My consulting clients often ask me for advice on their preparedness purchasing programs. Some of the items that I’ve see them purchase in the name of “preparedness” make me wonder. For example, a family that recently relocated from Michigan to Idaho’s Clearwater River Valley purchased matching snowmobiles for every member of the family. But they now live in a climate where in some years they only have snow that “sticks” for two or three weeks. In most years they will have to put their snow machines on trailers to get up to the high country to use them much.
Another client in Wyoming bought a brand new off-the-lot Hummer H1 Alpha Utility (4 door). With a price tag of around $128,000, he could have bought four or perhaps five 4WD crew cab pickups for the same amount of money. Sure, H1s have great off-road capability, but now he owns a vehicle with dubious parts availability and that just screams “Rich Guy Coming!”
I also have a wealthy client in Texas that bought 20 pre-ban Galil .308 rifles for his extended family’s retreat. He said that he wanted “the best”. He also bought 200 spare 25 round waffle magazines for them, at a whopping $80 each. That is is $16,000 just for the spare magazines. Talk about insanity. (OBTW, when I asked him about ammo, he said that he “planned” to buy 2,000 rounds per rifle, but when we last spoke, he “hadn’t gotten around to it.”) For the same amount of money that he spent on the Galils and spare magazines he could have bought nearly 90 post-ban FN-FAL rifles and 2,000 magazines.
These illustrations are provided not as ridicule, but merely to point out that folks should learn to distinguish wants from needs They should also forget about earning Mall Ninja “style points” and instead concentrate on practicality. Unless you are a multimillionaire, you cannot lose sight of prioritizing your purchases. And, regardless, everyone should have a well-balanced set of tools, skills, and logistics.
Most of my consulting clients take a methodical, well-balanced approach to their planning and procurement. When I do on-site consulting, I ‘m regularly surprised by their ingenuity and resourcefulness. Often it is the people that are clever, methodical, and hard working that are better prepared than the wealthy few that just “throw money at the problem.” Some of these, as I’ve mentioned, have clearly gone overboard in a few areas. Do your best to make a purchasing plan and stick to it. Don’t go overboard in one area at the expense of another. Preparedness is more than just a fancy gun collection. It takes balance: food storage, gardening supplies, canning supplies, medical gear, communications gear, reliable vehicles, fuel storage, field gear, cold weather gear, night vision equipment, and so forth. Maintaining that balance takes both concerted planning and self-control.
Also remember: You can have the very best tools in the world, but if you don’t have the skills to match, then those tools are little more than ornaments. I would much rather own a $1,000 rifle and spend another $1,000 training at a place like Front Sight than I would owning a $2,000 rifle.