Anyone reading this site or following my Youtube videos is most likely enough of a free-thinker that they know better than to pay attention to the mainstream media when it comes to getting advice about how to prepare for the future. Despite the entire world economy teetering on the edge of collapse, they will constantly assure you that everything is fine, and the government and Federal Reserve will fix it all for us. Luckily we know better.

The problem is, knowing things are going to get bad is not enough if you really want to be prepared. To effectively prepare for anything, you have to have at least some idea about what is going to happen. Even outside the cognitive dissonance of mainstream media and thought, there is a lot of disagreement about what particular form of crap the future will dump on us. As just one example, intelligent people like Harry Dent and Vox Day predict deflation, while other experts like Peter Schiff and John Williams call for runaway inflation.

So when you are trying to prepare, what should you do when all the smart people disagree?

To find the answer to that question, you have to keep in mind 3 principles:

1. The commonality of disaster
2. Diversity is always safer
3. Being prepared is more important that being right

Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast  identified a concept years ago that he dubbed “The commonality of disaster”. He used this term to describe the fact that no matter what particular disaster might be, the things we would need to survive are overwhelmingly the same every time. We always need water, food, shelter, protection, etc. This is true whether you are preparing for a hurricane, job loss, or economic collapse. Keep this in mind if you are worried about economic collapse. There are always unique aspects to any disaster, but general preparedness and freedom from systems of support serves you well ALWAYS, so matter what future you face. So get your fundamentals squared away NOW.

While the commonality of disaster covers basic preps, economic collapse concerns finances in a big way, so we all should be attempting to figure out how to best situate ourselves financially. The problem is, like mentioned earlier, that you would do totally different, almost opposite, things if you are expecting inflation than if you are preparing for deflation. So what to do?

As always, diversification is the best answer. If you had a portfolio of equal thirds Stocks, cash, and gold, There are basically zero realistic scenarios where you would end up totally broke. Now I don’t suggest people structure their portfolios like that, it is just an example to show you that diversification can protect you when you (or your favorite expert) turns out to be wrong about something. So don’t put all your eggs in one basket, no matter how convincing the data may be. Other wise you aren’t preparing, you’re gambling.

Building on that is the idea that being prepared is more important than being right. Most of the time when you see people decide to put 100% of their wealth in a particular vehicle, like precious metals, it is not really because they 100% think that is really the ONLY place in the world it will be safe – Many times it is because deep down they want to take advantage of the benefits of being right about what is going to happen. But as everyone who has been prepping for the last few years knows, things don’t always turn out the way you think, even if you are right about the overall situation and larger market forces. Focus on safety and preparedness, and not just on wanting to be right. Get ego out of the way and do what gives you the best chance to come out of these times in good shape.