If you ask most people around the modern world why they use a bank, they will tell you that its just what you’re supposed to do with money. If you ask them if they know how to store money without a bank, they typically assert that such a notion is too risky to consider. You know, because that means your storing retirement savings cash under a bed mattress. Banks are comfortable, normal, and infuse us with a feeling of safety. I’m not here to tell you that banks are all bad, they’ve certainly been good to many of us, however, I think it is important to know why banks can be bad for preppers and SHTF and to know how to store money without a bank as a skill.

While it always seems as though everyone uses a bank to save and store cash, the truth is, there is a growing movement among us to find alternative ways to store cash. Whether it’s just enough cash to survive a catastrophe or all the cash a person acquires throughout a lifetime, people are finding ways to store money without a bank being involved. In 2015, American Express published an article that showed while just under 60% of people will use a bank to save money, 53% will use a “secret location” to hide money.

Preparing for SHTF isn’t just about buying survival gear, it’s about straight up knowledge as well. However, before we get into storing cash without a bank, we need to understand why we’d even do such a thing. In other words, what the heck is wrong with banks?

Why Storing Cash In Banks Might Be Bad

Here are just a few big reasons why people consider storing their cash in places that aren’t banks.

The Government Can Surveil You

The government doesn’t want you to know how to store money without a bank because at that point, surveilling your purchases becomes a much more complicated venture. As it stands, if you buy a SHTF gun for self-defense, or marijuana for your bad hip pain, or materials to collect rainwater, or access to certain websites, the government can easily see that when they want to see that.

What if the economy collapses and the government decides to figure out who has ammo and who has longterm water storage? Not going to be difficult.

Your Money Can Be Taken From You

The obvious example here is when you owe an IRS debt. The government can easily and swiftly shut off your bank and pull or mark the money you have in the account. This may seem “fair” because “we all owe taxes,” but most of us are being taxed to death. And taxes constantly go up. Sure, its the law to pay your taxes, but the government also knows that it doesn’t take much effort to confiscate your cash because its sitting in a bank that the government can get quick access into.

What if the government raises taxes to 80% via deeper socialist laws? Remember, Bernie Sanders suggested that taxes of 90% for the rich were appropriate.

Do you realize how many bank accounts would need to be seized in order to collect a 90% tax? A 90% tax on any person(s) would put them into dire straights. Remember, Sanders is a legitimate politician, a Senator, a near Presidential candidate for the Democratic party. Do you think in an armed society that stored cash outside of banks it would be easy to collect this money?

No. But it is now due to the herd keeping all their money in banks.

Banks Make Money For…Banks

Goldman Sachs predicted in 2018 revenue of $5 billion dollars, according to CNBC. In 2017, Bank of America experienced a 4% growth topping off at $87 billion in revenue. Back in 2013, banks crushed revenue records via over $31 billion in bounced check fees. Banks make money like old vacant houses grow weeds in their yards.

Banks are an enormous part of our economy, they are also huge donors to politicians and corrupt parties. If people were to start pulling their money from banks, the entire economy would be compromised and the potential for an economic SHTF would be in play. Do you think any administration wants to be in power when the entire economy tanks?

No, this is why during SHTF, if you haven’t already got your money out, you won’t likely get it out. The government will allow the banks to shut off withdrawals, or severely limit them. This has happened in Greece and a slew of other countries.

How To Store Money Without A Bank

Knowing how to store money without a bank means being able to protect yourself from a slew of potential threats during acts of government tyranny or during a SHTF situation like an EMP attack. Remember, ATMs won’t work if an EMP attack happens and the power grid is disabled. If the economy begins the crash, as noted above, the banks may shut down ATMs.

Banks Are Necessary, Don’t Get The Wrong Idea

Don’t read this article and suddenly decide to pull all of your money from the bank. Your life would become utterly frustrating and risky. The point of this article is to know how to sore money without a bank so that you can set up a personalized prepper plan. You might decide to leave just enough in the bank to pay your monthly bills and store the rest. Or maybe you will decide to store enough to get you through a year of life based on your SHTF plan.

Fireproof Safes

Money in fireproof safe

Ultimately, the best most logical way to store money without a bank is to use a fireproof safe. Clearly, fire is the enemy of paper cash storage, one fire, even a small one, can wipe you out in a matter of minutes. A fireproof safe helps to keep your cash locked and in a position to survive a minor or major fire event.

This safe will need to be hidden, be blast proof and fireproof, and have more than one combination needed to access it. Do not get a biometric ONLY safe. Your safe needs to be accessible through a combination. A biometric ONLY safe could be rendered useless during an EMP attack. Plus, given enough time following a major disaster, there may not be power for it. Some biometric safes also have combination access. Do your research.

Invest in gold

One way to hedge the cash bet during doomsday or a full on stock market crash is to store gold instead of paper cash. Gold has long been a stable currency for humans in society. If the power grid falters or the government decides to rob the people, cash may even be rendered valueless, or have less value than gold.

Storing Money Without a Bank – The Risks

There is no doubt risk to storing your money without a bank. Let’s look at the two main risks associated with such a cash strategy.

Being Robbed

Even if you have your cash stored in a huge heavy safe, thieves and criminals can still get to it and take it away. Unless you are guarding your safe all day and all night, it’s not possible to not incur this risk. But you can cut down on the risk.

Don’t tell anyone that doesn’t need to know that you have cash stored at your home. If they don’t need to know, they should not know. The fewer people that know, the less chance a crook finds out that your spoils and booty are stored inside your home.

Don’t make it easy to find. If you can, don’t store cash in an obvious place. Sure, the more extravagant your hiding places get (in walls, in the ground under home) the more expensive it can be. But even on a budget, creativity can be your friend. Don’t put a safe on the first floor of your home that reads “CASH STORAGE.” Be smart

Fire

This is just obvious and we touched on this above when discussing fireproof safes. A fireproof safe ups the chances that a fire doesn’t burn up your cash. If there is a fire, remember, monitor the ongoings of first responders as best you can.

In the end, there aren’t a ton of options when it comes to storing cash without a bank. But the few options which do exists can serve you well so long as you take all of the proper precautions. Whether you want to know how to store cash without a bank just to keep a few thousand dollars in cash stored in case of a bad SHTF scenario, or you want to store a real savings, proper education and following prepper news are both essential.

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