[mmasters]

Say all of a sudden you have a million bucks and you can do whatever you want with it.

Here's roughly how I would allocate the money:

100,000 - physical gold/silver
300,000 - small house well located with land/resources
200,000 - travel/have fun
100,000 - supplies/goods/remodeling
150,000 - retain in cash
150,000 - invest in markets

How would you allocate it?

[FireJack]

I would by a piece of property where I could become self sufficient on, somewhere far out of the way where no one is likely to come post collapse.
I would use the rest to get to the point where I am hopefully self sufficient.

[vision-master]

Give half of it away to needy relatives.

[EndOfSewers]

$250,000 -- booze
$250,000 -- drugs
$250,000 -- Thai hookers
$250.000 -- crushing my enemies

[gg3]

Approx. $250k each to: a) land, b) tools & equipment, c) materials & supplies, d) capital goods. Adjust to get the number of houses needed for our group, with on-site utilities etc. "Capital goods" category is for tools & equipment [other than (b)] as needed for rural microenterprise startups.

Now if this is done right, the community group would treat this as loans to the members, where each member owes an approx. 1/n share with interest, e.g. if 10 people, $100k each. These debts would be erased in the event of a SHTF event as defined in advance. However to the extent that members were able to pay them off before a SHTF event, this would replenish the capital fund for further reinvestment in additional microenterprise development.

The goal, of course, to be partially self-sufficient and engaged in the local economy via multiple microenterprises. And then to the extent that these microenterprises are profitable, what we end up with is a slowly but steadily growing quantity of capital that can be reinvested into the local economy, helping others put themselves on a sound post-peak footing.

Also keep in mind that strong local markets & trade help keep the peace and maintain the lawful order. Thus, one of the "dividends" of investing in local enterprise development, is a reduced need for "defense" expenditures both at the level of our community and at the level of the community-at-large.

[sicophiliac]

I would have to say :

Invest 1/4 in renewable energy technology related stock IE: wind, solar, biofuel tech, coal gasification/liquificatin tech related stocks.

About 100,000 would be put into precious metals and over commodities.

Id take 150,000 buy myself a really nice gas hog of a muscle car and enjoy tearing up the road in it while I could.. with most of the money left over I would travel, pay for some education, live it up.

The last 500,000 id probably invest in some property in a fairly rural area.. rent it out in the mean time and then move it later.

[doomed]

Give it all away to people who are in need.

Luke 12:44. "Sell your possessions and give alms; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

[evilgenius]

Get out of the United States!

[Tinman]

Buy land

[Concerned]

pay off my house in the suburbs. buy another house with land in a remote area for when TSHTF spend 300k-400k flaring off energy on overseas trips, I'd love to do a driving trip in a large 4WD or SUV type vehicle.

[Tanada]

Buy as much land as I could next to an Amish community, then donate all but my 80 acre's to the Amish community. Organically farm my plot and hopr that if TSHTF the Amish would help me learn how to 19th century farm my self sustaining portion.

[horsestoaster]

Buy as much land in some lush boonies with it's own water supply and arable land as is feasible to manage then work to make it self sufficient.Try to get some of my hubby's older family to come live on it with us.Ditto my kids and their families and like- minded friends with skills.Maybe donate a farmers market building in the local town.Would have to see what needs be.

[Fergus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('horsestoaster', 'B')uy as much land in some lush boonies with it's own water supply and arable land as is feasible to manage then work to make it self sufficient.Try to get some of my hubby's older family to come live on it with us.Ditto my kids and their families and like- minded friends with skills.Maybe donate a farmers market building in the local town.Would have to see what needs be.

[Dreamtwister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hat would you do with a million dollars?

[Tyler_JC]

First, I'd sell my car and buy a hybrid Toyota Prius. (Or as I would call it, my 100MPG-Pimp-Sedan)

I'd put 80k in a savings account. I'd probably spend this money on friends and family.

The remaining $900,000 gets split in half.

One half goes into an investment account and would be invested in the traditional stuff but with a greater emphasis on international rather than American stocks. Also, a focus on renewable energy stocks and precious metals rather than consumer sector stocks.

The other half is put directly into Euro bonds and kept in a safe deposit box.

I don't believe we need to be heading for the hills just yet.

If I suspected that the entire system was about to crash, I'd cash out and buy useful PO stuff.

I also believe that we will know several weeks ahead of time that a crisis is about to erupt.

In a way, I'm betting my life on that claim.

[Fergus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'F')irst, I'd sell my car and buy a hybrid Toyota Prius. (Or as I would call it, my 100MPG-Pimp-Sedan)

I'd put 80k in a savings account. I'd probably spend this money on friends and family.

The remaining $900,000 gets split in half.

One half goes into an investment account and would be invested in the traditional stuff but with a greater emphasis on international rather than American stocks. Also, a focus on renewable energy stocks and precious metals rather than consumer sector stocks.

The other half is put directly into Euro bonds and kept in a safe deposit box.

I don't believe we need to be heading for the hills just yet.

If I suspected that the entire system was about to crash, I'd cash out and buy useful PO stuff.

I also believe that we will know several weeks ahead of time that a crisis is about to erupt.

In a way, I'm betting my life on that claim.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hat would you do with a million dollars?

[Declan]

I would build a small, very defendable "fortress" somewhere out in the boonies, on patch of land with agricultrual potential. The house would be large enough to house ten families, would have a hidden underground that would serve as a bunker, last resort retreat from hostiles and storage facility.

Where I live (or rather where I want to build this) all that would cost about half a million. I would make it self sufficient energy wise (solar panels and wind mills), with firewood heating


Then I would buy some chickens, sheep, a few cows, and a few horses and a few dogs.

I would use the rest of the money to stock up on the following:

-basic medication such as pain killers, anti-biotics, desinfectants, first aid items.

-a lot of canned food and non perishible items that could last a long time.

-a lot of water (probably in the form of a huge tank that could hold a few years drinking supply

- handguns, rifles, shot guns, bows & arrows and lots of ammo (enough to equip a small group for defence and hunting.

-anything else that is a staple: soaps, shampoos, toilet paper, tooth brushes and paste, winter clothes, summer clothes, shoes.

Once all this would be in place, me and my imediate family (Parents, brothers and sisters in law and maybe a couple of really good friends) would be able to ride out anything.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Declan', 'I') would build a small, very defendable "fortress" somewhere out in the boonies...
...Once all this would be in place, me and my imediate family (Parents, brothers and sisters in law and maybe a couple of really good friends) would be able to ride out anything.

[rwwff]

Piling on here...

$500k - more land in East Texas. ~ 100-200 acres or so.
$100k - legals, incorpation, surveys, fences, cleanup
$100k - building and equipment, (small barn, tractor, tack-ons)
$ 50k - some initial stock, seed, fertilizer, whatever makes sense locally.
$250k - endowment (short term bonds, some physical metals)

Return on Investment would totally reek; however, a property like that should have a net positive cash flow; thus allowing you to keep it while modernity continues along its current path.

The problem people would have, is that in our current climate, an after tax million dollars will generate $50,000 income per year without any short term risk. You have to sacrifice that expectation, and be satisfied with a likely result of less than $10,000 income per year after taxes, and perhaps even near zilch after factoring in depreciation on 'plant and equipment'.

Hard pill for anyone to swallow.