Wife and I could be called "preppers" and, I suppose, we could be called "hoarders."
Or we could simply be called "prudent." I see no need to put any spin on the frame of reference, but then I don't have any particular axe to grind, either.
We take a few bucks out of every shopping trip and pick up a little "just in case" food. Gas just went up another $0.15 in our neck of the woods. Kick it up high enough, and shipping costs will go up, a certain number of long haul truckers won't be able to sustain their business, deliveries will be impacted, and the price & availability of groceries will be affected.
Every item of groceries that we buy today -- at today's prices -- is an item for which we won't have to pay tomorrow's prices. Consider it a form of insurance. I could put my money in the bank, and "hoard" it there (at < 1% return), or put it into stuff I will need anyway, at (currently) a 15% or better return. Hey, a 15% or better return is smart investing.
The down side, of course, is that it's not terribly portable.
There's another "value store" item that I "hoard" against diminished currency value, and it's not gold or silver: I keep a supply of inexpensive but decent quality knives on hand. Under the right conditions, a fair quality pocket knife or a good general purpose fixed blade can have a sort of "currency" value. These aren't as portable as folding money -- or even PM coins -- but they're more portable than ten pounds of grain or a gallon of liquid.
Nothing that I can buy today, except -- ironically -- electronics, will cost less tomorrow than it does today. Food goes up, fuel goes up, hardware and dry goods go up. Fuel is hard to store and is not portable. Food stores better and is somewhat more portable. Tools -- specifically knives -- are even more portable and have no shelf life.
Some people will "hoard" money, or gamble it in the Wall Street casino. Others will convert it to tangible goods whose value will not decline in an inflating market. I've heard objections to storing physical objects (such as food) because "they can come and take it from you." And that may be so . . . but "they" can take your investments and your money's value without so much as showing up in your neighborhood. I know this from hard personal experience. Ask me sometime about the best way to lose $150k of your cash money by putting it into a house -- you know, that secure investment, home ownership -- only to have the bank tell you afterwards that all the value you thought you'd built has evaporated in a cloud of "market" smoke. We would have been better off if we'd done the "irresponsible" thing and bought up-market cars with it.
However, if we'd taken that cash -- all $150k of it -- and bought a stash of quality knives, we wouldn't have lost a dime of our value.
Of course, then we'd be hoarders.
And that would be bad.
