I've posted before under ma own true real name, but have decided to go, well, incognito for rea$on$ to be enumerated below.

This week the wife and I, in a strange but beneficial convergence of events, received inheritances, she from dear departed grandma this year, I from dear departed great aunt last year. Within three days, our net worth sextupled. Today, to celebrate (and it's only one of many small such indulgences), being a GIP (Gets It Prepper), I made my first wholly guilt-free trip to Sam's. (Guilt-free in the sense taht previous trips always had to be justified to dear wife; this one didn't, since IT'S MY MONEY, BABY!) The cart was loaded down to the max. The checkout lady was impressed. I dared the woman at the door checking receipts to really count what was in there. She just laughed. It felt good to add more to the pantry. Felt good to go to the shooting range with a friend and improve a little on my shooting skills. Later this week I'll take a DWGI friend to Sam's Club and buy him some supplies for his family. I'm going to get some business cards printed up with a thought-provoking Y2k message and leave them around town -- at the post office, the grocery store, the gas station. Might even take out a quarter page ad in the local newspaper. Y2k prepping, guerrilla style. Will order some gold tomorrow (American Eagles in various sizes), but... but... but... don't know what to do with the re$t right now. What a wacky time to inherit $$$$$. Money market for the short term, then be prepared to make a fast decision? CDs in local compliant bank? Gov't bonds? So much money, so many choices, so little time.

-- Incognito (layinglow@thecrib.com), November 17, 1999

Answers

Incognito, all that is fine if your wife feels the same. what does she think? sandy

-- sandy (rstyree@overland.net), November 17, 1999.

Way to GO! Incog! Mos excellent development and turn of events: here's hoping you can max out the benefit in the short time remaining. DO NOT DELAY, and do not keep the cash in the bank meanwhle. My plumber has squirrelled away $120K over the last 10 years, and after repeatedefforst to withdraw during September and October, he has been informed by his bank (Bank of the West) that they will not allow the remaining $67K to be withdrawn. Poorwarned is poorarmed.

Squirrl Huntr >"<

-- SH (squirrl@huntr.com), November 17, 1999.

You lucky dog! Congratulations on having a good sense of priorities too.

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), November 17, 1999.

How much money are we talking about and how prepped are you ?

Have you got the best possible vehicle in case you have to bug out ? "Best possible" is up to you, I would go with a 4x4 quad cab pickup, possibly a diesel, with a cap or maybe a slidein camper, but depending on your circumstances you might prefer some kind of RV.

A dual purpose motorcycle with saddlebags would also be good if you ride. And maybe a trailer so you can take it with you if you bug out in the truck.

A solar system is another obvious choice.

-- biker (y2kbiker@hotmail.com), November 17, 1999.

SH -"September and October, he has been informed by his bank (Bank of the West) that they will not allow the remaining $67K to be withdrawn."

Not allow him to withdraw? How can they stop him? What if he wanted to change banks? This needs elaborating -please.

-- April (Alwzapril@home.com), November 17, 1999.

Buy a mountain of beans, and take out an advert telling pollys that they can come and help themselves if they will only stand on a table and say "I concede that there may be the slightest possibility that the usually reliable promises of big business and government are not entirely true, and that there may just be, unlikely as it seems, material disruption to my way of life around Y2K"

I think the expressions on their faces would make it worthwhile. :)

Congratulations!

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 17, 1999.

Get out of debt.

-- Bill (y2khippo@yahoo.com), November 17, 1999.

My advice...

Lay it all out on the floor and roll around naked in it.

That's been my fantasy for years...

-- Mabel Dodge (cynical@me.net), November 17, 1999.

I apprediate where yoiu are coming from. I inherited a tidy sum last year. All of it was in stocks and bonds. I was able to cash it all in and went to bank and told them I wanted cash. They had to have a week to get it from the FRB. I deposited the check from the broker and a week later we went in after bank closed (at their suggestion) and got our cash. This was before even most of the tellers had heard of y2k. N0W, I get a hassle when I try and cash my husband's pay check and not deposit it. I am trying to get our checking acc't down to my direct deposit SS. Its hard as one always gets paid with checks. We have two mortgage payments we receive each month, plus hubby's paycheck every two weeks. They simply don't want to let you have cash. And since it has become a weekly hassle, I have tried to go to another branch of the same bank. They WILL NOT CASH A CHECK and refer me to my own branch. They are happy to take a deposit, of course! Another hassle is getting the cash in anything buy $100 bills. So I took some $100s to another branch and asked to break them down into 5,10 and 20s. Wouldn't do it. Said had to go to my own branch. The guy with the $67K has my sympathy. However, I would be outside that bank with a big picket sign. They would give me my money or I would start a bank run!! You start talking loud in the bank about how difficult it is to get cash and they will give you the cash, I am sure. I have found one clerk that must be a GI. She never hassles me and I circle the bank almost daily to see if she is one the drive up window. When she is, I can cash the checks with no hassles. I also have my mother in laws account to clean out. I know, everyone should have my problems. But it is just another damn hassle due to y2k and I am so sick of y2k I could scream!! Its also just a preview of all the screwed up messes to come in the year 2000.

Taz

-- Taz (Taz@aol.com), November 17, 1999.

CONGRATULATIONS! What GOOD timing! Other possibilities (dontcha love how other people have no problem telling you how to spend your money - vbg-)

If you live in a small enough town or neighborhood consider purchase of a truckload of wheat, rice & beans in case TSHTF. If you are near railyards I hear you can sometimes get damaged sacks of grain for pennies on the dollar (sacks that have gotten damaged in shipping). Your safety increases if your neighbors are fed. The goods could be kept in a storage shed and delivered in the dead of night to a food bank (or your church steps etc.) if you don't want them all on your doorstep.

This close to rollover do you expect your investment to grow in money market accounts, CD's etc.? Is it worth the risk that it could all be lost in a banking or stockmarket collapse? Not so easy to make a fast decision if things turn sour. Precious metals (now!) and take delivery. You will be surprised how long it takes from decision to delivery.

Getting out of debt and solar sound like good ideas. Also a bugout plan and place. Also any other tools and supplies that would allow for sustainability... cistern?, fruit trees?, small livestock?, root cellar?, getting garden ready for spring planting?

Get a Lehman's Catalog and shop to your heart's content.

Enjoy!

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), November 17, 1999.

APRIL --

We talked about that, and naturalluy I recommended some simple solutions, such as writing checks on the account to his married sisters and trustworthy employees, who would cash them for him. And indeed no doubt he could close the account and transfer it. The Gist of this bit of news, however, is [I ASSUME] that the Bank did not want to dedicate $120K of its cash reserves toward satisfying its obligations to one customer. Therefore: CAPPPED. At least as far as honoring its obligations when he sought a direct withdrawal.

Squirrl Huntr >"<

-- SH (squirrl@huntr.com), November 17, 1999.

Thanks for replying SH - personally I think the bank thing is about to escalate. I have never had trouble getting cash from my bank and now I get questions. They are nervous no doubt and for good reason. If you think about it - the banks are really doing a high wire balancing act without a net.

-- April (Alwzapril@home.com), November 17, 1999.

Congratulations (and respectful condolences)!

Some suggestions for last minute items when money is no (or little) object:

(1) If there's time (and enough money can almost *always* buy time ) definitely get a solar power system. It's fantastic, being completely independent for that vital element (having lived on mine for the past year - whole 2500 sq.ft. house sized system). If you don't know anything about it, EMail me and I can give you suggestions. Dunno if anyone can get one installed for you in time, but it'd put you miles ahead of the game.

(2) If your location isn't the best, re-locate STAT (and put the solar power sysytem at the new site).

(3) Got well(s)? If not, get 'em!

(4) By *far* the most quiet, dependable gasoline generator would be the new Honda EU ultra-quiet, invertor-equipped line (~58 dB - the same as a normal conversation). From 50-75 feet away, you can't hear them enough to be a recognizable signature. I have it's little brother (EU1001), and it's great - and quiet as a mouse. And Hondas seem to last longer than anything - short of diesel units.

Happy shopping - only 43 shopping days left!

Hugh

-- Hugh (hewiggins@mindspring.com), November 17, 1999.

Interesting... the system didn't seem to like the other set of braces I used in the following comment. Let's try it again another way:

(1) If there's time (and enough money can almost *always* buy time ... except THIS year...) definitely get a solar power system.

There - I'd hate to be judged as being so naive to think that money could buy time - THIS year...

I have my nose rubbed in it every day - I'm in the remediation efforts for a large, multi-national firm. What's that ominous ticking sound I keep hearing...

Hugh

-- Hugh (hewiggins@mindspring.com), November 17, 1999.

thanks for the responses. As for condolences, my aunt died in March of last year. She was 88, had lived a good long life and enjoyed herself. Famous family story about her: she was a tiny woman, 4'10", and probably weight about 90 lbs. During WWII she worked in the Hingham Shipyard in Massachusetts as a welder. She was one of the few who were small enough to crawl into the prow (?) to do seam welding there, or so the story goes, so she was invaluable. As a reward, she was given a 1942 Chrysler by management. She didn't know how to drive, so she gave it to one of her brothers.

As for my wife and her appreciation of my preps, she's mostly on board, although we did have a "warm" conversation regarding firearms tonight, as in, "How did we come to have five guns????" (It's a long story, an accident, basically. Two will be sold, soon, leaving us with three. Anyway...)

As for our location, we live in the country in a southern state, five miles from a town of 3000. Our house is located on a hill in small subdivision, each house with 5 acres. We don't have plans, oh, wait -- my four year old has just asked for assistance in the bathroom. I will do some wiping and be back in a jiffy.

-- Incognito (layinglow@thecrib.com), November 17, 1999.

Sorry. Back from wipin' a little butt.

Re: house and location: no plans to remove to a different location. I've got enough food set aside to help the neighborhood of a dozen families, if it comes to that. It has taxed me enough to work, have a family, do research and prep; I haven't been able to even think of the burdens of bugging out to another location. If I tried to handle that, too, I don't think I could hack it.

Re: rolling around naked on a whole roomful of Benjamins: Eeeeeyuuuuu! Money is nasty!! Germs germs germs. Gold coins might be more germ resistant, but 1 oz American Eagles would be awful heavy.

As for getting completely out of debt: thought about that, but probably won't. We'll leave the mortgage and student loans as they are. Interest is low and tax deductable. We've both got pretty secure jobs, so the prospect of being foreclosed upon is remote. If that were to happen, the in-laws would help out.

So the best ideas are probably solar, diesel truck, mountain bike (someone did mention that, right?), getting out of credit card debt and then ....... A big ole chunk is left over and we ..... just .... don't..... know.

Well, it's bath time for the little people. Thanks one and all.

-- Incognito (layinglow@thecrib.com), November 17, 1999.

Squirrl huntr - why ever would your PLUMBER be confiding his financial situation to you? Nevermind. Don't wanna/need to know. Anyhow... he could order gold/silver and have a bank wire to the coin dealer to pay for it. Win-win. Bank gets to deal with electrons and not give up hard cash and plumber gets COLD HARD REAL MONEY.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), November 18, 1999.