Preparing for an economic collapse

Robsta1973 wrote: »

I suppose from seeing all the people stood waiting at Northern Rock the last time.

As Dunstonh suggests, what happened to Northern Rock should give you extreme peace of mind, given that not a single depositor in Northern Rock lost any money.

I wasn't sure if buying a house would just set me up to fail should a financial crisis start sooner than later.

I can't see how. Presumably you are planning on living in it?

The reason people are being glib and talking about baked beans and shotguns is because your post conflates two completely different scenarios: an economic collapse (which is what happened in Venezuela and Zimbabwe and is exceptionally rare) or an economic crash (which is a normal part of the economic cycle, and happens at irregular intervals - the last being in 2008 - without necessarily causing any lasting ill effects to individuals).

You seem to want to know about a crash but you can't blame people for talking about what to do to protect yourself against a collapse when the thread title is "Preparing for an economic collapse".

Robsta1973 wrote: »

I wasn’t trying to feel sorry for myself or trying to make other people look worse I am not that type of person. I don’t understand enough about investments etc so thought I would ask the opinion or advice of people on here because I thought it was a Forum to ask questions.
Rob

A few personal/financial details may help with guidance. Goals, risk tolerance etc. Roof over your head is probably first place to start.

dividendhero wrote: »

What, no ammo?

Typical split is food, fuel and ammo in equal proportions. However this is based on US philosophy.

Considering the chap in charge, probably sound advice.

dunstonh wrote: »

NR caused its own failure but the media created the hysteria and the lemmings queued up. Even after the Govt said deposits would be protected.

I didn't have a Northern Rock account but somehow it felt like I was missing out by not queuing. I enjoy good run on a bank. Seen too many repeats of Mary Poppins in my childhood

£23k is well within the 'safe' amount to have with a single institution (currently £85k I think), so as said above you wouldn't lose out because provided you bank is registered under that EU-wide scheme you would get the money back (possibly after a bit of a wait) in full.
You time-scale of around 1 year means investments are not a good idea, as there could have been a bit of a dip just when you want to use the money (markets are always having 'a bit of a dip', and sometimes 'a bit of a rise', and occasionally a big jump either way).
Gold (coins / bars) is a very poor investment on the whole because you pay more than the actual value of the metal to get it, and in a short time probably wouldn't get it back.
Keep to things like UK banks, building societies or NS&I and although you may not get much interest (but try looking at interest paying current accounts or regular savers) for one year you should be able to sleep OK because 3% inflation wouldn't really have much time to affect the buying power of what you have.