What does the future hold? Will 2012 be doomsday for us?

of course, no one knows. There are a lot of directions America could go and right now, none of them look good really. What I am advising people to do from a "Being Prepared" standpoint are the following things. (Also be sure and visit the official US Government site, www.ready.gov for details)

This list covers a lot of scenarios and is in no particular order:

(1) Pay off your debt. With the current job market situation, if you've got a job and are working, your primary focus should be on paying off your debt as quickly as possible. Having no debt means having no risk if you lost your job.

(2) Now is the time to be working 60 or 70 hours a week. Take a part time job or two and work your tail off to accomplish #1 and also start saving 20% of every paycheck. You want to have a minimum of $1,000 cash on hand for emergencies and ideally grow that to a solid $10,000 cash for a good emergency fund. Then grow that to $25,000. This should take you several years to accomplish the final goal... say 5 years depending on your income.

(3) Do not stop learning. Now is a great time to pick up some new skill sets. Make yourself valuable. Competiton is stiff out there. You had better stand out.

(4) Stockpile non-perishible food. Stock up on stuff that lasts and doesn't need a fridge. Snack sized chips, cookies etc are easy ones. You can also get into gardening and start canning tomatoes etc.

(5) Bottled water is cheap. Most bulk cases come with 24 or 30 bottles. Purchase one case for each family member. Giving you say 3 or 4 weeks worth of water. Make sure and purchase a good multi vitamin regularly to help supplement nutrition in event of a disaster.

(6) Get firearms. If times get tough, people get crazy. They will come for your supplies.

(7) Have a very good first aid kit. Not just some $5 garbage kit from Wal Mart. Have masks and gloves too.

(8) Get some good books. In the event of an EMI attack, all electronics will be useless. You'll have to pass the time somehow.

(9) Get a short wave radio in the event that major telecom lines are down.

(10) Get a weather radio.

(11) Get Kevlar/bullet proof vests.

Assuming nothing bad is going to happen to the USA either in terms of terrorism or having the economy collapse due to the massive spending of the current admin and past 8 years... you should invest as follows:

25% into good mutual funds
25% into gold and silver and precious metals/stones
25% into real estate
25% into businesses

Now, every man for himself!