# Preppers Pop Quiz



## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Ok fellow preppers, now I know we are all different, but please play along as I'm just curious and doing some home work,

The question is this quiz is:

You have just been given $2,000 in cash. You don't need this money for any normal living expenses, retirement,
or anything else and in fact its best put to being better prepared. However you need to take some action with it
and that gives you a multiple choice selection:

1) Keep it in an envelope in the mattress or some other safe place (figuratively) in cash?
2) Buy a used pick up truck or SUV because *all you have a is a car*.
3) Buy a Springfield M1A, 5 magazine and 500 rounds of ammo because you *have no firearm like that*,
4) Buy one gold American Eagle 1 oz coins and 10 Morgan silver dollars, because *you have no PMs*,
5) Buy 5 acres of bug out rural property close to a stream with some arable "spots" to grow on
because without it you have *no place to retreat too but home and bugging in doesn't look good*.

Which of those five would you choose - please note the reason behind each - not necessarily your position.

My answer FYI on all of those was all five - over different periods of time  I'm just curious which ONE
would you hit first under the circumstances?


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## survival (Sep 26, 2011)

Hands down #5. And if you tell me where I can get 5 acres for 2 grand, then I'd be all over that.

And of course it all depends on your situation as well as what you personally feel will increase or decrease in value. Personally, the land would be my first grab for that kind of money.


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## Denver (Nov 16, 2012)

1. Not cash
2. Have a Jeep
3. Have a 30-06
4. Cant' eat coins
5. Johnny we have a winner. The main prep I want is a BOL that I can call my own. Garden and pistol range first, then the sky is the limit.


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## wesley762 (Oct 23, 2012)

Number 5, I have cash in hand right now where is it at and it's a done deal.


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Yo Denver thanks for playing but this was a quiz not about your position in life but the authors. 
Each answer was followed by their particular situation - which doesn't match yours 



Denver said:


> 1. Not cash
> 2. Have a Jeep
> 3. Have a 30-06
> 4. Cant' eat coins
> 5. Johnny we have a winner. The main prep I want is a BOL that I can call my own. Garden and pistol range first, then the sky is the limit.


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Come on guys getting 5 acres for 2k isn't that hard - maybe in your neck of the woods but I've seen 5 acre parcels in my area for 1400/1800 dollars
and yes there are creeks, springs and in fact you gotta be care ful with some - they are under water a few times a year. (its desert land but much of it
is arable)


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## wesley762 (Oct 23, 2012)

Ripon said:


> Come on guys getting 5 acres for 2k isn't that hard - maybe in your neck of the woods but I've seen 5 acre parcels in my area for 1400/1800 dollars
> and yes there are creeks, springs and in fact you gotta be care ful with some - they are under water a few times a year. (its desert land but much of it
> is arable)


In the Area that I am looking at where I live, quarter acer size lots are going for 10k to 15k. a guy I work with just sold a acer out in the sticks for almost 100k and it was empty lot. Most land in Idaho is going for a premium right now........


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## Infidel (Dec 22, 2012)

Ripon said:


> Come on guys getting 5 acres for 2k isn't that hard - maybe in your neck of the woods but I've seen 5 acre parcels in my area for 1400/1800 dollars
> and yes there are creeks, springs and in fact you gotta be care ful with some - they are under water a few times a year. (its desert land but much of it
> is arable)


You can't buy 1 acre here for $2000 not that I would buy it anyway but it'd be nice if property were that cheap here. If there were 5 acres in a convenient bug out location for 2k I'd jump on it. By convenient I mean it needs to be a driveable distance, I'd want to be able to get there in a hurry.

-Infidel


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## bennettvm (Jan 5, 2013)

If society falls apart - cash is worthless - actually is isn't worth much now lol. I have plenty of guns/ammo, a bug out vehicle, silver coins. 

I would stay on my property/house as long as possible, but I would want the land for a bug out location and hunting on the weekends.

So I would purchase the land.


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## rickkyw1720pf (Nov 17, 2012)

I am prepared enough that I would just keep it in cash, if I thought the buying land was a reasonable option in Kentucky I would add another $10k to it. I know a lot of preppers are against keeping cash but since you never know what is to come having 2k in cash could be a life saver. If the electrical grid or a cyber attach (one shut all the banks down in South Korea) happened, that 2k in cash would help you buy things that would be the most useful for that particular SHTF event.


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## Fuzzee (Nov 20, 2012)

It depends on your situation. What you've got already in firearms, where you'd bug out too, where the land would be. I certainly wouldn't take paper money and save it if you could use it elsewhere and you can't eat coins. You can invest in them for long term crash savings if you can keep them safe long term, but not when you could use other things instead in preps. I'd go for the truck if my car was a modern, sensor ridden compact that couldn't barely handle a dirt road and buy a good condition, pre-sensor/pcm, carburated F100 or F150. Than work to make it tops. Or the M1A if I didn't have any guns as good in hitting power, capacity and reliability. If I had that and the land was in a good location, than the land. If you can't get to it safely and defend it, it wouldn't be much good though.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Ok, I own my land, I have my guns, I don't trust the dollar to be worth anything before the SHTF so my best option would be to exchange it for precious metals to pay the taxes on my land.

How many of you have forgotten that after three years of no taxes you lose your land?


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Just wanted to remind, on the question, its not about how prepared you are now and what you would do of those things now. My gosh I'm sure some of you have it all covered and would not need to do any of those 5 things. My question is based upon the situation presnted - meaning you have no other cash, you have no other solid transportation (except a car), no other weapon like the M1A, no metals, and of course no property to bug out too.


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## Fuzzee (Nov 20, 2012)

Ripon said:


> Just wanted to remind, on the question, its not about how prepared you are now and what you would do of those things now. My gosh I'm sure some of you have it all covered and would not need to do any of those 5 things. My question is based upon the situation presnted - meaning you have no other cash, you have no other solid transportation (except a car), no other weapon like the M1A, no metals, and of course no property to bug out too.


You'll have to pick the one which would serve you most at the point you're at. I'd say the M1A, but it's still going to be a investment of more cash for ammo to feed it even if you could get a nice M1A and a dozen mags for the $2000. Unless you've got a deal already for that M1A, 5 mags and 500 rounds. Of course if you can't handle carry and using it like many people can't, than it might not be the best option. 5 mags isn't much.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

So what you are really asking is which is most important in our minds.....

Cash is worthless unless you spend it before the SHTF so car, gun, metals or land.
The average family car gets better mileage than an SUV and $2k won't get much anyway.
The gun could be an important addition if you didn't have any semi-auto but if you have a hunting rifle in 30 caliber you really don't NEED the other so +1
the precious metals will protect you from inflation and might buy your way out of a crisis situation but it also might get you killed so +2 -1 total +1
The land - well $2k will only buy an acre around here but if you can hang on to it it does what the gold and silver does and gives you a place to dig in and protect youself so I will give it +3 but you might lose it to unpaid taxes half way through so -1 total +2
In my opinion the land is the best use of the money.

Is that the kind of evaluation and answer you were looking for?


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## grinder37 (Mar 1, 2013)

My money,in your given situation,would be on the truck/suv.You can haul more and get to more places ruling out the need to buy property.How would you know your new property is any safer than where you're at now?Everybody is gonna have the same idea of "heading to the hills".If you have some guns,you have personal protection unless you plan to be a one man army,even most gangs will scatter with a few well placed warning shots or by dropping one of them,they're not gonna ask if thats an M1,which would/could buy you the time needed to evade your mobile BOL with vehicle and gear intact,to fight another day,hence me choosing the truck/suv.I'm also in the "you can't eat coins" gang.Bullets and food will be the new currency.A pack of cigarettes or bottle of booze would barter for more than silver.IMO


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Thank you - Yes Paul that is the kind of info I am looking for. I recognize how different we all are; and how little value some 
might put on various things and how much value we might put on others. This is clearly a different answer for everyone, but 
in the circumstances I described I wanted to know what preppers were thinking. 

The thing is my dad bought land in the 1970's and its been in the family sense. Land for me was never a necessity. I could
not fairly evaluate how preppers might feel about buying land. After reading some of the posts here I did check, and yes there
is a 5 acre parcel for sale with a listing price of $4500 near Denio Junction which is my neck of the woods - that is the asking
price. I know the folks who own it - $2k might buy it - $2500 most certainly will. Depends on why Jack wants the money? 

Oddly enough two of the items important to most were last on the list for me - the M1A and the Truck. Only because I sold
my SUV a month or so ago and got a great price for it - reason I sold it. After selling that I decided to buy a used F150 that
was only $2k. And shortly after that I traded an AR (extra) I had for an M1A. I could have bought it for about $2k but 
managed to pull off a better trade and keep the cash. I bought the metals a few years ago - only because I was stoked in
silver and hand no gold. I had accumulated enough silver in the 1980's and early 90's but had no gold so I decided to 
exchange about 2k worth of silver for the gold ounce and Morgans. Off and on I've kept 2k around as an emergency fund.
Still do.


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

Ripon said:


> Ok fellow preppers, now I know we are all different, but please play along as I'm just curious and doing some home work,
> 
> The question is this quiz is:
> 
> ...


I've got all but #4 covered, and I don't see coins as being particularly useful until things start to recover. I'd have have to go with #5 as being the most useful, even though I think five acres for 2000 bucks is highly optomistic. Well at least in this area...you might be able to buy an acre of scab rock for 2000, add a zero to that and it'll get you can a postage stamp sized building lot. Even with the housing market tanking and nobody building anything...lots are expensive...

I did see some very inexpensive lots in northern Nevada, yet on closer inspection they wouldn't be useful for anything other than a wind/solar farm or fallout bunker...


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## JAGER (Oct 10, 2012)

#3 for me Ripton, Reason being if you don't have a means to protect yourself and/or your property, then it will be taken in a SHTF situation. Get a M1 or AR what ever your fancy is and spend the rest on ammo and PMs.


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## Verteidiger (Nov 16, 2012)

Nice concept for a thread, Ripon.

Based on the hypothetical options you present, I would say get the Springfield M1A, 5 mags, and 500 rounds of ammo.

In prepping for when the SHTF, money will have initial value only, until people discover it has lost its value. Today cash is king, when SHTF it will get dethroned quickly (by food and water). 

Vehicles will be valuable somewhat, but driving will be risky - even if you are a moving target; I ride motorcycles on the street and I live by one cardinal rule when I ride - DEATH WAITS AT EVERY INTERSECTION. That will also be the case when SHTF, if your vehicle still runs.

Land at that price won't be worth having - and therefore not worth defending. If SHTF, and massive loss of life has occurred, there will be lots of land with no owners to protect it (since they're dead), and there is rural land that is public. So I would pass on the land.

Precious metals are better than cash, so that would be my second choice. It will be the coin of the realm anywhere, but in SHTF, I think ammo displaces it as a barter item, and food and water. People have to live, and eat and drink. Ammo gets you food and protects you while you eat. I expect that when SHTF, I will be swapping ammo for PM, for people I trust or in a barter/trading swap-meet/street-market reemerging economy.

So, since you say I have no weapon like a semi-auto high-caliber self-defense rifle, and in a SHTF world gone mad, it would be my first item to buy. With it, I can defend my family, myself, and my current position. With it I can acquire food. With it I can commandeer vehicles, obtain precious metals, and take over land and hold it if no one else can win the real world game of king of the hill.

This assumes a Without Rule of Law scenario, I should add.

So, I'd get the M1A. In truth and in fact, when I started out on this journey as a dedicated preparer/prepper/survivalist, it was the first rifle I bought. 

Again, nice thread concept, Ripon!


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## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

Ripon said:


> 5) Buy 5 acres of bug out rural property close to a stream with some arable "spots" to grow on
> because without it you have *no place to retreat too but home and bugging in doesn't look good*


I'd plump for that one if it was a *longterm* emergency because hopefully I'd be able to grow enough food to stay alive forever. 
Nos 1-4 will be zilch use to anybody if they're starving to death, because we can't eat guns, vehicles, gold or money..


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

So you are saying:
I have a small car, no guns, no precious metal, no where to bug out to and bugging in is a bad idea due to weather / criminal / disease / other reason.
You are giving me $2000 to solve one or all of these problems. What do I do?

*BUY LUBE BECAUSE I'M F-K'D!*

Honestly, its a toss up on land and weapons. I'll go weapon. When SHTF, I can always bug out to a place I don't own and squat. A gun provides protein and security and it goes with me. If the land is compromised, I can't take it with me.


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## Blademaker (Feb 22, 2013)

survival said:


> Hands down #5. And if you tell me where I can get 5 acres for 2 grand, then I'd be all over that.
> 
> And of course it all depends on your situation as well as what you personally feel will increase or decrease in value. Personally, the land would be my first grab for that kind of money.


I agree.


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## Montana Rancher (Mar 4, 2013)

I pick the M1A if you had none of the above and wanted to invest $2k.

I would buy one of these:

Amazon.com: FLIR Scout PS24 240x180 monocular 7.5Hz, NTSC: Sports & Outdoors

I know, its off the subject, but what the heck.


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Thank you, yes its a different kind of hypothetical since I can't relate and was just curious how people thought. I can't relate since my family has owned land to bug out too since I was 11 years old. Also I obtained PM's as a teenager and just beyond and have always kept some around, and we've always been in LE or regular hunters so while I didn't have an M1A I had other weapons available, and until I sold my SUV recently I always had a pick up or SUV - it was just hard for me to relate to the question at hand and it came up with a friend in church last weekend so I wanted to ask what others thought. Thanks.



Verteidiger said:


> Nice concept for a thread, Ripon.
> 
> Based on the hypothetical options you present, I would say get the Springfield M1A, 5 mags, and 500 rounds of ammo.
> 
> ...


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## Fuzzee (Nov 20, 2012)

Lucky Jim said:


> I'd plump for that one if it was a *longterm* emergency because hopefully I'd be able to grow enough food to stay alive forever.
> Nos 1-4 will be zilch use to anybody if they're starving to death, because we can't eat guns, vehicles, gold or money..


Guns can get you food and protect you. So nobody kills you and takes your land, kills you and takes your truck, kills you and takes your gold, kills you and kills your family. After their done with them and you. The land won't matter much at that point. I've got a feeling when shi* does hit the fan, Britian's are going to feel what I mean by that. And I absolutely hope it does not befall you Jim.


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## Coachbrittanyk (Mar 22, 2013)

Well, I have a feeling cash won't mean much so won't keep just the cash. We have 2 old pick up trucks, both without electric start, and no need to buy 5 acres of property because I live on 6 out in Montana and have all the natural requirements like water and wildlife right outside my door. The options for me would be to either buy gold, or more ammo. or one thing, though it was not an option listed for you, was start an aquaponics garden.


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## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

Montana Rancher said:


> ..I would buy one of these:
> Amazon.com: FLIR Scout PS24 240x180 monocular 7.5Hz, NTSC: Sports & Outdoors


Yeah if you can see in the dark and the zombs cant, it kinda gives you an edge..
Mind you that's a super-duper Infra-Red job in the link which is why it comes in at a hefty $1900 bucks, you can get an Image-Intensifier type (green glow) much cheaper


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## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

Fuzzee said:


> Guns can get you food and protect you. So nobody kills you and takes your land, kills you and takes your truck, kills you and takes your gold, kills you and kills your family. After their done with them and you. The land won't matter much at that point. I've got a feeling when shi* does hit the fan, Britian's are going to feel what I mean by that. And I absolutely hope it does not befall you Jim.


Britain's a 99.99% gun-free country mate so when SHTF we won't have any gun-toting gangs running riot over here, it'll be primitive warfare on both sides with sharp sticks and cricket bats.. 
Anyway guns won't guarantee food, for example Rogers Rangers nearly starved in fertile upstate NY because there wasn't much game about, and the Donner wagon train party had to eat each other in a Rocky Mt winter


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## Fuzzee (Nov 20, 2012)

Lucky Jim said:


> Britain's a 99.99% gun-free country mate so when SHTF we won't have any gun-toting gangs running riot over here, it'll be primitive warfare on both sides with sharp sticks and cricket bats..
> Anyway guns won't guarantee food, for example Rogers Rangers nearly starved in fertile upstate NY because there wasn't much game about, and the Donner wagon train party had to eat each other in a Rocky Mt winter


Nothings guaranteed Jim, but most jobs are easier with the right tools. Some jobs can't be done without them. 99.99% is great if that's what you want. Though not everyone plays by the rules and anyone with a halfway good machine shop can make guns if they wanted to, and had the knowhow when those rules don't mean anything anymore. That's really when you need a gun in my opinion. Afterall people can make zip guns out of basic things. One good club to a cops head when distracted can help in the gun acquisition search too. Or an arrow, or a rock, or fists. I think all you'll really have is a small percentage with guns ruling the larger percentage who bent over, said "thanks for the reach around" and turned theirs in.


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## Verteidiger (Nov 16, 2012)

Lucky Jim said:


> Anyway guns won't guarantee food, for example Rogers Rangers nearly starved in fertile upstate NY because there wasn't much game about, and the Donner wagon train party had to eat each other in a Rocky Mt winter


Jim, first of all, glad you are back. Your posts are always entertaining. Second, you Brits have been without guns for too long already - guns may not guarantee food, but I can't catch a rabbit by hand or on foot, so a gun helps a lot. Third, the Donner party cannibals were trapped in the area of the Sierra Nevada mountains, near Lake Tahoe, on the California/Nevada border, close to a town called Truckee, near Truckee Lake (now Donner Lake), not the Rocky Mountains - but since you are our honorary Brit, you get a free pass on that.

And again, welcome back, you "cheeky monkey" you! Fancy a spot of tea, now, I do.


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