Make sure you have a current, unexpired U.S. passport

I just sent in the money and forms to renew my passport book. They are good for ten years. $110 to renew. You also need a form and an unretouched color head shot taken in the last six months. I was going to use my Facebook photo, but it must have a white, not black, background. So I went to Walgreens. $14.99 including tax and it took about four minutes.

In my research on past hyperinflation crises around the world, I found that leaving the country in question was essentially required for having a reasonably healthy, normal life until the crisis ended. See my book How to Protect Your Life Savings from Hyperinflation & Depression (http://www.johntreed.com/collections/john-t-reed-s-book-on-hyperinflation-and-depression).

The short version of why is store shelves empty and necessities like medicine, food, and fuel can only be had on an expensive, unreliable, illegal, dangerous black market. Read Blockade by Anna Eisenmenger if you doubt me.https://archive.org/…/Blockade-TheDiaryOfAnAustrianMiddle-c…

Going abroad is relatively simple and easy, but impossible if you do not first make sure you’ve done two things: have an UNEXPIRED U.S. PASSPORT and have put ENOUGH MONEY TO LIVE OFF of for about 24 months abroad in CURRENCIES OTHER THAN THE U.S. DOLLAR.

I have enough in savings accounts in Canada (BMO), Australia, (Westpac), and New Zealand (three different banks—they have no federal deposit insurance), as well as Swiss, Danish, and Swedish CASH in a safe deposit box abroad. You should do the same.

To my surprise, a number of my readers have told me they are natural born American citizens and either never got a passport or let it expire. That is an emergency situation. It is possible you may have to leave the country. It is not possible to do that unless you have a current unexpired passport and you can prove to the border guards OF THE COUNTRY YOU ARE TRYING TO ENTER that you have the money to support yourself in the country in question—and during hyperinflation in the USD, having lots of USD will NOT prove you can support yourself in the country in question. It needs to be uninflated money.

Should you not bother with the passport until you get the money abroad? No. Get the passport renewed immediately then get the money abroad as fast as you can.

I have a bunch of web articles about these things. See my Hyperinflation blog.