Survival Skill #1 Money (Part 1 of 10)

With a handful of basic survival skills, you will be miles ahead of the pack when TSHTF.  One of the most important survival skills you can have has to do with money.  Here are ten ways to set yourself up financially for a disaster:

1. Get out of debt ASAP (and don't generate future debt.  If you can't pay cash for something, you can't afford it).
2. Have an emergency fund (start with $1000 and add to it consistently until you could live off of said emergency fund for at least a year).
3. Live below your means (this makes both #1 and #2 easier).
4. Be able to earn money (ie: have an education, job skills, self employment skills).
5. Have passive income (this can range from investments to royalties to other ways that you make money "while you sleep").
6. Have alternatives to cash money (such as a bit of gold, silver, and items that would have value during a collapse that you could sell).
7. Protect your money (both physically such as in a safe and theoretically such as protecting it from swindlers and bad deals).
8. Insure your money (keep life, health, auto, home, disability, and other necessary insurances to protect you financially from ruin).
9. Use your money to buy/stockpile items which would be necessary during a disaster (non-perishable food, medical supplies, ammo, etc).
10. Invest some of your money in yourself (in your education, in valuable job skills, in survival skills such as a first aid class, etc).