Imagine you worked hard for many years in hopes of saving up for a peaceful retirement. Boom! War begins in your country…
In one moment, everything has changed for you.
Now it is the reality for people who are living in Ukraine. Many Ukrainians had to leave and find refuge in other countries. However, throughout history, war conflicts affected almost every nation.
It happened in the past, it is happening now, and it will happen in the future.
Then the question is, what can one do? What assets are handy during the war?
Stocks and Companies?
International stocks are affected by geopolitical news. Every war affects certain companies, trade, and transactions. If the country at war is the major exporter of certain products, it will highly affect other countries. The value of the stocks responds to these shocks. As the result, some stocks will go up, and some stocks will go down a lot as people start selling in panic.
Local stocks fall in value because local companies’ operations are disturbed by war, and many companies go out of business.
Physical Gold and Silver?
Precious metals are great assets to have as they have existed for centuries and kept their value in crises. Physical assets can be hidden until better times. However, if one wants to leave the country and take their savings in gold or silver with them, during wartime, it becomes unsafe to travel with precious metals. It is bulky and visible and can be stolen, and worst of all, the laws that protect you stop working, and your life may be under threat while having these assets in your possession.
Physical Cash?
Similar to gold and silver, it’s difficult to hide, and large amounts are too dangerous to have in your possession. It can be confiscated by authorized or stolen by thugs (or both). Also, if you store it in your local, national currency, there is high certainty that the purchasing power will significantly decrease shortly.
Real Estate?
(Image from Ukrainian Telegram channel)
Real estate is not liquid – it takes time to find a buyer. During the war, real estate value falls a lot as it becomes a high-risk asset – there is a risk of the property getting destroyed, vandalized, or nationalized. The property’s location becomes dangerous to live in, and there is high selling pressure as many people try to sell their property quickly. Thus, having real estate is not a good vehicle for wealth preservation as you will lose your investment if you need to sell during these conditions.
In contrast, it may be a good opportunity to buy land during such times, but you must assess the risks.
Savings in the Bank?
This is the most secure place to keep your wealth. I am just kidding :)
During wartime, banks almost always impose a specific limit on what one can do with their savings in the bank, such as making a limit on how much one can withdraw or transfer to avoid a bank run. Many banks are likely to default, and you will not be able to get your savings. Your bank deposits might be insured by government insurance, but the only way the government can pay you back is by printing more currency, which will decrease the purchasing power of your deposits.
Cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies become the ultimate solution during wartime (No joke).
Unlike gold and silver, which are bulky and can be easily taken away from you – with cryptocurrencies, you only need to know a seed phrase from your crypto wallet. No one can take your crypto investments from you unless you tell your seed phrase.
With cryptocurrency, you are very mobile. This is essential during the war because the situation changes every hour. You can move to a different country and cash out your cryptocurrency there, and all you need is your seed phrase. You don’t need to come in person to banks to make any transactions and wait for this transaction to get executed. There are no transaction limits, and the fees are way below banks’ wire transfer fees.
There are two kinds of cryptocurrencies: decentralized like Bitcoin and centralized like most stable coins that are pegged to fiat currency like USD, EUR, or coins pegged to gold or silver. The underlying assets of the centralized coins are kept in the companies that issue these coins. Both centralized and decentralized coins are very liquid, and you can buy or sell them at any time. You need to understand that you have true ownership only over decentralized currencies and that centralized coins can be sanctioned or taken away from you by being digitally blocked.
As you can see, there is a wide selection of cryptocurrencies to buy as assets. For example, if you believe in gold - you can buy PAXG (centralized crypto gold); if you believe in USD - you can buy HBD (decentralized crypto USD); if you believe in Bitcoin – buy it (but just remember that it's volatile, and it’s a long-term investment).
Of course, before purchasing any cryptocurrency, you need to research it and the company behind it (if any).
But the most critical value of any cryptocurrency during wartime is your mobility – to have your savings with you no matter where you go and make transactions anywhere in the world without any middleman like banks. And most importantly, you don’t need to ask any banker for their gracious permission to use your own money however you want.
If you are in Ukraine right now – there are many ways to buy cryptocurrencies. Check my post on ways to buy crypto. I would say the easiest and cheapest way would be to make a Binance account and buy crypto with a debit card, wire transfer or P2P.
If you want to register, here is the link: https://accounts.binance.com/en/register?ref=L0JWBNMS (or code L0JWBNMS). You will get 10% discounts on every trade commission with my referral link.
Subscribe to my Youtube channel Subscribe to my Telegram channel
Crypto Dive🥇 is growing to become the number one channel to educate as many people as possible about decentralized technology.
Crypto Dive Ru (Crypto Dive in Russian)
Disclaimer: This post is not financial advice or legal advice. It's for educational purposes only.
#decentralization#decentralized#crypto#cryptocurrency#binance#newtocrypto#otc#bitcoinatm #beginner #beginnersguide #beginnerguide #ukraine #ukrainewar #warinukraine #ua #assets #investments #invest #investing #crisis
#crisisinvesting #war #cryptoinvestment #realestate #real-estate #stocks #cash
#gold #silver #stock #company #business #bank #banking #banks #banknotes #money #realmoney
#welcometocrypto
Posted with Waivio