How Much Money Would You Recommend Having on Hand in Your Home Permanently?

How much cash would you keep at home permanently for both Emergencies & End of the world emergencies. What combinations?

1. I live in the City and I currently keep anywhere from $600-1200 of cash on hand. They are in $10, $20, $100 bills, with hald\f being $100 bills. I don't keep $1 & $5 bills other than my wallet, .
Should I be keep more or less in total money at home & should there be less $100 bills?

Also should I convert any of my cash to gold, silver & jewels too or should I spend additional monry on those?

This assumes that ATMs are closed & I can't get money from the bank no matter what he reasom.

Thank you for your opinion.

 

In 2024 I began saving gold in the form of GoldBacks [small tradable pieces of gold of known purity and weight].

 

How muchshould ne have on hand?

 

I try to keep a minimum of 2 grand in a secret stash ,, away from my home AO ,,, not counting silver and gold .
Just in case I get bumrushed and robbed by a herd of unfriendlies ,, if they let me live ,,, I won't lose everything I've got. You could do the same with a Mason jar ,, or some pvc pipe buried out in the woods somewhere. It couldn't hurt to put a couple of stashes out there,, just don't put so many you can't remember where you put them .

 

I keep $10k local and $5k US “safely”. Various denominations.

 

Mai look at ED, someone on your side of the states won the mega millions, That has to be you?
How you doing man? Glad to see your kicking it still.

 

$600 To $1200 is a great start. What if your on the road going somewhere or heading back home.your vehicle breaks down.the repair cost $1500 and the mechanic don't accept debt card or checks..now what? Now what if life as we know it comes to a end? Banks atm's start shutting down. Along with everyplace else.the vaule of the items ppl have is gonna increase. A $1.00 item is gonna become $5.00 or more.thats why I suggest what amount of money can keep on hand.and the same with gold and silver if a person goes that route as well.i figure the vaule of money.gold and silver will drop drastically in a worse case situation..

 

you need some junk silver - plenty of dimes and quarters - if you have plenty enough $$$$ - NEGOTIABLE - RECOGNIZABLE gold coins >>>>

the local economies in a crunch will be accepting US bucks after the credit card system goes down - don't buy into the dumbazz foreign currency rants >>> then it'll go to precious metals eazy to negotiate in a buy - it'll be along with the trade & barter system that develops .....

no mention of just where your preps are at - shouldn't be worrying about buying/trading in a post-SHTF - get that prep plan fleshed out >>> anything worth a crap in a crunch will eazyly be 10X the current Bidenomics $$$$ ....

if you got some wild eye bug out plan in mind - like driving 100s - 1,000s miles while the country implodes - better have $1,000s along for just the gas ups along the way .....

 

At today's values, I have about $3k in Silver coins. In a SHTF scenario, Silver might be the perfect monetary to have. I suppose you will be able to buy things with Gold coins, but I think you will be raked over the coals trying to get $2,500 of value from a 1/10th oz. That would be the equivalent of walking around with a pocket full of $1,000 bills in a town where nobody is even taking $100 bills.

But to really answer the OP's question, I don't keep more than $2,000 cash in my safe. Hanging on to a bunch of cash is like watching water leak from a punctured cup. example... Before COVID, the wife and I could eat at Chick Fil A for $18. A few weeks ago the same meals cost us $31.

I also have small gun safes in all my vehicles. In those safes is a handgun, ammo and $500.

 

I'm in the USA and live in the country and I keep about the same as you. I think at least $2000 would be a better number and will do so next time I get cash for the house, maybe more. However, I think @Andy the Aussie is probably about right with $5000 in dollars.

As far as gold, I don't keep any. I watch the price like a hawk, every morning checking, but even with the election going our way gold remains at about $2600 and doesn't want to drop lower, although it did go down a bit with the election. I figure it might go down when Trump actually obtains office and his changes start taking affect, say in 12-18 months. Personally, I want gold coins. I don't see gold as an investment nor for barter but as financial insurance. I think this country's greatest risk is economic collapse, doesn't even have to be a complete collapse but we're definitely heading there so...

 

Here's my cheapo's
https://www.apmex.com/product/44447/1-oz-silver-round-buffalo

 

Brass and lead are about the only valuable items i keep in the house.

 

And copper, and a bit of nitrocellulose / nitroglycerin combinations.

 

ALL and out of the FIAT SYSTEM , just enough to loose when the SHTF and closes !!
Money is ?? Metal , AU,AG,PB,. Chems , Fuel, barter , and Machines . some fly , some dig,split, ETC.
YMMV , my friend is set as they told me !
Im still trolling the river for what they lost !

 

Wait, yall got extra money?

 

A couple thousand in cash. When i go on road trips for work I tend to take more as immediate get home cash for gas purchases in the first couple days… otherwise silver, gold as well as brass lead and copper.

 

$2k in small bills (they can become worthless over night) $10k in one ounce silver bars. Or a smaller total with a 1/5 ratio.

 

probably have 5-700 at the AO in cash. 1, 5, 10 and 20s.
No hundreds nor fifties. Too many folks passing bad large notes around here.
Lots of places say they won't take 100s. Also, a lot of places can't make change for big bills as they get a couple hundred in the till and them make a safe drop. Typically not more than 150 bucks in the till at any given time.
One owner (2 locations) got taken for nearly 5k over a holiday weekend with some really good benjamin fakes.
Even fake 20s popup sometimes.
Also easier to make change for a 12.63 purchase with a ten and a five than it is for a hundred or a fifty.
Just my experience in my area.

 

@mysterymet
PB i see ,, CU and Brass is for shell casings ?? As im assuming
Sloth