As we’ve all seen many, many times, the global stock markets go wonky every few years, and most financial guru’s preach that we should diversify our portfolios to protect us from having all of our assets crash at the same time.
Some people diversify with precious metals.
Others diversify buy buying bonds.
There are also those who diversify buy investing in land. Preppers in this category don’t just diversify buy buying land, they specifically buy land they can bug out to if the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF).
Diversify Your Portfolio With A BOL
This may seem like an “afterthought” or even a justification or excuse to use to buy land for a Bug Out Location (BOL), but I can honestly state that in our case (Spice and Salty’s), wanting to have assets in something other than cash and stock was a huge motivating factor in us buying The Place.
We had a certain amount of cash money sitting in the bank that, frankly, we were starting to become concerned about. Spice and I knew what inflation can do to the value of our money, and this money wasn’t in our retirement (nor our tax-free growth) accounts… We could have invested it in stocks or bonds, but if the SHTF a stock isn’t going to do a single thing to save your life.
We searched around and found someplace that fit our needs and that we could afford, and we haven’t looked back since.
BOL’s Are Out There, Waiting For You
Here in north Missouri, I see properties listed all of the time that would make outstanding BOL’s.
An Example
Here’s an example of a piece of property listed that would make a great portfolio diversification. I just hopped onto LandWatch.com and picked a state at random, Kentucky.
Here’s what I found.
The realtor describes it like this:
Beautiful traditional log cabin with some modern touches. Located in the heart of South Central Kentucky on 21.4 +/- acres. This truly is one of a kind; and boasts a garage, an outbuilding, a pond and two hunting fronts on two roads with a spring on the front of property. Perfect year round or a vacation getaway.
As A Prepper, Here’s What I See
It’s 43 miles from the nearest city of any real size, Elizabethtown. The population of the town nearby is 11,000, which means it will have all services necessary to get by in good times, including resident medical care.
It is nowhere near any significant “line of drift”.
The property is off the beaten path, off of a paved road but off the highway a bit. The acreage is large enough to do serious gardening, secluded. A pond for fishing, a spring fed water system and a root cellar are already part of the property. There’s also multiple wood heat stoves in the structure.
Prepping wise, this is move-in ready and an absolutely perfect location to set up a perennial permaculture system.
The following pictures were taken off of the sales website, I don’t own them but I suspect the realtor won’t mind the free advertising he’s getting.
It may not look like much on the outside, but…
Nice pond in the back yard… this far south it won’t freeze over deeply meaning it’s probably great for fishing
A historic log cabin means this place will last for a long, long time.
Not inviting to strangers… that’s a GOOD thing in a BOL
This building is preppers gold… root cellar? Spring house? Whatever it is, it’s a great place to store food.
Outside looks can be deceiving… this room has a TON of possibilities…
Rouging it?
Lofty possibilities?
Second bedroom.
Who needs power to stay warm? Not the people living in this cabin.
Let me make it clear, this is a random place I pulled up off of the internet, I have zero connection with the owner of the property of the realtor, nor have I ever met them or talked to them.
Killing Two Birds With One BOL? Wait, There’s MORE!
Diversifying your assets is a great step towards protecting your overall future wealth, and having a safe, prepared bug out location is a fantastic step towards protecting your overall physical well being if the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF).
But buying and owning a BOL in rural America has a ton of other advantages, including giving you a great recreational resource, your own hunting and fishing reserve and family camping area. It’s a great place to have extended family get-togethers as well.
Just something for you good folks to consider.