The Ruff Report

I have been reading "How To Prosper During The Coming Bad years In The 21st Century" by Howard Ruff.

It is an interesting book, but he goes a little overboard on a couple of points.

The biggest points in the book is to buy gold and silver; stock up on food; and get out of debt.

According to Mr. Ruff you should buy actual silver and gold coins as an investment. I have been hearing this for years now and I wish that I had listened. Don't buy silver or gold certificates or stocks. In the short run, you may lose a lot of money overnight. Kind of like the stock market these days. The for sure thing will be to actually buy the coins. Now I feel bad about gripping to my husband for his obsession to collect old coins. They are actually worth a lot more these days because they are made out of actual silver, gold, and copper. Unlike now they are just plated.

The other big point that he stresses is to stock up on food. He predicts that if the economy does collapse you will be able to feed your family without to much worry for at least six months. You can also use the food as a kind of currency. One thing you should definitely have in your stockpile is honey. Bacteria cannot exist in honey. That is the reason people use to use it on wounds back in the day. You can put it in your tea and heal a cut with one jar.

Other things you may want to consider stocking up on is wood or charcoal for heating and cooking, water, and fishing and hunting equipment. Mr. Ruff predicts that things are about to get really bad economically to the point were we will be fending for ourselves. Yes, I was reading this section when I wrote Blizzards, Tornadoes, and Floods Oh My.

I don't want to send out the message, and neither does Mr. Ruff, that the world is going to end. But it doesn't hurt to be prepared for anything. Here in the midwest we have gone through a major flood, months without electricity because of bad spring storms, and gas shortages. I know that I feel better when the news reports give bad news that I am already prepared to deal with the crisis. I don't have to race to the stores and try to beat out others to get supplies.

He does stress the benefits of being debt free. In one section he explains the how and why you could use money from a home loan to make money. These days, I don't know that I would recommend doing this. But he does have a good argument to max out a home loan and make money invest the money. He stresses that you should not use the money to buy a home entertainment center or a new car.

This is a good book to read. It has a lot of information on how to store some food items and a tone of web sites and reference materials. He does go on and on and on about silver and gold which I think he could cut out some of it. It gets old after a while.

Mr. Ruff does have an offer on his web site to get a free update on the book and even get a book for free. You can sign up for his newsletter as well. I will stock up on food, learn how to do some things on my own, and of course pay down my debt. When I get back to work I may even buy more silver and gold coins to my husbands delight. Check your local library for a copy of "How To Prosper During The Coming Bad Years In The 21st Century".