# Hold Physical Cash

Physical cash is the simplest and arguably the most private payment
system.

If the government still has the power, you can use it even if the
grid fully goes down. In contrast, credit cards, bank transfers
and even "decentralized" cryptocurrencies will not work in that
situation. Also you cannot directly pay with precious metals. Sadly
we don't live in gold standard.

In addition, you can use cash for almost everything offline. You
can use it on a black market. You can make even a remote payment
by sending cash in a mail. IRS could not exactly know how much
physical cash you hold and spent. It makes a blackbox. It's like
an oasis in our "transparent" world.


The obvious shortcomings are that it depends on the government and
it is not immune to the inflation.

For the latter, yes it is not a great store of value. It kind a
works well though. But the main purpose of cash is payment. Not
store of value.

For the former, that's definitely true. But again we don't live in
gold standard. We can't pay with precious metals. On the other
hand, cryptocurrencies depend on electricity and the internet. So
nothing is inherently better. You should mix them all.


For these reasons, I will go crazy and store at least $12,000 of
cash at home. $12,000 = (1 year) * ($1,000 per month). Of course
the amount will constantly change due to the inflation.