[tisdadd]

It is indeed. I know there are not as many who lived through the great depression now, but really cannot blame those who don't trust the banks. Also feel like we get taxed way more than we should be with many things getting taxed multiple times... Going to stop before going full rant. Innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around...

[eru]

> Also feel like we get taxed way more than we should be with many things getting taxed multiple times...

Getting taxed multiple times isn't necessarily bad, it's the overall burden (and deadweight loss!) that matters.

In any case, you could try moving to a lower tax jurisdiction? (And giving up your American passport, if you have any.)

[sethammons]

Giving up citizenship is also a taxable event

[eru]

Yes, but it's a one-time thing, isn't it?

[ethbr1]

People who don't trust banks don't understand fiat money, fractional reserve banking, and inflationary monetary policy.

[1970-01-01]

Banks can crash faster than you can adapt. It can be extremely hard to physically get to your savings money in a crisis.

[JumpCrisscross]

> can be extremely hard to physically get to your savings money in a crisis

Having spare cash around is never a bad idea. But there are precious few timelines in which the banking system collapses so completely that savings are inaccessible for extended periods (or at all) but paper U.S. dollars continue to hold value.

[alexey-salmin]

No one expects it to hold 100% of value, but even 10% of say $50k could be very helpful to live through the few months of the turmoil. Or to get to that foreign real estate which people recommend buying in comments on HN.

[JumpCrisscross]

> even 10% of say $50k could be very helpful to live through the few months of the turmoil. Or to get to that foreign real estate

Genuinely curious for a single example of a collapsing country's fiat currency being useful for extradition.

If this is actually your fail case, hold foreign currency.

[alexey-salmin]

Well it's one of the tail cases, so all things considered both local currency and foreign currencies are useful, each in it's own quality. So is a foreign currency in a foreign bank.

[nine_k]

If you want to prevent your cash from getting eaten by inflation, park it in an index fund, T-notes, etc.

If you want to have a reserve for a case when things go badly wrong, banks all go under, government can't bail them out, etc, then park some of your cash in yuan and rupee, in a piece of overseas realty, in gold bullion, and don't forget to invest in medical supplies, shells, and other such gear.

Different views of the future risks drive different decisions.

[ethbr1]

A bank failure + deposit insurance bust is a tail risk.

Inflation is a constant.

(And to pre-add, precious metals haven't historically been a great hedge either, when benchmarked against investing in economic growth)

[waveBidder]

if FDIC is going down you have way worse problems than mere access to cash

[alexey-salmin]

"Mere access to cash" means access to food, which is one of the worst problems you can ever get.

[waveBidder]

with FDIC gone? unlikely, in such a case the dollar will probably have lost value as a means of exchange, if only temporarily

[alexey-salmin]

We understand, we also understand that all these mechanisms fail every once in a while.