The coronavirus originating from Wuhan, China, has left people around the world in fear. The virus, which is now being seen as a pandemic, has already caused more than 100 deaths and caused thousands of infections.
Now that the virus has spread to countries around the world, people are starting to take notice and get prepared. Many stores in the U.S. are sold out of surgical masks, which are designed to stop the spread of certain infections.
Global stocks have certainly seen a surprising impact from the coronavirus pandemic. For example, airline stocks have taken a plunge, as well as casino and resort stocks in China. The Dow reported a major dip, as well as the Nasdaq. Travel related companies are seeing major declines in sales. Experts think that the economic impact from coronavirus will be significant, and it certainly seems that way from the current trends.
There are also fears that a disruption in supply chains could even slow or stop the delivery of auto parts and manufacturing. With all of these worries on the forefront, we’re forced to take a look a past trends. Natural disasters and major health emergencies such as the coronavirus outbreak have a history of hitting economies hard. For example, the peak of the Ebola outbreak took billions of dollars out the economies of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Individuals are left wondering how they can best prepare for these kinds of circumstances. Let’s face it, the coronavirus is worrisome, but preparing is always a good idea. Anything could happen now or in the future, and a few precautions can offer a wealth of benefits.
Things to Prepare for a Pandemic
1. Acquire and Improve your Skills
First of all, it’s always worth looking at your career. In the event of a major disaster, including a terrible pandemic, certain skills will be money makers. For example, if you are a mechanic or an electrician, your skills could be put to major use in areas such as repair.
Next, acquire or improve your agricultural basics. That's right - if you have any background in agriculture or raising cattle, then you could have valuable skills in the face of a pandemic or other disaster. Skills in the medical, education, and communications arenas could also be lucrative in a bad situation.
The idea here is to ensure that you can continue to make money and keep positive cash flow, even if times are hard.
2. Prepare the Basic Necessities
Part of preparation means simply being ready. Having the right supplies, including food, water, medications, and other needed items, in the light of a quarantine situation, or in a disaster where power, fuel, and transportation aren’t so easy to come by, can be a huge benefit.
It’s always crucial to ensure that your finances are in order in the event of a pandemic or other disaster. The first thing you’d want to do is to make sure that you have enough cash on hand to take care of about 90 days of living expenses. If your local bank can’t be open, then you want to have the cash you’ll need readily available.
3. Move your Assets Offshore
The next thing is to consider completely moving your assets out of your current bank and convert those into cash or independent assets you can easily bring whenever you go or store wherever you want, e.g., precious metals and cryptocurrencies. This doesn’t mean withdraw all your cash and other assets and keep those at home. In fact, that premise can be dangerous. Even in a pandemic situation, you could become a target if you are keeping large amounts of cash or valuables at home. Instead, consider offshore services, such as offshore banking and offshore vault storage.
Offshore banks are essentially allowing you to store your assets, typically currencies and precious metals. With services typically available via online, you can make transactions from anywhere in the world, anytime you want. Better yet, you can still trade and even invest in stocks and real estate if the bank of your choice made those services available.
Offshore vault storages, like offshore banks, were designed as a way to safeguard assets, typically precious metals, from the unthinkable, as a safe haven. It's a more passive version of banking services, as basically you can only store or withdraw your assets, with no additional services provided by banks.
There are offshore banks that offer both banking services and vault storage services - so, make sure you shop around.
But why do all of those important? Well, if the government fails or crashes, or if the government decides to seize assets - yes, it can happen! - you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got assets out ahead of time. Even when it’s not feasible to move everything, having a chunk somewhere else can provide peach of mind.
As Always, Prevention Matters
If the economy here takes a major nosedive, then you don’t want to lose on your domestic assets and investments. Offshore banking is just one way you can prepare for the things that are going on right now and for what’s going to happen in the future. No one knows for sure how bad the pandemic will get, or when the next one could come about. That’s why it’s imperative to take advantage of the time you have now and take care of your finances.
With the available offshore services, you can get access to your assets anytime, ensure that your assets are protected, and even access other currencies for other investments. If you’ve ever considered offshore banking and other related services, now is a great time to go forward with protecting your assets.
JAN
2020
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