.  Call your credit card companies and ask for a work out plan similar to what they received from the taxpayer bailout.  If they don't cooperate to your satisfaction, there are some reasons not to pay at all.
      
   2. Reduce your consumption: Evaluate your current budget and determine absolute necessity. Push your comfort level to find areas where you can scale back, and then identify comforts that you’re willing to sacrifice.
      
   3. Reduce energy use: Change light bulbs, have entertainment systems plugged into a splitter that can be shut off completely to reduce phantom charges, etc.  Carefully plan shopping trips and other transportation needs.
      
   4. Store energy:  Always have back-up propane storage and a large wood pile for a rainy day. Investing in a generator of some kind (even a solar generator) will be money well spent.
      
   
   5. Invest in food storage: With a falling dollar and rising food prices, why not create a food savings account?  Get some good books, dehydrators and vacuum sealers for storage methods. Best storable food items are grains (rice, beans, flour), canned goods, seeds, and some prepackaged items.
      
   6. Produce your own food: Replace your lawn with a garden, fruit trees, and keep chickens. Go on hunting and gathering adventures for nuts, fish, and wild game.  Store extra garden seeds!
      
   7. Learn new skills: Surf the Internet, read books, and take courses in practical skills like gardening, cooking with whole foods, composting, carpentry, alternative energy, natural health and wellness etc.
      
   8. Start a side business: Turn your passion or hobby into a small side business to make some supplemental income.  Who knows, it may become your path to full financial independence.
      
   9. Install alternative energy: Start with small installations like a solar hot water system, a solar freezer, a solar attic fan, or a wood stove etc. If you have limited funds, tip-toe your way to independence.
      
   10. Suggest solutions for your community: Start or join a local cooperative for food, products, and services.  Engage your local community in discussions to take steps for self-sufficiency. Share your story and build support.

   These steps will save money as we move closer to the ultimate prize of independence.  Each action we take to live more simply frees us from the control systems put in place to make our lives more complicated, more toxic, and less independent.
   
   Related Articles:
   Mimicking Nature to Feed the Masses
   Dare to Prepare: Collapse of Civilization Now Guaranteed
   Using Local Organic Cooperatives to Defeat Globalists
   USDA Reports Food Shortages: Wall Street "Caught Off Guard" by Severity
   The Government Has a Seed Bank Savings Account, Why Shouldn't You?
   
   
   

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