You should prepare now.

I seriously don’t feel like writing this article.

I often get called a doom-and-gloomer. Even though I spend a great deal of time writing high-value and oftentimes funny blog posts along with the vast amounts of time I spend interviewing people.

But I have a sense of responsibility. Even if my fear of being wrong and ruining my own reputation weighs heavily on me. And I could be wrong.

Some of my blog posts garner many tens of thousands of views and it’s those people I want to be able to reach. In a way, I will be honest, I am selfish because I don’t want to have the feeling of regret for not making this post.

With that out of the way…read the following words very carefully. Understand them. You don't have to like them or even agree with them. But read them. What you do after is up to you.

The complete collapse of the US Dollar based global economy is imminent.

This is going to affect everyone.

Yes, that means you.

Rich, poor, or somewhere in the middle, it does not matter. It will affect you whether you like it or not. You cannot run, you cannot hide. This touches all of us.

It will affect some people more than others and for some it will have devasting, never to return from consequences, while for others it’ll merely be slightly uncomfortable for a short period of time.’

What you do now may put you in a slightly better position. I make no promises.

Time is running out.

Evidence.

The cost of everything is up and continuing to rise.

The cost of gasoline as my American friends call it, or as we call it here in Australia, petrol, is up all over the world. You’ve seen the news reports, videos, Tweets, and posts. I don’t need to make that case. It’s obvious.

Food, materials, it’s all up.

US inflation is at a 40-year high and costs continue to rise. In Australia, we were at a 20-year high just 2 months ago but are now seeing 30-year highs. And it was just reported yesterday that they are expecting it to continue to rise.

Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has warned Australians to brace for higher than expected interest rates, as inflation soars to levels unseen in 32 years.

Let me be very clear. This is not stopping any time soon. The global reserve currency, the US dollar, its value is dropping and continues to do so.

Some of the reasons everything is going up. Aside from the Dollar going down.

When fuel prices are up, everything goes up.

I will not go into a long-winded diatribe about oil. Just understand if fuel costs more, everything that requires fuel will also cost more. It is as simple as that.

Money printing. The US printed almost half the money it has ever printed, since the inception of the current US Dollar, in the last 2 years.

Some people argue that money printing does not necessarily raise inflation and there are good arguments for that. But it does produce an undeniable effect, especially when combined with other problems or the fact that a lot of that money was artificially pumping up the stock market, crypto market, and the many companies that produce goods and services that have their value directly tied to these markets.

Remember when the stock market was at an all-time high, and Billionaires made more money than they had ever made meanwhile we were all in Covid lockdowns and small business was crumbling? Like I said, undeniable.

When consumer goods cost more, people spend less.

I have seen arguments made for people spending less of their own money, with their debit cards and more on credit, but I do not believe that is happening right now. I think debt and credit at the consumer level are running on fumes and so I will not make the argument that people are spending more with their credit cards because I do not have evidence for that right now.

What I do have evidence for is that global debt is at an all-time high of $226 Trillion. And with it, that means personal debt too. In the US credit card debt hit an all-time high of $930 billion.

In Australia, we have one of the highest household debts in the world, only behind Switzerland. Not something to be proud of.

When the price of necessities go up, food, fuel, and energy. Spending goes down.

Interest rates.

As I touched on above. Debt up until now was cheap, super cheap. Pre and during Covid, interest rates were at all-time lows. In Australia, they were as low as 0.1%, and in the US, they were near zero.

In fact, money has been so cheap, that some people have said that there must be some unofficial, unwritten rule called a ‘Fed-Put’ which is designed to continue pumping the markets with cheap money.

Fast forward to today.

The US Fed has just announced that it is raising interest rates by 0.75 percentage points. And in Australia, our Reserve Bank hiked rates by 50 basis points to 0.85% just a little over a week ago and some are speculating that after this US-based news the Reserve Bank of Australia will hike rates again.

It's the same story all over the world for the most part.

Jobs. The cherry on top.

The final piece is job growth or lack thereof.

Continuing on with using examples from both the United States and Australia. Both countries are seeing job growth slow. The ABC in Australia recently reported a halt in jobs growth and in the US your ABC reported job growth slowing which to be honest probably means it's much worse in reality.

What do you think is going to continue to happen when costs continue to rise and people spend less? It’s obvious. Less new jobs created as a whole.

What about crypto?

As a crypto blogger, and you a crypto enthusiast, do I really need to write about the world’s largest cryptocurrency falling about 70% since its record high of $69,000 in November to $20,000? Do I really need to report Terra Luna crashed 99.9%? Or that Celsius is walking on very hot, very uneven shaky ground as I write this and potentially causing cascading liquidations in the crypto world with the words ‘bankruptcy’ being thrown around…?

What to do.

I think I have succinctly made the case that the proverbial sh*t has hit the fan.

All costs are up and are seemingly not stopping, inflation is up and will continue to go up, job growth is down and will continue to go down, markets are down, and interest rates are up and will likely continue to go up.

This is a perfect money storm.

What you should do should be blatantly obvious. It should not require a list. It should not even require any explanation. If you can read and understand everything I have told you so far, much of which you probably already knew you should be able to devise a safety plan.

Here is what I am personally doing.

I called my bank yesterday and fixed the interest rates on my home loan. I decided to pay an extra $120 a fortnight for 2 years. I decided to pay an upfront fee of $200 and I decided to agree to a new contract where if I end it before the 2-year period I might pay a fee in the thousands or potentially tens of thousands of dollars.

Why would I do such a thing? Because I am putting my money where my mouth is. I think interest rates are going to continue to go up, all signals I am seeing show me this. I also believe the Australian housing market should be pretty stable and not see too dramatic a drop.

I am cutting spending.

Sorry kids, no more new video games.

My smart TV box died yesterday. I didn’t buy a new one and when I do eventually buy one, it’ll cost less than the one I had before. The holiday we were thinking of taking to Thailand is being put on hold. All unnecessary spending is being put on hold.

Saving.

I earn pretty good money from my day job and I earn some additional money from my writing, blogging, and marketing activities. Usually what I do is reinvest any extra money I make back into my side-hustle. A portion of this will now be put aside. In the last 2 weeks alone I have been able to set aside $1000.

Isn’t this contrary though? If I am saying that the US Dollar and connected currencies and economies will be affected why would I save fiat dollars? This is a great question and to be honest, I do not know the answer. I know they are working on CBDCs and that money wars are currently happening. But I do not have a crystal ball and so I am spreading my bets.

I am also considering getting back into gold and silver (I used to hoard it until my kids told their friends that their dad has treasure..).

Side hustles, second jobs.

As you would be aware, I write this blog and I am also a verified contributor to Hacker Noon. I am paid by Medium directly and I am paid via my work on Hacker Noon indirectly as well as opportunities coming to me in the form of people asking me to audit, review, write or re-write work for them. This includes website copy, emails, articles, blog posts, and more.

Investing in myself.

While I am saving and cutting spending that does not mean I am not investing in myself. I continue to pay for access to crypto newsletters and alert services(I am an affiliate and I get paid a commission). I continue to learn and spend at least a few hours each week reading and watching things that help me grow and will add to my bottom line.

Recently one of those things is , she has a website and email newsletter too and writes about money-making niche websites.

Continue to stock up.

My mother-in-law who is from East Germany (they say there is no longer a difference between East and West, there is) has always stocked canned and jarred foods. I have followed in her footsteps and while I understand that having some extra 2-minute noodles and canned Tuna on hand is not going to likely make the world of difference, it might.

It is one of those ‘plan for the best, prepare for the worst’ situations. I’d rather know I have an extra gas bottle on-hand, I’d rather know I have batteries, candles, canned food, water, powdered milk, and medicine.

When the toilet paper crisis (hilarious) hit Australia during the Covid lockdowns and people were punching the crap out of one another (pun intended) I was feeling very relaxed and comfortable knowing my wife buys toilet paper in bulk.

And if I was relying heavily on fuel (I don't) you best believe I’d be stocking up on that too. This goes for baby formula too. Whatever it is that you rely on, if the price has gone up or other is a chance that supply chains may be ruptured and your thing may not be available, buy it now.

Preparing for the tide to turn.

Everything is cyclical. What goes up, usually comes down, no matter how much fake, inflated money is pumping it up, in fact, usually it just makes the coming down part more spectacular. When the market and the price of whatever it is you like to invest in reaches the bottom, look around you, dust yourself off, and maybe recognize that is the best time to jump back on the horse.

That is exactly what I am doing.

And so while this post might come across as a little doom and gloomy. The future overall, I am positive about it and you should be too.

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Andrei R, 🔥Crypto Fireside

P.S. This is not financial advice, DYOR.
P.P.S I do not own any of the currencies mentioned.

This article was originally published here.