Without going into a lot of detail, I'm in the last phase of getting a new crown for a tooth. I have put down a 1/2 payment and was going to pay the balance in two weeks when I get the crown (there's a temporary in right now).

I took out the balance out of the bank in cash (exact change), which I have tucked away in a safe spot.

Here's my question: knowing that the world situation has the potential to become unstable, would you have withdrawn the cash (thus losing the interest) or would you have taken a chance that you'd be able to get it from the bank when the time came?

Note: this is not an item that I'm willing to do without.

Just curious.

This whole discussion started when a DGI friend talked about paying half for her glasses now and the remainder on delivery (none of us have insurance!) She's assuming she'll be able to put it on her credit card. . . . .

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2001

Answers

having never been required to pay half in advance, I couldn't say for sure.

but, regarding what is going on these days, I would have and actually do have, that much in cash on hand now. Small bills.

I think you did good to have that cash on hand. You never know.

We don't collect interest on our checking anyway.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2001

I have small bills on hand, as well, but I pay my taxes a year in advance (get some savings doing that), so I don't stash large amounts here.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2001

The interest you lose will be negligible compared to the risk of not having the money when you need it--or the crown. Mind you, I had a temporary crown for seven years before I could afford to have a nice one. The temp crown was stainless steel, but it was way in the back, so no big deal.

I don't recall any banks going kaput during the war, but then I don't remember where I put my glasses, either.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2001

Meemur, in my opinion there is nothing to worry about regarding bank accounts right now. Nor do I think there will be anything to worry about with such accounts in the near future. You can remember the extraordinary efforts undertaken by the government, the Fed, and the banks themselves, to maintain public confidence prior to Y2k.

The "banking system" is the heart and core of our entire society, in fact of the world society in all developed countries. Those who are in power, around the world, will do anything to keep the banks alive. If a time comes, and we will get plenty of time to see it happen, when society starts to totally break down, then banks will too. But there isn't even a hint of that yet. Even in the Great Depression, banking remained. There were isolated failures, sure, but the system itself never went under. The "controls" today are even stronger.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2001

OG -- wow! A stainless steel temp?? Mine is plastic. I doubt I could keep it going for long.

Gordon -- I agree with you on the banks that the gov't will try to keep them going. What I saw while I was in LA, though, was that certain credit cards and ATMs simply did not work because the mainframes/routers were in NYC and down. It took 3+ days in some cases to reroute those transations. I had cash on me because I was prepared for an earthquake.

Just stuff to think about. . . . .

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2001

One of the talking heads, about a week ago, opined that the next attack would be directed at the power supply.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2001

(nods at OG) Yes, that threat has been on my mind most of the summer, just because the managers at AEP (American Electric Power) are dolts. I fully expected rolling blackouts and have been prepared for both power and natural gas cutoffs. (Management at Columbia Gas ain't too swift, either!)

I wish that I could get more out of the spooks, but their advice (to me) continues to be to keep up with my normal routines but stay around home (meaning Central Ohio, not my house). It could also be that they don't know anything specific, either.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2001

Meem, just to validate...my "spooks" say to sit tight, too..and that mind and mental manifestations will be manifested more easily now..in other words..to "think (create) " in our collective mind, and it will manifast in this plane.

and as much as a WAR is being thought of..there are just as many thinking peace.

I do believe SOME THING will soon happen, and it will decide which reality will next play out.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2001

SAR, the spooks to whom I refer are flesh and blood, employed at a 3- letter agency. (:

I drove to and from Michigan yesterday, anyway. Had to winterize the cottage. The sale is still hung up at the title company over some deed snafus. It's out of my hands and up to the lawyers, now. But in the meantime, no one shut the windows or put antifreeze in the toilets.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Didn't any of you follow Vipper (Kathy's) sad tale on TB from a few months ago? She had recently had a series of snafus with her account, problems with ("1901") balances, a few weeks later her bank went belly up. In her situation, she was worried that she had lost a rather extreme amount since it looked as thought it would exceed the FDIC limit. Don't know how that one turned out. However, the problems she had preceding the bank declaring bankruptcy were definitely interfering with access to the accounts. Y2K never went away. And like the WTC, it appeared to hit her at random.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

If I had an account that exceeded the FDIC limit of 100,000.00 I am not sure if I would be upset about losing anything over that. Guess it matters how much over it was.

Then again, it would be stupid to have a lot over that amount in an account, don't you think?

Let's say you have 1 million. You should have ten accounts of 100,000 for that, and each month draw off the interest and live on that, right? Or at least draw off the interest and deposit it into an eleventh account.

What a problem to have. I wish I was afflicted with it. LOL

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I think she had $85K at issue. However, if it was joint with her husband, then they were covered. Not altogether unusual for us doomers who cashed stocks and funds at rollover. Even so, her account was totally screwy prior to that time.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001