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Today's article is going to be interesting. As you know, I'm a gold (and silver, copper, platinum, and palladium) bug. I love coins and bullion. Departing from my routine, however, I'm going to talk all about fiat money today. Specifically, I have been hoarding one and five dollar bills and want to share my rationale and experience doing so. While this article is about fiat currency, I think it will resonate with a lot of you gold bugs and people looking to prepare for the future.

Why The Heck Am I Hoarding One and Five Dollar Bills?

I guess the easiest way to start is with my rationale. There are actually two reasons, both which have equal weighting. The first is preparing for a potentially bad future. Many of you know it, the US economy is very bad. It is only getting worse. I know many people who are stocking up on gold, silver, and copper bullion as a way to store their wealth in uncertain time. While the US dollar may be worth a lot less in five or ten years, metals will always retain their value. In fact, this concept of store of value is one of the top 10 reasons to buy gold (reason number 6). Looking at the root of this concept, I'm hoarding precious metals to store my wealth and potentially use these metals to pay for goods and services should the economy go really bad. However, if the economy does go bad, I do believe fiat currency will still be used. Specifically, should something bad happen, I think one dollar bills and five dollar bills will be of paramount importance. What if we can't go to the bank? What if for a few weeks our economic system is "offine"? You will need small bills to pay for stuff. People will not have change. Hence, I am hoarding one dollar and five dollar bills. Do I think it will come to this? I really hope not. Moreover, I don't think it will. Do I like to be prepared? Heck yes. Why not prepare now just in case?

So that's just half the equation. The other half of the equation is forced savings. I recently stopped using my credit card to pay for everything and am instead using cash. I am trying to put aside more money and save. I think many people are these days. The economy is bad so why not save some extra money? I'm finding that keeping my one dollar bills and five dollar bills is a great way to save a little money each and every day. As I see the stacks growing, I know I'm on the right path to saving money! If the stacks get too high, I can take them to the bank and save the money in my savings account. Overall, if you are looking to save money, I highly encourage using cash. As you see cash leaving your hands, you are less likely to spend as much money. Moreover, you can play the one dollar and five dollar bill savings game. (Another fun idea: Once your savings reaches a certain level, cash in your ones and fives at your local coin shop for some gold and silver bullion coins!)

How Am I Hoarding One Dollar and Five Dollar Bills?

It's very simple. I pay cash for most of my purchases. When I get change, I keep all of the one dollar and five dollar bills. At the end of each day, I take these ones and fives out of my wallet and store them at home. My stash of ones and fives keeps growing each day. It's very gratifying and empowering to see the stash growing.

How Many Ones and Fives Am I Trying To Save?

This is a great question. To be honest with you, I have no real idea. I find hoarding one and five dollar bills so much fun that I cannot imagine stopping. However, at some point, I will have too much money at home. I don't want to have more than $1,000-$1,500 of these at home for obvious reasons. Once I get to this level, I'm going to need to come up with a plan. I see three possible routes: (1) cash in some of my fiat money in my savings account (patting myself on the back for using this "trick" to save a little extra money, (2) place the fiat bills in my safe deposit box (not sure why I would do this but I'm a little attached to the stacks of cash I am saving for some reason), (3) go to my local coin shop and load up on a few coins and then store those in my safe deposit box. Overall, trying to apply the same rationale to my hoard of one and five dollar bills as I do to my collection of gold and silver bullion. It's good to hide some gold and silver at home for an emergency, but too much is a mistake. We all want to be able to rest easy at night knowing that we are not exposing ourselves to risk. Consequently, I'm treating my ones and fives just like my coins and will only keep them at home to the point I feel comfortable.

Why Am I Doing This? I'm A Collector By Nature!

So I tried to rationalize why I'm collecting one and five dollar bills and I think I've done a reasonable job. I must say however that there probably is a bit of the "crazy" element in the mix. Put another way: I love to collect things. This is the nature of anyone who stays up late to watch the coin shows on TV and reads about coins in their spare time. Collecting things is fun. Hence, collecting ones and fives is also just an extension of my nature to collect. While this article is a bit different from the others on this site in theme, I thought it would resonate well with the audience. Hope you have found it interesting and useful. If you take one thing away, please save up at least one or two hundred dollars of ones an fives for an emergency. You want to take that precaution to protect yourself and your family should the banks be offline for a few days.

Buy Stacks of Uncirculated Dollar Bills on eBay

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