John T. Reed’s hyperinflation/deflation blog
Currency conversion in Europe June 2015
Posted by John Reed on
Copyright 2015 John T. ReedMy wife and I went to Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, via Canada, in June, 2015. My wife then went on a cruise with girl friends to Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Finland.I recommend that you use a Schwab debit card and a Capital One credit card because neither levies a percentage charge when used in a foreign country. Then there are conversion rates. Not levying a fee is no good deal if they give you a lousy conversion rate.The Wall Street Journal rates while we were there were:1 CHF (Swiss frank) = $1.081 EUR (euro)...
Currency conversion during our trip to Australia and New Zealand
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Copyright 2013 John T. ReedMy wife and I took a 16-day trip to Australia and New Zealand in March. We did that because I recommend those two countries as places to put your rainy-day savings, we have put rainy day savings there and I wanted to meet my bankers finally, and I wanted to scout those two countries as places to which to flee if and when the U.S. becomes unlivable as a result of hyperinflation and the laws that usually accompany hyperinflation, namely capital controls, wage and price controls, financial repression, rationing, and anti-hoarding laws. Capital controls typically prohibit...
Cost-of-living adjustments in contracts and laws are woefully inadequate to protect you from inflation and hyperinflation
Posted by John Reed on
Many things are indexed these days: some laws, long-term leases, long-term labor contracts, Social Security, government pensions, Treasury Inflation Protected securities (TIPs), and so on.Why?To protect people who pay or receive money from inflation including hyperinflation. So are they protected?Hell, no!Why not?1. income taxes2. hyperinflation moves too fast for adjustments based on published changes in the Consumer Price Index No real gain but you have to pay a real taxYour basis in an asset is not indexed for the purpose of calculating capital gains when you sell it. Only the U.K. and Australia index basis for capital gains tax calculating...
You should have about three years worth of food stored. How much does that cost? Not much.
Posted by John Reed on
Copyright 2012 by John T. ReedBecause of possible imminent hyperinflation, and the usual assortment of emergencies like unemployment, flood, earthquake, wild fire, war, you should have about three years of food stored. The Mormons used to say one year. Now they say three months. You can pick whatever time period you want. I think more than three years is not a good idea because it is hard to find emergencies, including hyperinflation, that last that long. If you cannot afford to do three years all at once, build it up gradually over time. Two months is better than no months...
Cost of living in the foreign countries I recommend
Posted by John Reed on
Cost of living in the foreign countries I recommend Copyright by John T. Reed When researching historical hyperinflation episodes, I discovered that stable foreign currency is one of the best things you can have during hyperinflation. I then searched for the foreign currencies least likely to hyperinflate. Generally because of low debt-to-GDP ratios, high Transparency International lack of corruption ratings, high economic freedom indices, and the like. My recommended countries have been and remain: Australia Canada Denmark New Zealand Sweden Switzerland Now I am going to Australia and New Zealand in March. So I have been Internet scouting for neighborhoods...