Book Review: Prepper's Financial Guide by Jim Cobb

I was sent a copy of Jim Cobb's (survivalweekly.com) newest book Preppers Financial Guide to review a few weeks ago and I finally got a little time to read the book and put together this article. This book is unlike most in the preparedness realm of publications as there are very few which deal with getting your financial house in-order. If you are set in that area (we will gladly accept donations from the independently wealthy) the book does go into alternative currencies (i.e. skills to barter and items to stockpile for bartering) and also provides a little investment advice as well. I will provide a much more in-depth review below but if you are already intrigued be sure to pick up a copy by clicking on the Amazon link below.

Table of Contents: 

Chapter 1: What Is Economic Collapse?
Chapter 2: Debt Reduction
Chapter 3: Currency
Chapter 4: Precious Metals and Minerals
Chapter 5: Post-Collapse Barter and Trade Goods
Chapter 6: Bartering Skills Instead of Stuff
Chapter 7: Safeguarding Valuables
Chapter 8: Investing in Self-Sufficiency
Chapter 9: Putting it All Together- The Home of the Self-Sufficient Investor

So what did I personally take from this book? That I'm right on track but still need to work on diversification into precious metals a little more and continue to build primitive skills which could be used as a barter item in a post collapse society (think of 1800's society where trades were learned and bartered for goods, currency and other services). Chapter six is what I consider the bread and butter of this book, (as a double major in business this book is mostly a refresher for me) but this chapter is where true preparedness begins in my opinion. Truly owning a skill that would be needed or helpful post collapse and that is useful today is without a doubt where I'm trying to focus my efforts these days. Some of the skill sets Mr. Cobb identifies are: Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Animal Husbandry, Soap Making, Sewing, Handyman Skills, Mechanics, Cooking, Baking, Food Preservation, Woodcutting, Tool Sharpening, Power Generation, Ammunition Reloading & Gunsmithing, Security, Wild Food Procurement, Teaching & Child Care, Candle Making, Blacksmithing, Butchering & Tanning, Scavenging and Entertaining.

What skills do you own or are you working on developing? How many of these skills are covered within your circle of friends? I personally have been working on the following skill sets: medical, sewing, cooking/baking from scratch, food preservation, woodcutting/wood work, tool sharpening, gunsmithing,wild food/medicinal procurement, blacksmithing and butchering/tanning. I have future plans to expand my reloading capabilities, alternative power generation and maybe some mechanics type of things (kinda goes hand-in-hand with the power generation for me).

If chapter 6 is the bread and butter then chapter 8 is the meat and potatoes of this book. This chapter digs into how you can invest in self-sufficiency now or as some would call it homestead living. This chapter talks about the essentials of setting up a homestead: off grid power, gardening, raising meat, procuring meat (hunting/fishing), procuring wild edibles/medicinals, beekeeping, preserving food, procuring water and the art of re-purposing. How many of you have off-grid/homesteading aspirations? For me this is one goal that I have not been able to realize as of yet due to the nature of my business but hope to do so as soon as I can get a little further out without it effecting my productivity.

More Books By This Author:

 

Interview With The Author, Jim Cobb

1) What Motivated You To Write About This Area Of Preparedness?  Financial preparedness is incredibly important yet it has received little to no attention in survival literature to date. For many people, just losing their job is "The End of the World As We Know It."  By getting your financial ducks in a row, you can be in a much better position to handle life's little, and not so little, disasters.

2) What Piece Of Advice From The Book Would You Want Everyone To Hear? Forget all the get rich quick schemes and other nonsense.  The only way you are ever going to save money is by doing one or both of these things- a) earn more income, b) reduce expenses.  That's what it all boils down
to, really.  How you do those things is the focus of a big part of Prepper's Financial Guide.

3) What Do You Have Planned As Your Next Books Topic? The next book is Prepper Hacks, which will feature dozens of projects just about anyone can accomplish.  Nothing too involved, nothing that requires a full machine shop to build, just some really neat ways to re-purpose and reuse stuff most of us have sitting around the house.

More About The Author:

Jim Cobb has been actively involved with disaster planning for about three decades.  He has written several books, including Prepper's Home Defense, Countdown to Preparedness, and Urban Emergency Survival Plan.  Jim is also a featured instructor in the Make Ready to Survive DVD series produced by Panteao Productions.  You can connect with Jim online at http://www.SurvivalWeekly.com/ as well as on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/JimCobbSurvival/

Other Books You May Be interested In:

 

Conclusions:

The Prepper's Financial Guide gives readers the knowledge to take back their finances, with topics and sections that are given like advice received from a good friend. Mr. Cobb starts off with an overview of financial turmoil and gives a brief history lesson in American and foreign pitfalls respectively. We then are given a scenario of if the U.S. experienced conditions similar to The Great Depression. I think most of would be unprepared. It's a little scary how in the past years, society (American) has lost independence and now rely heavily on technology and the outsourcing of skills and services. Using colloquial phrases and a relaxed writing style, Cobb takes the reader through all the steps needed to financially stay ahead. They are sectioned off with suggestions and tips, but sometime lack the details the reader may need to fully execute. However, overall Cobb does gives the reader enough information to start thinking about preparing not only for a possible financial fall in the country, but how to successfully navigate the here and now. I highly recommend this book if you don't have a great deal of financial planning experience, even if you do there are still a great deal of small takeaways this book offers that business school simply doesn't cover. . 

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