Are You Prepared for an Emergency?
Everyone knows emergencies happen. Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, pandemics, and freak accidents can all occur with little warning. While you may acknowledge the possibility of an emergency, have you prepared for one? Do you have an escape plan? Are you aware of the essential emergency supplies every prepper needs? In this post, I’ll walk through emergency tips you should follow.
Insure Yourself
Over the course of a lifetime, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll encounter at least one type of emergency. So, why not prepare now? Preparedness can and should be practical. The first step someone should take on his or her preparedness journey is to buy insurance. Disastrous weather events are becoming more frequent. Do you want to be in a situation where you can lose your home? You cannot prevent a winter storm, but you can prevent yourself from suffering a total loss of your home. Insurance premiums will help you sleep better at night knowing you’ll always have a home to sleep in.
Survival Cache
Other methods of prevention are conceptually the same. Invest a small amount of money now in order to avoid a total loss later. People across the world were stuck in their homes due to the pandemic. How many people needed to panic buy at the grocery store? How many people fell prey to price gougers? Having enough food and water to sustain you through emergencies insures against the risk of being without them during peaks in demand. If you don’t already have it, buy imperishable food and bottled water and store it away. As I mentioned, disasters will happen. I recommend you read this to determine how to prepare for the next one. Don’t wait until SHTF to prepare.
Rainy Day Fund
One of the most important forms of insurance is a rainy day fund. By putting a small amount of money from every paycheck into a rainy day fund, you’re preparing yourself for a cash flow crunch. Again, the pandemic has shown us how unprepared for disasters people are, government officials included. Millions of people across the country temporarily or permanently lost their jobs. Did they have rainy day funds? Were the funds large enough? Unfortunately, many people don’t have rainy day funds and fail to follow emergency tips. Those that do often underfund them. It’s important you build a fund now and look at incremental contributions as insurance premiums. Best case scenario, you don’t need to use it until retirement. But, if SHTF, you’ll be ready.
SHTF Escape Plan
While we were able to bug-in during the pandemic, many emergencies require a SHTF escape plan. Whether you’re escaping a tornado or a terrorist attack, an escape should be planned in advance. Failure to plan often results in failure to escape. Think through your average day and each one of the risks you’re exposed to. How can you mitigate each of these risks? The risks you are exposed to most often are the ones you should have a plan for. Once you have a SHTF escape plan to address the threats that are most likely to materialize, you can think through the black swan events.
Bear in mind, SHTF escape plans don’t just concern you. If you have a family, is each family member coached on where to meet following a SHTF event? Do you know where you’ll be escaping to? For those who can afford it, I recommend getting a bug out location as further insurance. Every escape artist knows where he’s escaping to. You should as well.
Emergency Supplies
So, you’ve got insurance and an escape plan. How about supplies? Do you have a bug out bag packed in advance? How long will the contents of your bug out bag sustain you? If you do, in
Do you have what you need to help you survive all four seasons? A power source, seasonally appropriate clothing, and the skills necessary to survive without the luxuries we take for granted are all must-haves. Not only does emergency survival require planning and financial investment. It requires you spend the time learning how to survive a SHTF event. Put in the time and practice. Best case scenario, you’ve simply developed a hobby and some useful skills. If the worst case scenario does manifest, then you’ll be prepared for it.
Preparation is Everything. Follow these Emergency Tips Now
If you’ve read through the above emergency tips, congratulations. You completed the easy part of the process. Now, it’s time to take action. True preparation takes an investment of time and money. The earlier you start to make these investments, the better prepared you’ll be if SHTF. Lastly, prepping is a family activity. Share these emergency tips with each member of your family. A family is only as strong as its weakest link. Without a weak link, your family can endure even the worst SHTF event.
Do you have additional emergency tips? Leave a comment below or contact me directly. For additional emergency tips, check out Emergency USA.
