Reply #9: If the dollar tanks

[Squeech]

how will a bank account help you? Wouldn't your bank account still be in dollars?

I don't think a money market account is any better. The money market is basically real short-term corporate paper, "bonds" that mature in three months or less. The idea is that interest rate changes within that time frame wouldn't be significant enough to impact the amount of money lent to the corporation. But they're still denominated in dollars, and beyond that, if you anticipate real economic collapse, the companies that issued the paper might default.

A large-cap stock mutual fund might actually work in your favor, since most large corporations are multinationals nowadays, which means they have significant business presences and assets in places that use currencies other than the dollar. I've got a fair amount of mutual fund shares in my various retirement accounts that I hope will continue to be worth something, and my new 401k contributions right now are buying me an international stock fund.

I don't advise gold, because I don't see any plausible scenario where the dollar tanks but markets that respect gold would survive, at least not at the level you would need-- you'll probably never be able to buy your groceries with a Krugerrand.

If you're really paranoid, however, you could open a Swiss bank account in gold, or in Euros.