Editor’s Introductory Note: This young man is prayerfully seeking a wife. He is offering an after-marriage gift of up to $50,000 to whoever introduces him to his bride with $18,000 after their marriage and another $16,000 to the individual who provided the introduction after the first two births of healthy children born to him and his wife, for a total potential gift of $50,000. For further details, see this link to his article posted on July 13th, 2025: My Quest for a Wife: I’m Willing to Move.
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(Continued from Part 5. This concludes the article.)
Five Hundred Dollar Prepper
Five hundred dollars is a very basic level of preparedness, but many of the things bought at higher levels are only improvements and expansions on most of these concepts. Don’t expect a retreat or much for five hundred dollars in 2025. Back in the mid-1800s, a skilled man could outfit a wagon and stake a claim on “homestead” land in the frontier starting with five hundred dollars. A lot of items will have to be “borrowed from Peter to pay Paul.” For instance, you would be using much dual-use equipment instead of dedicated equipment put in survival packs and rotated as necessary if not used. At beginning levels of preparedness, books will either have to be borrowed from the library or found at thrift stores.
Other than dying of exposure or lack of air, overall people die of dehydration usually by a factor of ten or greater before they die of starvation. Water is often the great limiter in survival. Shipwrecked individual find themselves with “water, water, but none fit to drink.” A desalinator would be a good thing in such an instance, but a portable desalination unit is not usually within this budget. You could build a solar still however scrounging materials. At this level, you are a scrounger. It is in many ways an interesting position because there is not much farther to fall and little to lose in many circumstances. Having fifteen gallons of water is a very basic, but achievable level. A person could even save and clean old food-safe containers purifying the water. A water straw filter could be useful if a person finds water in many scenarios. Having a water straw filter, some canteens, chemical disinfectant, and stored water is what is easily accomplishable at this level.
Food in this scenario would be whatever you can think of that is fairly inexpensive and compact. Energy bars or even small bags of chips for those who are not familiar with pemmican, hardtack, or other “iron rations” would likely be stored in a survival pack. Some people will buy “freeze-dried” or dehydrated camping food. It is important to “try” food, so you can decide if it is palatable and works for you as fuel to provide energy. One of the dumbest ideas I have seen is people storing food without trying it. Survival scenarios are often stressful and people still have the same taste preferences. Just because the power is out or something bad has happened does not mean that suddenly you will think roadkill is gourmet fare. Kids are notorious picky eaters. Everyone likes good-tasting food, but the people who survive will likely be those who are willing to eat whatever is available, whenever it is available with an appreciative attitude.
A shelter would likely be a tube tent if you do not already have a tent or an improvised shelter with a tarp. A sleeping bag would be a useful addition. Clothing is whatever you have on hand and hopefully a person would already have a winter coat.
At this level, a firearm would likely be a very inexpensive pistol probably of a budget brand as even a new name new brand pistol could be more than the entire budget. A two-hundred-dollar pistol is better than no pistol. An inexpensive holster, an extra magazine or two, and a few boxes of ammunition are able to be squeezed into such a budget, but that is a good chunk of this budget. Endless debates could be made over if a person at this level should buy a pistol, rifle, or shotgun. In general, a pistol is more useful for most scenarios as it is infinitely more concealable on average than either one of those other firearms. The guidelines of barter even dictate to never trade pistols for rifles unless it is a really good trade (to me, that would be a quantity of rifles in a common caliber, not just one unless it was something exceptional like a pistol or a .50 BMG rifle). Some exceptions could include an individual who will be or have access to a wilderness area such that a case could be made for an inexpensive 12-gauge shotgun.
At this level, it is about making tradeoffs and compromises. It is not about finding the perfect, but good enough. Repurposing items a person already has, finding deals at yard sales and thrift stores is what will be needed at this level to have the most basic items.
Five Thousand Dollar Prepper
At the five thousand dollar level, you start unlocking many more levels of preparedness. At this level, a good quality water filter such as a Swiss made unit could be easily purchased. This is still more than five percent of the budget.
An individual can begin building a very basic armory of a pistol, rifle, and shotgun. I would budget no more than half including ammunition, holsters, and basic accessories such as slings or very inexpensive scopes. A person could buy basic name brand, but three basic firearms and their accessories are usually more than enough for almost any common scenario and will take up about half of the budget.
I know some people will comment what about a .22 rifle or pistol for small game hunting or pest control. Overall small game hunting is a negative calorie producing exercise over the long term and trapping is much more effective as traps work 24/7, with very little calories expended. It should be noted that small game hunting and hunting in general is very ineffective as a long-term survival strategy as the “game” only exists because people mostly follow very restrictive rules giving the prey large advantages. In the event of a “grid down” event, likely people will overhunt to the point of local extinction levels as what happened during the Great Depression. A pellet gun can be effective for pest control in gardening, but overall trapping can be even more remunerative. It is best to treat any animals harvested through hunting or trapping as a bonus rather than as a primary means of obtaining protein.
Food will be more accessible at this level. In general, I do not like the taste of most survival food. This is not the fresh home-cooked food that my family cooks and bakes, but food that is going to last for a long time under difficult storage conditions. The better the storage conditions in general the longer food lasts. There are some gourmet hacks on how to make MREs more palatable, but in general most survival food is meant to be eaten while extensively working in the field and often the amount of salt contained in them is justified to replace salt lost through strenuous field exercises. Many people report various gastrointestinal issues when eating various survival foods.
My family has purchased a limited amount of “survival” storage foods over the years because we prefer to store our own long-lasting foods as whole grains and legumes which are the basis of our regular diet. My family mostly cooks from scratch using real ingredients. If you are capable of packing and preserving food, there is often a cost savings opportunity there versus buying “survival” food. We live on a farm, so food resupply is fairly easy given how much we and our neighbors grow. But devastating crop losses can occur. So having a couple of years worth of food minimum is advisable although it is highly unlikely to occur at this level unless you are growing the food yourself using “sweat equity.”
Shelter will still be very basic such as a tent and quality sleeping bag. There is one level that you can unlock and that is electricity. It is not about a system which is powering refrigerators, freezers, and a whole house full of electrical appliances. A small power box is what I have in mind at this level. A large power box could cost the entire budget easily. About a thousand dollars can get you a small power box with a lithium-type battery, solar panel to recharge it, and some miscellaneous items to make life more comfortable such as rechargeable flashlights, fans, and small radio to keep informed. The power box usually either powers items directly or be used to recharge them.
Fifty Thousand Dollar Prepper
At fifty thousand dollars, you have a lot more options. Now is not usually the time for a .50 BMG rifle although you could usually “afford” it at that level, but unless you have everything else, it is not something that I would be buying at that level of preparedness.
Land is a building block of preparedness. At this level, a person could look for a small amount of land to purchase in the one to five-acre range. There is still the potential for land out there at reasonable prices, but it is generally not advertised. It helps to talk to people to say that you are looking for land and sometimes someone knows of some land that is not currently for sale, but could be in the future. Land is one of the most difficult things to purchase because there are so many variables. Some could work for one person and not work for another such as one person could enjoy the idea that the land is difficult to access because it would be more defensible if hard times would come visiting your area. The amount of variables could fill up many pages of this essay from development rights to water rights to mineral rights to how the land is owned. My earlier article titled “Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land” contains additional information that people might find useful, concerning land. For a small parcel in this scenario, a person could spend 20 percent of the budget for land.
Land must also be developed including the basics such as water, power, and septic, not even counting road access construction. Unless the plan is to live in a portable dwelling such as recreational vehicle or tent if either is allowed, some type of sturdy, but inexpensive home could be developed. Doing everything yourself could possibly be done in the range of 30 percent of the budget for a very small home.
At this level and even the next a lot of sweat equity is involved because every person you would pay is ultimately fewer supplies you could purchase. When learning how to do things, you actually could benefit twice or more such that you learn how to do it, often purchase tools that you get to keep, and if something stops working, you often know how to repair it.
Small scale food production on the land could be started (depending on if there are any restrictions). Often the problem with many small amounts of land is that there can be covenants, codes, and restrictions on the deed. This should be thoroughly investigated to know what you can and cannot do. One game changer in small scale food preservation is a home freeze dryer. Many years ago this technology was only commercially available, but now we know so many families who are freeze-drying at home. Between the appliance and various accessories, this could easily occupy another 10 percent of the budget depending on the model purchased.
It could be useful to have everything at the five thousand dollar level, so that would be another ten percent of the budget.
At this level, you could become a homesteader with all of the core elements. As more money becomes available, a person could add more items to their list. One of the most important topics in a grid-up environment was mentioned earlier: an emergency fund. It is very critical to have a cushion because no matter how self-sufficient you are or alone you think you are, you have a silent partner who demands his pound of flesh usually on an annual basis: the tax man. Property taxes are an increasing burden on families who live on farms and retreats as they need to find cash or cash equivalents to exchange for “paid” receipts of these taxes.
Five Hundred Thousand Dollar Prepper
If a person already owns land and a disaster-resistant home, then much more equipment could be purchased. However, if land needs to be purchased and a home built, then very careful purchasing must continue to be done.
At this level in many areas of the country, twenty acres could be purchased and a homestead developed. At ten thousand dollars an acre, this could cost upwards of forty percent of the budget. Land could cost much more or much less depending on a variety of factors especially if land prices are subject to job pressure where wages influence land prices more than the value of it for agricultural or recreational purposes. Another ten percent could be used for property development of utilities or backup systems if they are already not on the property. Depending on the size of the home and the level of involvement in the construction of the home, it could cost even more than the entire budget. Knowing how to do things is very important at every level and cost savings are possible. Finding qualified people who know carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and various other trades is often a struggle. It continues to pay dividends to learn skills and save money with sweat equity.
Even with the high costs of materials and doing everything that you can, a hundred and fifty thousand dollars (or thirty percent of this budget) will still buy a lot of materials. I was recently talking with an individual who constructed a disaster-resistant home over 50 years ago and he mentioned paying only about ten percent of the price of a cubic yard of concrete costs today.
Everything at the fifty thousand dollar level would take another ten percent. There is another ten percent potentially available or $50,000 in this hypothetical budget. Some important accomplishments that could be unlocked at this level would be night vision and thermal. More supplies stacked in depth could be useful in many scenarios. However, even though 500,000 dollars seems like a lot of money, it could be spent really quickly if you need to buy land and build a home. When I travel to cities, I often see new home subdivisions on small lots (fractions of an acre) selling models for over $500,000. In some areas of the country, people would think that price is a bargain.
Five Million Dollar Prepper
As one of our late family friends who survived the Great Depression used to say, “Now you’re cooking with gas” when talking about arriving at a higher level of accomplishment. Our friend was around to hear that advertising slogan back in the 1930s. At this level, you can afford to buy a substantial property (which could be in the three-figure acreage range) in many parts of the country, build a disaster-resistant home, and purchase many survival supplies.
Often, many people at this level will not have the level of experience with actual gear. Many times people at this level do not have the recent experience of being at the bottom and knowing how to jerry-rig things to work. In the event of a long-term collapse, most of the support systems these people rely on will be gone. If you have an “admin” or personal assistant, that individual will probably not be doing that job anymore. Many people will be lost in this new world where someone does not curate items for you or things are done for you. As the saying goes, “touching grass” is important, but be sure not to pick up any ticks or mites in the foray in the real world.
People at this level will often think that there is one perfect solution which can be purchased almost like armies search for “wonder weapons.” As I was mentioning earlier, there is a use case for almost anything, but an example out of the Second World War bookends this concept. One of the largest weapons and an overall net ineffective was the 800mm Schwerer Gustav used by the Germans. While the gun was a technological marvel and had an excellent battlefield success, on the whole it was at the level of a Pyrrhic victory as it achieved success, but the manpower it diverted (some claim an entire division) and resources used in its production were astronomical in cost.
There are no easy roads in this life. Typically, money will make some things easier, but overall people still need to acquire knowledge, skills, and materials. Finding trustworthy people will always be a challenge at any level because retreats ideally need to be manned especially in terms of security with a 24/7/365 watch becoming necessary and also for food production (stored food will eventually run out, so that is why I encourage people when possible to live on productive farms). In a case where retreats need to be activated and order has collapsed, a security team of people could become an “enemy inside the gates.” The veneer of civilization is thin and people who are hired may not have solid Christian morals and ethics seeing an opportunity to seize power. A solution in this case could be to “grow your own” in terms of encouraging and mentoring children’s spouses into preparedness-related hobbies. A son-in-law who has deep knowledge of preparedness is an infinitely better choice for a coming grimy age than a son-in-law who only knows how to push paper.
Some people who are accomplished in some field such as a CEO, a person who recently had a liquidity event where suddenly large amounts of equity are available for them to use, or a sports professional may be able to go beyond a five million dollar budget and you may be wondering if there is anything more in terms of levels of preparedness that can be unlocked. Yes, there is more. You could have multiple retreats and can arrange potential interesting bug-out plans with specialized transportation options. Some readers may have golden handcuffs (jobs that they have to be there and leaving could forfeit many benefits) and they need to have an ability to escape and then ride out the chaos during an economic collapse. A well-planned retreat could have a runway attached where you can cross the country in a matter of hours from a financial capital such as New York City to a safe location in the Midwest or in the American Redoubt.
At this level, you can afford to buy and stock items in quantity, but often time is something that a person does not have. Acquiring skills takes time and often that is simply not available. It is difficult to convince a spouse, children, or other relatives who have access to so much that they need to learn skills last widely practiced in the 19th Century. Spending the day sweating out in the field is not something most people will voluntarily do, but so many willingly go to the gym using machines in many ways mimic the work that is done on a farm. There are a couple of ironic points that are often missed by people. So much can be bought at this level, but the things that are the most important cannot be purchased. They must be slowly acquired such as friendships, skills, and wisdom.
I pray that each reader of this article may continue to experience the Lord’s blessings in a true Golden Age as we prepare for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026. Several of my great-grandfathers fought in the War for Independence. That generation of Patriots was not much different than our generation of people who share the same values only separated by time and are focused on raising their progeny with the hope that tomorrow can be better than yesterday.
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