Preppers, Who and What Are? Are You One? Are you sure? Are they not just people taking out a different type of insurance? Maybe we should take a look at them from another angle? We might just be surprised.
Definition Prepping vs Insurance
Definition Prepping
The practise of making active preparations for a possible catastrophic disaster or emergency, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.
“Prepping is a way of life and there is always something new to learn, tasks to do, and gear to purchase”
Definition Insurance
- an arrangement by which a company or the state undertakes to provide a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for a payment of a specified premium or
- a thing providing protection against a possible eventuality.
What Is The Difference
Insurance
We all, or at least most of us have some form of insurance, Vehicle, Medical, household etc. so let’s start there. We take out insurance (by paying a company) to cover a specific event, such as damage to our vehicle in a collision, often our insurance provides us with a hired vehicle until our vehicle is repaired or replaced.
In the case of medical insurance, they cover our medical costs when we become ill, including hospitalisation where necessary.
Prepping
Preppers are basically self-insured against specific disasters for which there is unlikely to be any insurance. I am sure you will probably find a company that will offer you cover for part of the event but will they be around if the event takes place?
Preppers basically try to ensure that they are in a position to survive a specific event which they feel has a very real possibility of occurring, just like a vehicle collision or illness and they do this in various ways, depending on the envisaged disaster and their own circumstances.
Why Prep – Why Not Just Insure?
This is a great question and the answer to which will probably explain why people prep.
Let’s take a look at some of the scenarios that you might want to insure/prep for;
- Natural emergencies such as Earthquakes, Tornadoes or floods
- Long term Power outage
- Civil unrest or civil war
- Pandemics, such as the corona/corvid-19 outbreaks
One needs to look at the nature of the emergency and how insurance or prepping will help you the best. Let’s face it, if you die during or just after the event, no insurance is going to help you. Insurance claims take days or even months to payout.
In the interim, during or after the event, if you are sitting without water, shelter, food or security, how will you survive until the insurance is paid out. What about medical assistance, will there be any available if there is no water, services or medical supplies?
Power outages could take days, weeks or even months to repair and how about tropical cyclones or civil wars?
What happens with the water supply, sewage, fuel, and all the rest. With no water in the taps, where will you get it? Sewage will not work and sewage will flow to the lowest areas and will be bubbling out into the streets or even into your yard! Imagine how rife disease will be!
There will also be no fuel being pumped or delivered to the fuel stations so no or very limited police or emergency services. What about food. Supermarkets keep about 3 days stock. When disaster hits, food supplies will be gone in a day or two. What then? How will your insurance help you?
That is why people prep. To Survive these events.
What Should I Prep For
There are people and groups that prep for the sake of prepping but you really need to know what you are prepping for. Are you prepping to stay in place until help arrives and is that even an option in some circumstances? You truly need to evaluate your circumstances and what events are a real possibility in your region.
It will not be much use planning for a tsunami when you live 500 Km from the coast at 4000mtrs above sea level, next to an international airport and you have a very real danger of civil war or a pandemic.
Evaluate your circumstances;
- location
- threats
- finances
- medical needs (chronic medical conditions etc)
- food supplies
- Vehicles
- weapons for self-defence
These need to be taken into account when you evaluate what you need to prep for.
Where Would I start
The best place to start is with a swot analysis to determine where you stand at present. Make a list of your;
- Strengths – how to use them
- Weaknesses – how to mitigate them
- Opportunities – identify them
- Threats – prepare for them, how to avoid them
Once you have that you can now start addressing each item.
Prepping Is Expensive – Why
The first complaint is that prepping is expensive but why is that? There are many prepping groups as with insurance companies that want you to buy their products and services. A lot of them are there to make money out of you and they will recommend all these fancy expensive products that your Need and they want you to order it from them.
I am not saying that they are all rip-off artists. There are some great products out there but they are costly. If you have the cash and want to save time and get all your requirements ASAP, that is fine, but that is not the only way to prep. Buying in is not the only option. There are cheaper, effective and practical options.
You should definitely determine your needs as opposed to wants. You definitely do not need everything you want. Start with the needs and move onto the wants when the needs are attended to, AND start with what you have first.
Check your grocery cupboards, there are a lot of items that you can set aside the start your prepping supplies with, and they cost you nothing. Look in your workshop, in the sewing room etc. You will be surprised at what you already have and how much you can make yourself.
Where Do I Find A List To Start
Lists, the shortcut to disaster if you are not careful. We all need help when we start and most of us rush to Google to find lists of what we need. Lists are good but you need to evaluate them carefully. Everyone’s list should be different. Your circumstances are different, your location, your swot is different.
You need to take a list as a list of possible needs because your circumstances will be different. The size and age of the family members, medical needs, skill sets, finances, vehicles, bugging in or bugging out. and don’t forget, most of these lists are there to get you to buy from the website that offers you the list. They want your money.
Find a few lists and compare them to your needs and skills. There will be some items on the list that are nice to have and not a need. Remember, you need to carry them in your backpack or have a place for all your passengers and equipment in your vehicle.
So, Look at lists as a guideline but develop your own that suits your needs.
Going It Alone
There are a vast number of prepping groups out there that you can join if you wish and in most circumstances, being in a group is advantageous but what in a pandemic situation? The bigger the group, the more chance there is of bringing the disease into the group. So, while being in a group is a good thing in most cases, there might be exceptions where going it alone is better but even this has drawbacks such as fewer skills, poorer security and fewer resources.
So Are Preppers Just People In Tinfoil Hats
Having now considered the different scenarios out there and the role of insurance, do you still think that preppers are people in tinfoil hats, or have they got a legitimate point or prepping? Have you considered your circumstances and what you would do in an emergency or are you going to sit back and wait for the insurance company to payout?
Prepping is your insurance against uninsurable events. Maybe we should consider it?
If you have an opinion on this subject, please leave your comments below.
If you have questions, please ask them here.
“It is better to have prepared and never to need it than to be unprepared and be in desperate need of it”.
Be Aware. Be Safe. Be Prepared!