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-By Caleb Jones
The recent flooding in Houston has sparked several conversations in my monthly coaching program regarding disaster preparedness and security from both human and nature-based calamities. Today, I’ll lay out a basic system that is Alpha 2.0 compatible on how to protect yourself. Much of these items I’ve covered before in various places, but I’ve never made a complete list like this.
Here’s what you should do to ensure you are as protected as possible from both natural and man-caused disasters, listed in no particular order.
1. Get debt free, and stay debt free for the rest of your life. This includes paying off your own home mortgage once you pay off all other debts. Men who have literally no debt, including no house payment, are literally some of the safest men on the planet.
2. Insure the crap out of everything. Most people don’t realize that most insurance policies don’t actually insure against many likely problems. Add medical protection onto your car insurance in case you ever get into a car accident while your health insurance has lapsed. If you own your home (i.e. don't rent), add both flood and earthquake insurance to your homeowners policy (these things are not included unless you add them!). If you rent, get some renter's insurance ASAP to cover your belongings. If you live in the USA, never spend any significant time without health insurance, even if it’s a catastrophic-only plan (that’s what I have). If you provide any kind of business service to companies, make sure you have E&O insurance so no one will sue you if you ever make a mistake. And so on. Most people are woefully under-insured; you don’t want to be one of them.
3. This shouldn’t be said since it’s a core requirement of Alpha 2.0, but make sure you have at least two to four diversified sources of income from very different market sectors and industries. Relying your entire financial well-being on only one source of income in today’s economically chaotic world is STUPID. Yes, it may take you several years to build up these multiple income streams; stop complaining and get to work.
4. Have 30 days of long-term emergency food in your home, stored somewhere high off the ground like in an attic. Make sure you can prepare this food with no electricity. For food prep, I have a personal camping stove along with a box of propane tanks for it that would probably last me a year.
5. Have 30 days of safe, drinkable water stored in your home. To determine how much you need, the average person requires around 1.5 gallons of water per day for drinking and bathing. Multiply that by the number of people in your home, then multiply that by 30. Have that amount of gallons stored and drinkable in case you have no access to water for a prolonged period.
6. Own a gun, and take at least two gun safety courses so you know how to use it without hurting yourself or any loved ones. Failure to own a gun when you have food and water stores is dangerous, since in a disaster, your food and water will become the ownership of whomever in your area does have a gun. (Obviously if you live in Suicidal Europe, you’re not allowed to own a gun because of your suicidal, socialist governments. This means you'll be at the mercy of the mobs in a disaster scenario. Sorry. Yet another reason to not live in Europe in my opinion.)
7. Avoid living long-term in any area that is repeatedly hit by hurricanes or similar weather patterns. For my entire life, ever since I was a kid, I’ve been watching news stories about horrible, devastating hurricanes that repeatedly hit the Gulf areas, particularly Florida. After about the tenth such story, I started thinking, “Why the fuck would anyone want to live in Florida if your house keeps getting blown down?” Good question. If you live in a place where devastating floods, monsoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, or tornadoes are common, then for shit’s sake, move the hell out of there to somewhere safer. Why ask for these kinds of problems? Seriously.
8. Make sure your home has good locks and strong windows. Most homes do not. If you own your home, spend the money and upgrade these things if needed.
9. Make sure your home has a decent security system with cameras and motion detectors. These kinds of systems have become shockingly inexpensive in the last few years. The ones where you can view your cameras on your smartphone from anywhere in the world are ideal.
10. As I’ve talked about before, don’t keep any long-term valuables in your home. That just doesn’t make any sense. Don’t store them at a bank either, though. You have many other options.
11. Live in a low-crime neighborhood that’s not on a flood plain and not on or near a fault line. If you live on or near the coast, try to make sure your home is located at a higher elevation, like on a hill.
12. Live in a country that minds its own business and doesn’t start wars with other nations. (Obviously I’m still working on that one).
13. Keep the number of people in your household to a minimum. If you have a big household with lots of family, children, friends, roommates, extended family members and whatnot, it’s going to be much harder to keep everyone safe during a disaster than if you’re by yourself or with just one or two other people.
14. Set up a bug out bag and keep it safe and somewhere high in your home. Just Google “bug out bag” to see what kinds of things to put in there. If you drive a lot, have another bug out bag in the trunk of your car.
15. If you don't already have the skills, learn camping / backpacking basics, to the point where you are able to survive in the wilderness for at least two nights, all by yourself, with no one to help you, in very shitty weather, from extremely hot to very cold and in the snow.
Lastly, don't turn into one of those end of the world weirdos who constantly worry about World War III or a zombie apocalypse or other crazy shit. Just relax; the world is not coming to an end and there will be no world war, nuclear or otherwise. You just need to be prepared for things like a big flood, earthquake, tsunami, civil unrest, and/or long-term power/water outage. All of these things are temporary, likely not lasting longer than four or five days, but you want to be prepared for those four or five days. While everyone is freaking out, you'll be chillin' just fine.
That’s about it. This is a big topic, but those items above should give you a good overview to at least get started. I’ve personally done most things in the above list (thought not everything), so I’m pretty prepared for just about anything, no matter how crazy. I sleep very soundly at night.
Here’s what you should do to ensure you are as protected as possible from both natural and man-caused disasters, listed in no particular order.
1. Get debt free, and stay debt free for the rest of your life. This includes paying off your own home mortgage once you pay off all other debts. Men who have literally no debt, including no house payment, are literally some of the safest men on the planet.
2. Insure the crap out of everything. Most people don’t realize that most insurance policies don’t actually insure against many likely problems. Add medical protection onto your car insurance in case you ever get into a car accident while your health insurance has lapsed. If you own your home (i.e. don't rent), add both flood and earthquake insurance to your homeowners policy (these things are not included unless you add them!). If you rent, get some renter's insurance ASAP to cover your belongings. If you live in the USA, never spend any significant time without health insurance, even if it’s a catastrophic-only plan (that’s what I have). If you provide any kind of business service to companies, make sure you have E&O insurance so no one will sue you if you ever make a mistake. And so on. Most people are woefully under-insured; you don’t want to be one of them.
3. This shouldn’t be said since it’s a core requirement of Alpha 2.0, but make sure you have at least two to four diversified sources of income from very different market sectors and industries. Relying your entire financial well-being on only one source of income in today’s economically chaotic world is STUPID. Yes, it may take you several years to build up these multiple income streams; stop complaining and get to work.
4. Have 30 days of long-term emergency food in your home, stored somewhere high off the ground like in an attic. Make sure you can prepare this food with no electricity. For food prep, I have a personal camping stove along with a box of propane tanks for it that would probably last me a year.
5. Have 30 days of safe, drinkable water stored in your home. To determine how much you need, the average person requires around 1.5 gallons of water per day for drinking and bathing. Multiply that by the number of people in your home, then multiply that by 30. Have that amount of gallons stored and drinkable in case you have no access to water for a prolonged period.
6. Own a gun, and take at least two gun safety courses so you know how to use it without hurting yourself or any loved ones. Failure to own a gun when you have food and water stores is dangerous, since in a disaster, your food and water will become the ownership of whomever in your area does have a gun. (Obviously if you live in Suicidal Europe, you’re not allowed to own a gun because of your suicidal, socialist governments. This means you'll be at the mercy of the mobs in a disaster scenario. Sorry. Yet another reason to not live in Europe in my opinion.)
7. Avoid living long-term in any area that is repeatedly hit by hurricanes or similar weather patterns. For my entire life, ever since I was a kid, I’ve been watching news stories about horrible, devastating hurricanes that repeatedly hit the Gulf areas, particularly Florida. After about the tenth such story, I started thinking, “Why the fuck would anyone want to live in Florida if your house keeps getting blown down?” Good question. If you live in a place where devastating floods, monsoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, or tornadoes are common, then for shit’s sake, move the hell out of there to somewhere safer. Why ask for these kinds of problems? Seriously.
8. Make sure your home has good locks and strong windows. Most homes do not. If you own your home, spend the money and upgrade these things if needed.
9. Make sure your home has a decent security system with cameras and motion detectors. These kinds of systems have become shockingly inexpensive in the last few years. The ones where you can view your cameras on your smartphone from anywhere in the world are ideal.
10. As I’ve talked about before, don’t keep any long-term valuables in your home. That just doesn’t make any sense. Don’t store them at a bank either, though. You have many other options.
11. Live in a low-crime neighborhood that’s not on a flood plain and not on or near a fault line. If you live on or near the coast, try to make sure your home is located at a higher elevation, like on a hill.
12. Live in a country that minds its own business and doesn’t start wars with other nations. (Obviously I’m still working on that one).
13. Keep the number of people in your household to a minimum. If you have a big household with lots of family, children, friends, roommates, extended family members and whatnot, it’s going to be much harder to keep everyone safe during a disaster than if you’re by yourself or with just one or two other people.
14. Set up a bug out bag and keep it safe and somewhere high in your home. Just Google “bug out bag” to see what kinds of things to put in there. If you drive a lot, have another bug out bag in the trunk of your car.
15. If you don't already have the skills, learn camping / backpacking basics, to the point where you are able to survive in the wilderness for at least two nights, all by yourself, with no one to help you, in very shitty weather, from extremely hot to very cold and in the snow.
Lastly, don't turn into one of those end of the world weirdos who constantly worry about World War III or a zombie apocalypse or other crazy shit. Just relax; the world is not coming to an end and there will be no world war, nuclear or otherwise. You just need to be prepared for things like a big flood, earthquake, tsunami, civil unrest, and/or long-term power/water outage. All of these things are temporary, likely not lasting longer than four or five days, but you want to be prepared for those four or five days. While everyone is freaking out, you'll be chillin' just fine.
That’s about it. This is a big topic, but those items above should give you a good overview to at least get started. I’ve personally done most things in the above list (thought not everything), so I’m pretty prepared for just about anything, no matter how crazy. I sleep very soundly at night.
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