Prepare Your Financial Future

Project: Pioneer #78, March 17, 2025 Monday 9am

Project: Pioneer is the live weekly reality journal of a couple and their small dog as they leave their ‘normal’ life in a luxury apartment for a new semi-off grid life in a small recreational vehicle. We cover prepping, politics, spirituality, afterlife, RV life, and personal finance. Half of all subscription/donation money goes to The National Alliance to End Homelessness, the other half pays for expenses. You can listen to the audio podcast version of this journal at Substack, Apple, Spotify, PocketCasts and others.

Listen to the audio above for our new theme music, Stormy Blues by Arne Bang Huseby. Please share this post!

Don’t despair—prepare.

Photo by John Moeses Bauan on Unsplash

I remember way back in the day, when it would be unthinkable that you would work hard all your life for a company and not have a pension for your retirement years. That got blown up when the thing about working for one company your whole career went away, for various reasons. They acclimated us to the idea of not having a pension real quick, since we had no choice but acclimate. “You have your Social Security, after all, and this new thing called a 401k plan.” Now, we’re being “acclimated” to not having Social Security, or Medicare for that matter. Read on for the reasons this is happening, and most importantly, how you can prepare. Unlike most “sky is falling” journals, this one actually tells you what to do. You already know the sky is falling.

Pioneer Update

Saturday was another visitation day at our White House pioneer covered wagon RV. It’s good to visit her, and we miss her. With each visit, we’re unwinding the systems of our former full-time life there and transitioning them to our new humble abode. She knows the time may come soon when we’re back to her, and on the run. We’re careful to leave as much in place as possible to that purpose.

We built our raised bed garden and look forward to planting as soon as we return from our overseas trip, which we leave for on Friday.

Why This Is Happening

Quite often, people ask, “Why is this happening? Why are they dismantling the government? Let’s take one example—Social Security. The plan is to make using it so insufferably miserable that people start to hate it enough to welcome the new plan—privatizing it. There’s almost $3 trillion in the SS trust fund. If you don’t think endlessly greedy folks like Trump and Musk aren’t salivating over all that money, you’re a fool (sorry). Rinse, wash, repeat for veteran’s health benefits, Medicaid, Medicare, public education, forest/national park management, and other things our government does for its citizens, as it should in any developed, functional democracy.

You might say these government agencies, like Social Security and the VA, already suck. That’s because the staffs are undertrained, underpaid, and overworked. Sure, there’s an average 15 minute hold time when calling SS. Trump and Musk just tried to cancel the phone system completely—disabled people and elderly folks who can’t drive to an office be damned. Remember—through all disasters we’ve experienced in the almost one hundred years of Social Security, the checks never stopped. When I was under VA veteran health care, I received very good treatment from very compassionate providers. That’s about to end. The system needs to be improved, not decapitated. Always remember—the happiest countries in the world have a better version of what we have. The most unhappy and miserable have what we’re racing headlong toward.

Trump and Musk will push the idea of having “smart” money managers taking that Social Security money and managing it under some corporate umbrella. They’ll likely invest it in their own stuff, right? How would you feel if your future SS monies were invested in Tesla stock right now?

Elon would feel wonderful, but, note that it’s in the toilet. A sweet bailout of Tesla stock with SS trust fund money would fix that problem, same as they’re trying to do with crypto currencies and their “Sovereign Wealth Fund.” That’s in the tank lately as well. Everything Trump Touches Dies. It’s a taint of evil. Same with Trump’s social media company, which never made any money, and Musk taking Twitter from $44 billion of worth to basically nothing. Your SS payments will likely depend on how those investments are doing, and no longer be guaranteed. The SS system will be as scammy as the annuity and permanent life insurance business, and probably sold to overseas private equity, where there’s little regulation, oversight, or compliance obligation.

Have a look at our privatized health care system. It’s the most expensive in the world, with the worst health outcomes. We’re sicker and die sooner than other developed countries, and that’s a disgrace. Suffering and death should never be a for-profit business. But we’re stuck with it, as the health insurance CEOs get paid tens of millions of dollars and they place their company names on major sports stadiums.

Soon, when these government agencies are dismantled and sold off to the billionaire oligarchs that now run the country, our government will be a tiny shell of itself. What happens then? It’s a much easier target for takeover, which is the ultimate goal in all this. Then it will be a fait accompli, a system very much like Russia, where the ruler is massively wealthy, firmly locked into power, and protected by a small class of oligarchs by making sure their loyalty is well rewarded with that former government money. Anyone that steps out of line is brutally and publicly executed, sometimes by falling out of top story hotel windows or poisoning by polonium/Novichok nerve agents.

What to Do

In the near term, expect disruptions in all these government services as they break them and make them miserable to use. Build up your emergency fund and expect tax refund, Social Security, disability, and other government checks to just not show up. Be prepared for that. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

Cut your spending as you would when a disaster is impending, because one is. Take shelter financially. There’s a whole book about stuff like that, Kiss Your Money Hello! (and Financial Stress Goodbye). Read or listen to it to learn how to pay down any remaining debt, do side hustles, create an easy to manage budget, save on your expenses, cut your taxes, (not) pay for your kids college/trade/tech school, and more.

If you’re young, it’s quite likely you’re going to be “acclimated” to that life without Social Security, just like people my age were “acclimated” to a life without a pension. The key and most valuable asset you can have is a financial plan. Build it yourself, maintain it yourself. Once you have a solid baseline, the most valuable benefit is you can then copy that baseline scenario into what-if scenarios, like “What if there’s no Social Security or Medicare?” There’s a new book for that too, one that shows you how even if you’re not a financial guru. It’s Plan Your Money Path: Create Your Own Financial Plan.

Yes, we’re still exposed to the collapse of the dollar if we have our money in savings accounts, money market, US treasury bonds, bills, notes. It’s hard to get around that, especially knowing if the dollar collapses the entire world and all its currencies are going to do so (or come close) as well. They are busy preparing for that and insulating themselves from our poison at warp speed, economically and militarily. It’s important to prepare for all downstream contingencies.

There aren’t a lot of good options. Lots of preppers buy precious metals. The conundrum is that 1oz gold bars are a few thousand dollars, and not very useful if the stuff hits the fan and we finally get to a place where we can safely barter metals for goods and services. How are you going to get change for that $2,500 1oz gold bar? Silver coins solve the problem—smaller denominations, but they’re also quite heavy if you have a bunch of them.

Costco is selling sheets of 25 small 1 gram pieces of gold, each piece worth about $100. They’re light and smaller denominations, so not a bad solution to the problem. Again, the best investment you can make is essential goods (food, water, shelter, medical supplies, energy) so that you can ride out the dangerous chaos of a collapse without having to go out for anything. When you do, if you have some surplus, those things will be valuable to barter. Do you have a place to grow food or raise chickens?

Also think in terms of services. What new things can you learn in retirement that might be valuable to others to barter for goods or services? Midwife? Mending or creating clothing? Security? Electronics repair? Even if your career wasn’t in medicine, consider taking an emergency medicine class, or any of the skills you can learn at your local community college in person or virtually as part of non-credit adult continuing education.

Eternity and Mortality

On a final note, I went to a special concert presentation celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album on Saturday night. I received some test results this past week that weren’t so good, so it’s been a down and reflective few days. I have an aneurysm that’s in a particularly bad place and it’s growing, among other issues.

As I stood alone at the back of the concert venue, like a ghost, listening to the music from my youth, it brought back a flood of memories. Memories of a much simpler time, when we weren’t addicted to devices. Many of the people in the audience weren’t looking at the spectacular performance and musicianship on the stage, they were busy looking down at their phones, thumbs frantically twiddling. Or, they were watching the performance through their phones, holding them up to record something they’ll likely never watch yet depriving themselves of the moment. It’s not a boomer criticism, after all they were enjoying the show in their own way, momentarily distracted from the dystopian chaos of life in 2025 America, and that’s OK.

How did we get here? How did we lose our way, as a species and society? Greed, primarily, I think. The money eventually broke down the guardrails built into national, state, and local governments that were designed to maintain decency and order, and to provide a baseline standard of living for all (yes, it was never perfect, especially when it came to minorities and marginalized people). People lost their faith (another guardrail), and along with it decency, ethics, morality. Over time, the entertainment content we’re influenced by made heroes out of the bad people, rather than vice versa. People no longer take pride in that inscription on the Statue of Liberty, but cheer the exact opposite. They no longer understand or value what made this country great in the first place.

It saddens me greatly that I may not live to see this country I love and signed up to die for recover. I’m at peace with my life and the person I’ve become (finally) over this long journey, but worry about my beautiful Giavana, Pia, and the children and grandchildren I’ll leave behind. Believing in something beyond sets you free, and that’s the beauty of faith—there’s no down side if you do it right.

In The Chosen season three finale (spectacular and so emotional!), Jesus comes face to face with Rabbi Shmuel, who has sought to persecute him. Shmuel is all like, “Oh you’re so perfect, Jesus, we all suffer but what have you lost?” As Jesus is aware that his crucifixion nears, he simply and dramatically says, “Time.” He then says that time is not the only measure of existence, and is a small part of the grand tapestry (i.e. it is irrelevant in the spiritual afterlife). He tells Shmuel to not let the darkness consume him, but seek the light.

Even if you’re not a believer, give this series a shot. It’s epic on the scale of The Sopranos in terms of drama, love, retribution, and all the things that make a story captivating. The acting, sound, and cinematography are incredible. It’s on Apple TV, Amazon, best of all free through their own app and website. A perfect remedy and distraction for times like these. Season five, focusing on the Last Supper, debuts in theaters March 28.

There are also some key quotes in the series that mesh with Buddhism and mindfulness (it’s all one song, as Neil Young says…).

Suffering is a part of life, Shmuel, but it is not the end. It is a path, a test of faith, a chance to grow closer to the divine. And even in the face of what seems like a lost time, there is always the potential for redemption, for renewal, for a new beginning.

Peace is not the absence of chaos, Shmuel, but the ability to find serenity within it. It is the ability to trust in something greater than oneself, even when the world seems to be falling apart. It is the ability to find joy in the smallest of moments, even when surrounded by despair.

Pain and suffering are part of this existence. Get over it, because there’s also an overwhelming amount of love and beauty. Another prepping tip is to try to slowly acclimate yourself to those things. (There’s that word again, but in a good sense this time!) Don’t only look to the bad things that happen and exclaim, “Why me?” because then the bad will be all you’ll see. With each bad thing, recall something wonderful.

Be cognizant of the line between what you might be calling “pain” which is simply discomfort. Tell yourself it’s tolerable, and it may well become so. Of course, don’t ignore pain that signals something needs attention. But a little discomfort is something we shouldn’t complain about and can certainly live with. Things are certainly looking to be very uncomfortable going forward. Consider there are so many others who are far worse off, and look to help them. Another way to ease mental and emotional pain is simply to practice forgiveness.

“And you run, and you run
To catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
And racing around
To come up behind you again

The sun is the same in a relative way
But you're older
Shorter of breath
And one day closer to death

Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells”—Pink Floyd

“To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep”—The Byrds (paraphrasing Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

So, this is where Giavana, Pia, and I are currently in our pioneer journey. Stay tuned! This pioneer journey continues…

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Intro music is Stormy Blues by Arne Bang Huseby.

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