Just a few responses to a few things you said. I'll expand later if the "Going Galt" category gets created.

1. First of all, forget about "going Galt" in any literal sense. Unless you're a millionaire or better and have been reading Doug Casey's newsletters for at least a year, you're not anywhere close to being able to do it. You might be able to move to Texas, though, and hope they secede before things get too dark. IF you can stand living in that stinkhole.

2. Yes, Gold IS the answer. But you're a little too late. You might think about buying a bag of 90% silver US coins though. Gasoline is still between ten and twenty cents a gallon if you use pre-1965 US coins to pay for it.

3. Forget about a cabin in the mountains. That's Hollywood BS. I LIVE in a cabin in the mountains. Guess what? You can't grow any food up here. The soil is too poor and the growing season is too short. It seems like everyone in this gulch is "prepping" (or at least claims to be) but the reality is that we're all going to starve to death up here when the SHTF. I'm looking into moving down lower.

4. There was a speech given by a Russian named Dmitry Orlov some years ago called "Best Practices for Societal Collapse." You should be able to find it with a search engine. I highly recommend enduring the whole thing. Some of it is BS but quite a bit applies to our present situation.

My big takeaway from Orlov's speech (from memory; I hope I'm getting this right): You will need five things: Food + water. Shelter + defense. Energy (primarily fuel). Medical Stuff. Transportation.

Think through how each of these will be affected in your geo and make a plan to provide for each. That last item in particular is going to be really tricky for those of us who do not own a horse and enough land to feed it.

Almost everyone has commitments of some kind. Honoring your word shows character. Planning takes time and thought. Getting advice helps you make wiser decisions. Someone mentioned a talk by Orlov. It may have been that one or another, but a point he made was that in societal turmoil having a business or skill or knowledge of a means to support yourself by providing some kind of product or service is an important part of a long term survival strategy. People will always need food. Entertainment is secondary. Energy is important. Be creative. Think long term. Dare to entertain what-if scenarios and plan for worst case alternatives (think insurance here - but you are the provider). I guess the other important thing here is finding community. This means local if the infrastructure is down. Get to know your neighbors. There may be folks around you who are also asking the same questions.

The best advice my Dad gave me is, invest in "hard assets." Own property, things, you value. If the value of the dollar plummets with the market, things can never be taken away (except by force) from you because they exist in reality.

I agree that "Going Galt" in the literal sense is beyond my current capacity to do so. Were I single and flush with cash I could probably make a go of it. But I doubt that my wife and children would be so willing to liquidate everything, move to a farm in the outback of Wyoming and live like pioneers. I do however have the capacity to make changes to my investments, save more cash and buy gold, guns and ammunition. I am also entertaining the idea of moving to a house that isn't made entirely of glass and sheetrock in the middle of a suburban neighborhood full of would-be looters.The honest truth is that the choice to embrace these options is difficult. To pull investments out of the stockmarket is to potentially lose tens of thousands in potential investment gains over the years (if the market miraculously doesn't crash). To buy precious metals at this point in time is gambling that we are not at the peak of a bubble that is set to pop destroying 50% or more of one's investments. I'm think that investing in guns may be a good option in that they tend to hold their value or increase in value over time. Maybe buying a warehouse full of cigarettes and toilet paper would also be a good investment - there will always be a market for those! :) The choices are hard. I would prefer not to put it all on black or red. I guess i'll look for the middle ground that won't ruin me should things hold steady or fall apart in the long run.