The Coming Foodflation

I've been warning my friends for months that inflation is coming.  I've certainly posted it on facebook more than once.  Now it's starting to hit the headlines.  For example, Read this article from the Financial Times that I found on Drudge this morning.

I have interrupted the writing of IOU NO MORE 2.0 to write a short e-book, "Simplify Your Way To Prosperity" about how to thrive during the coming inflation.  I believe preparing NOW is urgent and I want to help.

Glenn Beck is making similar suggestions on his radio show.  He has a very large platform, I have a handful of readers.  He will get the word out faster that I will, I imagine.

There is one fundamental difference between Beck's views and my own.  He would suggest that gold is an excellent hedge against the coming tsunami.  I would say that gold is secondary to FOOD. 

Those who know me well, know I keep saying, "You have gold, I have food.  If things get really bad, I will have your gold in exchange for some of my food."  I don't say that to be ugly, I really believe it. 

Consider this passage from the Bible in Revelation 6:6 "Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"  WOW!

I'm not against gold, in fact I strongly recommend saving up a year's worth of living expenses in cash.  Keep it in a jar, or in an easy to access money market account.  But I even more strongly recommend putting aside 6 months to a year of basic food stuffs and necessities. 

B and I have a room loaded with beans, rice, coffee, wheat, sugar, home canned goods, powdered milk, mustard, toilet paper, soap, etc.  We didn't buy the 'survival food storage' stuff off the internet, because I'm not really interested in eating MREs for a year.  Call me crazy.  But if that's the way you and your family want to do it, I'll not argue.  Just PREPARE.

After you have your CASH and your FOOD, if you want to invest in some gold coins, go right ahead.  But do is as insurance, not as an investment.  In a real crisis, investments won't matter a hoot.  What you have in hand WILL matter.

Watch this space or the website for "Simplifying Your Way to Prosperity".  But don't wait, start preparing TODAY.  I'm not suggesting the end of the world.  I am suggesting trouble ahead.  The bridge is out and I don't want anyone to fall.

Feel free to send your questions.

A Different Taking on Creative Saving

At my local bank, they have a giant banner of an attractive professional woman beaming her broadest smile while containing the slogan, "Saving is the new spending."

That's a great sentiment.  Unfortunately, it is merely wishful thinking.  My research indicates that with high unemployment, anemic interest rates and high debt levels, saving is at virtually an all time low.  That is an unfortunate reality.

For my money, I think David Bach is one of the best sources for creative saving.  I've read all his books and while I don't agree 100% on some of his priorities, (eg. he says 'pay yourself first', while I advocate giving to God first), I really like his ideas on ways to save and making it 'automatic'.

I also stumbled on an article over the weekend that has a slightly different take on saving.  So in the spirit of offering a wide variety of viewpoints to encourage thinking and good money management, I'm linking to it here. I want to send up a big thank you to Yahoo Finance for posting it in the first place.

A Nice Reminder

I saw a fun little article on Yahoo Finance this morning that I just have to share.  It's a nice reminder of the 'miracle' of compound interest.  Read it and SAVE.

Sustainable, Self Sufficiency - The Third Phase of the Revolution, Part 2

During our last chat, more of a monologue, really, I described some of the thought processes that have been driving some of my decision making during the two years since the release of IOU NO MORE.  The fact is, I have changed a great deal since then.  The principles and outline for becoming debt free have not changed, my thoughts on "Life After Debt", have changed dramatically.  I will probably elaborate on that a little in my upcoming e-book, "Debt Beat Dads".  But I'll introduce the subject here, in hopes of stimulating some thought.  BTW, we always love it when you share your thoughts.

I finished the last entry, with the fact that it was my Bible reading that has changed my views of wealth building and preparing for the future.  Specifically, my new thinking comes from the first 5 books of the Old Testament.  Even more specifically, from the latter chapters of Genesis and from the book of Leviticus.

Before I go into any detail, I might as well address all my Christian friends who will say, "We're not under the Old Testament Law, anymore.  We're under Grace."  You are exactly right.  If you will stay with me long enough, you'll see that I'm not advocating a return to Mt. Sinai, but rather I'm adapting some PRINCIPLES gleaned from Joseph and Moses, that I believe give us insight into the heart of God and provide some COMMON SENSE approaches to our own times and finances.

Phase two of the Revolution most profoundly impacts the categories of 'Giving' and 'Saving'.  Ok, I'll backtrack.  In IOU NO MORE, I conclude that money is really only good for three things; Giving, Saving and Spending.  That's it.  That's the list.  You could maybe add, burning, but the coins don't do that well.  The 'Cruise Control' spending plan is divided into those three categories.  You can see the plan in the Appendix of the book and it's available as a part of our 'Complete Forms Library' in the store.

In 2007, when I released IOU NO MORE, I promoted the traditional concept of giving 10% (tithe) and saving 10% (to 15%) of income.  I still believe that's a great place to start. My Bible reading, however, has caused me to raise the bar. Note: If you are trying to get out of debt, I still recommend saving up a $1,000 emergency fund and putting all other saving on hold until after you're debt free.

As I was reading through the Old Testament last summer, as part of my daily devotional time, I was struck by the fact that the Israeli's gave much more than a 10th of all they had.  While it's true that the tithe was the starting point, by the time you add up all the various offerings and sacrifices, the Israeli people were giving a minimum of 20% of their resources to God.  How interesting.  Most of us are not aware of that, because we rarely read the book of Leviticus.  I freely admit, it's not a page turner, but it sure was an eye opener this time through.

Similarly, the same book, affected my views on savings.  In several places, Moses describes the "interest rate" for buying back property, etc. as being 20%.  That made me go, 'hmmmm....'  The real kicker, though, for upgrading my views on savings came from the story of Joseph.  In Genesis 41(first book of the Bible), Joseph, of 'Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat' fame, after a series of dramatic events, becomes a prominent leader in Egypt.  He advises Pharoah to 'tax' the people 20% of their harvest for 7 years to prepare for disaster.  When the disaster (famine) came, Egypt had enough for her people and surplus to sell to neighboring nations. 

The implications of all those Bible passages was not lost on me.  Common sense, a rare commodity in the 21st century, said that 20% saving and giving was not in the Bible by accident.  God doesn't work that way.  To me, they have come to symbolize wisdom and generosity.  Wisdom, by saving 20% in order to be prepared for whatever comes our way, and to build wealth.  Generosity, by giving 20% to relieve the suffering of others and to advance the Kingdom of God.  I got very excited about it.

Here's how Brittan and I are working out phase 2 in our lives:  We began by increasing our giving.  We raised our weekly contributions to our local Church and we are giving to other causes, as well, mostly Christian Mission organizations.  Our goal is to raise our giving to 20% of our income.  We are at approx 15% now.

As for saving, we're doing that two ways.  1.  We are saving from our income via 401k and a money market account.  Our goal is to have at least 6 months living expenses in a money market account with easy access.  This is not an investment, it's insurance.  We're not trying to get rich off of the emergency fund, we're trying to make sure we have some security in time of crisis.

Additionally, we are storing up a minimum of 6 months (eventually, 1 year worth) of basic household supplies, like dried beans, rice, soap, toilet paper, etc.  We don't make a big deal about it.  We're not 'survivalists' or doomsayers.  We're trying to be wise.  We are not doing it all at once.  We buy a few items each time we go to the store.  We only buy things that have a long shelf life, and we buy basic or generic brands for our 'emergency store house'.  We also have a 'rotation' plan that uses up things that are getting close to shelf life and replacing them with fresh.  Again, our goal, through various methods of saving money and storing goods is to save 20% of our income.

I know it sounds crazy; give 20%, save 20% and live on 60%.  But you'd be surprised what you can do when you are DEBT FREE.  Can you imagine how the world would change if the debt free revolution really catches fire.  Just think about how much cash would flood the economy, how much money would be out there for charitable causes and how much less stress would be felt by the average family.  The pressure taken off of Government agencies would be enormous. I believe.  Oh, yes, I believe.  And I'm doing my best to live out my convictions. 

Coming up:  Phase 3, "The Road to Self Sufficiency".  Stay tuned.

New Magazine Coming

Brittan and I are long time subscribers to, and even longer time readers of, "Hobby Farms Magazine" . Later this month, about the 26th, the editors of that publication will be releasing the first issue of "Urban Farm", a magazine designed especially for those of us stuck in town, but committed to self sufficiency, growing our own produce and reaping the rewards and savings of taking responsibility for our lives. I am very much looking forward to the launch of this magazine. I sure hope the publishers read this post and give me a discount on my subscription!