Surviving a Financial Meltdown

deMolay · Heavy Crude Joined: Sep 04, 2005 Posts: 499

Looks like the gains of the last 2 days has been wiped out. The classic suckers rally.......Link

patience · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1118

Update on the 401k check mess.

Our bank who has the depsoited check, says they don't know when it will clear. I said, I'll pay for a call to Citibank to find out. My bank called back and said Citi won't tell them anything because (Ihad forgotten that the fund manager changed from Putnam to Mercer last year), Mercer had a privacy hold on info, so Citi wasn't allowed to tell them anything.

My bank gave me a copy of the check, and a phone no. at Citi. My wife called Citi and after a runaround of a couple different phone no's., was told the same "privacy" story. My wife got the person's name and no., and offered to give it to our local TV station to explore the ramifications.

My wife, who owned the account, is now trying to contact Mercer to determine if the check has cleared. I don't yet know the outcome, but I know my wife. This mess will either get cleared up to her satisfaction, or the mess will expand beyond the wildest nightmares of all parties concerned.

All we want to know is, are the funds really there in our bank, or not?

Earlier today, I contacted our other bank that has our business account, and asked how do I find out when exactly, that a check has cleared. They told me that the clearing process normally takes about 2 weeks, HOWEVER, no one will commit to that, because the issuing bank has up to 60 days to clear their books, and in some case that I didn't understand, could take up to 2 YEARS. This bank comptroller told me that to avoid the mess, have the money wired to our bank. This will incur a fee of , about $25, but is probably worth it for the peace of mind.

Okay, 10 minutes later: Just now, my wife talked to Mercer, who assured her, and our local bank, that Citi had cleared the check. So, we do have the money.

The whole schema of entities involved here could lock up like a frozen lake, if a major glitch hits the bank system. Since it is all still functioning, we could have spent the money (we're gonna buy solar stuff) and had a problem later, which would fall back down the pipe from Mercer to Citi to our bank and land in our account as an overdraw!

I see no reason what ever to trust this bunch. My own business banker's advice was, "have them wire you the money, and get it in CASH!" Nuff said.

Iaato

patience · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1118

Addendum: My wife believes that, from to the timing of the events, Citi probably didn't clear the check until she called them, and stayed on them like a coat of paint.... Food for thought, the squeaky wheel gets the oil theory.

Pops

This thread has received 1,200 views since I started tracking a couple days ago – obviously much interest here.

Still I would like it to stay mostly “What I am doing” instead of what “Some Guy on the Internet is Saying”.

We could split the Some Guy stuff to another forum; perhaps Depletion or wherever and keep the “What I am doing” part here.

The deal in this forum isn’t convincing, but examples of doing.

Suggestions?
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threadbear · Expert Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 6779

Okay Pops...what I did to survive a financial meltdown, or one of the things, anyway.

I'm interested in Patience's post because I had similar difficulties having money wired, yes, wired out of the US into my Canadian account.

Wiring of funds, out of the country,apparently, has to go through the Bank of America, and that's where the funds stalled out. For some reason the Bank could not wire them into Canada...however that didn't stop them from sitting on the funds for 2 weeks, while we twisted in the wind and the Canadian dollar strengthened against the American. Their foot dragging cost us close to 2,000.00.

And here again is a case, like Patience's experience, where we had to scream bloody murder to the intermediate bank that initiated the transfer, before we got any action.

We ended up getting a check from the escrow company for the property we'd sold through the mail! The escrow company advised us to use govt post, as Fed Ex and other courier companies have had a flurry of missing documents and parcels lately! That's another thing that put my teeth positively on edge.

We sold this little property in the U.S, because we were worried about the devaluation of the American dollar against the Canadian, we live in Canada.

I was also very worried about an institution of capital flight law. It occurred to me, that, if tshtf, even if we could sell this American property we might be unable get the money out of the U.S. Our experience seemed like an actual foreshadowing of that possibility.

So my advice....if you are holding real estate out of your own country and wish to sell, it's probably best to DO IT NOW, as I can see a confluence of political problems, economic problems and out and out fraud coalescing in a terrible way.

Pops

seahorse2 · Expert Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 1769

One man's advice on what to do with your overpriced home that is sinking in value and taking you with it - walk away!

Pops

patience · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1118

What we have done, trying to stay one jump ahead of the banking devils:

We front-ran any financial meltdown by cleaning out the retirement accounts, except for one stuck until age 65, which we put in US treasuries. Bought a new freezer and have it half full of meat. The rest is still on the hoof, but arranged for.
Filled the business stocks of consumables and retail sales goods, leaving the minimum in both business and personal checking accounts. We have drawn out cash for a year's (2 years or more, if we're careful) worth of expenses, stashed in a friend's safe and elsewhere. Stashed a lot of canned goods, canning equipment. Next year's garden seeds, fertilizer, and supplies are on hand, along with tools of all sorts. Those moves were to guard against bank system failure, and preserve capital in a neutral to deflationary time.

One daughter is forted up pretty well on her own, and is presently cleaning out our spare rooms in case her sister, or other family needs it. We have a self-reliant network of customers and lifelong friends that are dependable and offer a wide variety of skills and resources. We're 30 miles from a big city.

Knowing the state of our community pretty well from business dealings, and having secured the necessities, including minimum electrical needs and a stash of fuel, I'm looking for the next step.

That's all good, but I know better than to just get the popcorn ready for the show.

I need a better plan to deal with inflation, if that's the govt's choice of end game. I don't think gold is right for us, preferring something more liquid in the boonies. I've considered going maybe 30% of cash into junk US silver coins, because they have never been confiscated, and are recognized more widely here than gold. I'd like to hear ideas on inflation hedges, maybe tradeable goods?

threadbear · Expert Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 6779

The silver sounds like a good idea, Patience.

joeltrout

For the last 2 weeks I have slowly been moving money into all sectors of the markets except commodities. Many companies are being dragged down by all the bad news while nothing is wrong. Some companies are even reporting great earnings, HON, MOT, etc...

I think those who are pulling their money out right now will miss out on a huge opportunity and be taking big losses at the same time.

joeltrout
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ENERGY is the basis of our industrial civilization and sustains our standard of living. It is the foundation stone of our national wealth. A nation starved of energy.....will be a nation of starving people.

katkinkate

I'm from Australia and so am removed from the American crisis, but I have taken some precautions. I expect Australian financial climate (along with the rest of the world) to be affected somewhat by an American crash, so I have invested about 2/3 of my small savings in gold/silver to take advantage of the coming PM bubble. I've prepaid my rent a couple of months ahead and plan to stay ahead for a while and I've withdrawn enough spending cash for a couple of months and will keep it topped up. I'm not 'expecting' much of a banking crisis here in Ausy, but Macquarrie was found to be over-'exposed' to the mortgage crisis in US and I'm not sure how vulnerable the Credit Union I keep my money in actually is, so I'm giving myself some wriggle room, just in case. Oh and I keep a month or so of staples on hand in the kitchen, and just top up on fresh stuff each week or so.
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seahorse · Expert Joined: Oct 15, 2004 Posts: 2003 Location: Arkansas

Well, the rich are also being advised now to prepare for a meltdown. They are advised to buy remote farmland and stocking it with FOOD and other essentials, including guns. Same stuff we've been saying on this thread and this planning forum for years.

Pops