Survival Disaster Cash For After The SHTF

Cash is King. At least it will be, for awhile, following any disaster (grid down, even temporarily — or economic collapse with a locked-up banking system). That is, it will be King until such time that it is not. But that hypothetical stage is beyond the scope here.

Having a quantity of cash on hand, both in your wallet and stashed in a safe at home, will be invaluable for awhile after any disaster.

Here’s’ why:

Almost all of today’s current money supply is electronic. Digits, computer data entries, one’s and zeros. Cash on the other hand does not need electricity and electronics to be currency. Merchants gladly accept cash as currency exchange for goods and services.

Statistically, only a very small fraction of today’s money supply in the United States is actually physical cash or coin. This is known as the ‘M0’ (M zero) Money Supply. Although the real percentage is elusive, it (cash) is apparently quite less than 10% of all ‘money’.

Nearly all of the transactions that occur in day-to-day purchases are electronic digits. Invisible.

Having said that, imagine the consequences of commerce if the electronic systems that allow us to purchase our goods and services comes to an abrupt halt (for whatever reason).

Disaster Cash

If the power is out and electronic transaction systems are offline, many (most?) stores will not be able to accept ANY form of currency – even cash – because their corporate networked registers and computers are required for their record keeping and transactions.

However, many smaller businesses and/or local merchants will take CASH, because they don’t have the same requirements to network and report to the corporate ‘mother ship’ via computer, etc.

So, in the time following a disaster or collapse scenario, there will be places (merchants) which (who) will accept your cash – even though the electronic systems may be down.

Cash Will Be King. At Least For Awhile.

If the disaster or collapse scenario descends into SHTF, then cash will begin to lose it’s purchasing power to tangible and ‘needed’ real-world practical supplies and assets – whatever they may be. Faith in paper money (and it’s usefulness) will dwindle as the SHTF timeline progresses. But until then, and for any ‘short term’ disaster, cash will be king.

Even though keeping cash on hand is not earning you any rewards (it will be losing a bit of it’s value due to inflation), keeping some cash on hand is an insurance policy that is worth the value lost each year due to real inflation. It (the inflation) is essentially the cost of your ‘insurance’. It’s worth it.

Don’t be the person who’s stuck in a disaster while their debit or credit cards do not work.
Keep some cash on hand.

Having lived on the East Coast the first half of my life I experienced many hurricanes. Where I resided we would typically lose power for a week to 10 days. Cash was the only thing that worked to get food etc from the few merchants that had generators. My friends back east in the hell hole of NYC told me their disaster stories after super-storm Sandy and how fights were breaking out and threats made when people couldn’t use their debit/credit/ebt cards…have some cash on hand.

~ Sgt Bill

It would be best to have $1’s, $5’s, $10’s and $20’s on hand with a good amount of coinage…. With larger bills, other folks might not have the correct change.

~ 21Bravo

So here’s a question… How much disaster cash to keep on hand / at home?