What's The Best Strategy?
Now that the danger is next door, or knocking on the door already to be precise, my priority is to put my things in order and have a strategy if things get worse. I prefer to be categorized as insane for doing this by those who think we're safe as nothing will happen, rather than be unprepared and suffer in case something happens.
FOMO
As I mentioned in my previous posts, it's been known panic will settle in, in the neighboring countries as well and will have as immediate effect like higher rates at the exchanges, as well as higher prices everywhere. This is kind of similar to what's happening in crypto, when people start to hype a certain token, price starts to move, retail FOMO in, then the dump happens as at some point there will be no one to buy. The difference between the two is that in this case there will be no dump as there's no one to dump anything.
Yesterday the EURO/RON rate at the exchanges was at 5.16 and today there's an investigation going on, started by the Romanian government as in the capital city, Bucharest, EURO is selling at 5.32.
Prices are already going up, gas is already more expensive, basic products are also more expensive and this is just the beginning.
In The War Zone
To cut the story short, if this moron decides to push the button, then there's no reason to worry anymore, there's no reason to go through the options as one or two nuclear missiles are enough to finish the job and as I'm pretty close, there will be no headache anymore. If not, then a good plan can never hurt. Let's see what are the options to stay funded in case your country is in war and you have to survive a few months.
A) Local Currency
Although local currency is losing its value with a breakneck speed in times like this, that is what you can use when buying the most needed things to stay alive, like groceries, water, fuel and so on.
As it already happened in Ukraine, when the news about the invasion broke out, there were mile long queues at the ATMs as people knew life is going change dramatically. These queues usually end when the ATMs run out of cash and banks can't refill them in time, or at all. These are the times when "entrepreneurs" are stepping in, offering cash if you transfer the money in their bank accounts. They are not doing this out of goodness as there's a fee to pay, 10%, 20%, or who knows how much.
B) Credit Or Debit Cards
These plastic pieces will only help you to take out cash from the ATM as no shop will allow people to pay via card, that is 100% certain. So the best option to cash out what you can, till you can.
C) Foreign Currency - $ or €
Foreign currency is good as well, but only up to one point. I mean it is way better to hold foreign currency, than local currency, which will worth very little once the war starts.
A loaf of bread now costs over 100 UAH, previously 12-14 UAH. source
This is a real case, that happened not even a week ago in Ukraine, but it is a no brainer, that the first thing every shop does is to spike prices.
When you have to pay 10x more for the basic groceries, foreign currency can come in handy. The problem is not many will be able to exchange a 100€ bill but these are small details. Maybe you can exchange it for local currency.
D) Crypto
As store of value, crypto is the best option in a case like this, however, things are not so simple. When you have some savings that you don't need for a longer period, meaning you have enough to survive as long the war lasts, crypto is definitely one of the best options, besides foreign currency. No matter in what country you end up after being forced to flee your country, crypto will be there for you.
If you have a debit card issued by an exchange, you can cash out some crypto in case you need some cash, but there's a big IF in this case. Crypto at this point is tied to internet use. No matter where you are keeping your crypto holdings, on exchanges or in a cold wallet, you need a good internet connection to transfer your assets to an exchange, then to your card or bank account.
Up until now there seems to be internet in Ukraine as we're in touch with our users stuck in the war zone, but no one knows for how long. As things evolve, strategic points will be bombed, among which telecommunication towers as well, to paralyze the whole icity and then you can hold your cold wallet in your hand and die of hunger as you can't sell your crypto.
E) Commodities Like Gold And Silver
Investing in silver and gold is also a way to store value, many are collecting coins, you can see their posts on Hive. Unfortunately in case of a war, if you have to run, you will not be able to carry a bag of gold or silver with you and selling those coins will be almost impossible. Maybe some will have some spare cash to buy such things but not at the real value.
So What's The Best Option?
Answering this question is not so simple. If you only have the bare minimum, then local currency is the option. If you have a little bit more, then maybe holding some foreign currency won't hurt. If you are well off, you can opt for local currency, foreign currency and crypto.
No one should be forced to make such decisions, but the future is unpredictable, you never know what's going to happen next. So it's good to have an idea where you stand and what you want to should do. Having a good plan never hurts, especially if your life depends on it.
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About Putin pressing the button:
At the moment it is almost obvious that him putting this threat on the table is a desperate move. If his invasion in Ukraine was a walk in the garden he wouldn't have to say anything like that. He's nervous. Listening to the way Lavrov used the same threat later made this threat sound even more empty to my ears. Russia wanted to make this sound like "we touch the button" but that's not it and even Yeltsin's Minister of Foreign found it laughable.
HOWEVER, and contrary to the above, I do believe that in front of his end (political or real) Putin might not have regrets about giving such a command as his last card to play. He already lives isolated, in his mind he has no problems to continue living like that post nuking. I equally believe though that this command has good chances to not be executed. Some people think there's a button at Putin's office. That's far from truth. The whole procedure is a lot more manned than some might think. There's good chances that at least one man in the chain will decide to make history in a good way and not a bad one. Science fiction? Wishful thinking? In any case it won't be the first time something like this happened:
Back in the cold war days (we would say 1st cold war if this is the 2nd one but it is already too hot) the giant Soviet radar located in Ukraine (close to Chernobyl) in order to track missile activity (google it, it's an impressive ugly thing) started giving alarm one night. The Russian who was in charge didn't decide to respond and launch missiles because fortunately he was smart enough to find the alarm suspicious as it showed intense missile activity against Russia while US had no reason then to do so. Luckily for us he made a good guess. And he put common sense and humane thinking above all.
As for investing strategies on times like these we have a saying in Greece which is like "If it won't rain it will snow" mocking on wannabe prophets. We're in full uncertainty which offers only one sure thing: Unfollow analysts who tell you to do this or do that. We don't know how long the war will last, how wide it might evolve, if the Russian society protests strong and early enough, if there will be a military coup in Russia and the list goes on. The only thing that's for sure is that Putin managed to unite the free world more than ever and we gotta credit this ass for that.
Holy heaven, you wrote a whole novel here 😂
You are right, in order for him to push the button, three people are needed. I hope one will be a standup guy who knows what to do. The other possibility is for the oligarchs to stop him, as he's losing money for them big time.
One thing is for sure, this a--hole is desperate as he's been hit where it hurts the most for him. His image has been crumpled and no matter how many plastic surgeries he had, the damage is permanent. He's now against the whole world, or should I say the whole world is against him. Even his people.
A girl from US just texted me after years only to tell me "wow, you were so spot on about Putin 5 years ago that we talked about". I told her: "If I had a dollar each time I tried to alarm people only to be proved correct later I would have made Abramovic look poor." OK, almost 🙂
😲😂
Yeah or p2p platform.
Except ofcourse the internet is turned off somehow.
Some parts of Ukraine can’t access internet at the moment. I just read Elon’s tweet saying he’s released starlink to those parts of Ukraine so that the people there can access internet.
Factually though, Of all currencies, crypto is still the best to hold
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I wouldn't take anything for granted, thus you have to be prepared to manage to survive without internet. In some parts, hit hard by bombs they have no water, no heating, no electricity already.
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Then would Elon give access to starlink free for Ukrainians or make it cheaper for them to get it and install in their homes, and give out free access to their servers.
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Yes he’s giving access for free. I guess it’s in the cloud so they’ll just connect it. Not sure just my thoughts
I'm sorry that these things are happening so close to you. I mean, it's obviously bad for the whole world but I can't even imagine what it must feel like to be so close to a conflict of that magnitude.
I hope it doesn't come to the worst.
Stay safe!
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Thank you! All we can do is hope and help those fleeing Ukraine for now. Let's hope this madness can be stopped soon.
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Living like this is absolutely fucked :(
I just can't believe that Europe has come to this in 2022.
All the best and stay safe!
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Thank you for the kind words. It is crazy, but it wasn't up to us, so we have to do what we can.
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Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
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True that in times of war and pandemic inclusively, having cash would be very important as it is would be easier to get things need for living.
During the pandemic, cash was very very cast, most ATMs wasn't working and price went high but are even higher now since there is scarcity of fuel.
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