Im at risk of making myself sound like a wacko here... but i like to think that my silver/gold coin collection is a better hedge against the next crash than US Dollars would be since precious metals tend to appreciate during economic uncertainty.

Keep the course Christopher sounds as if you will know exactly what that # will be in no time, take good care of yourself but mostly of those 6 precious kiddos of yours!

Alternative investments in the last decade tend to be more Art and less precious metals.

They share with me that in their 30's to 40's in age they focused 60% on the business, 30% family, 10% mentoring or helping others.Middle age 50's,60's they did about 45% business,40% family, and 15% mentoring.In their 70's now they do about 20% business, 50% family, and 30% mentoring to help others.They still work on large projects however have trained up others over decades to run their businesses for the most part.TIME is one of the most precious commodities.Majority of the population see their home as retirement and something to work for.

Eventually I realized that Schiff and all the others may be correct about the upcoming collapse (every fiat currency in the history of the world has eventually failed), but I just don't think anyone is any good at predicting when (Schiff has been saying it is right around the corner since 08) (another thing about Schiff, he sells precious metals, don't ask a barber if you need a hair cut).  

4- looks like all of the California rental market just got a lot more precious, where we in San Francisco have been dealing with this for a long time.

They can barely afford to pay their mortgages and taxes there and live in perpetual fear that they'll have to downgrade or move their kids out of the school system they're in, an unthinkable loss of social status.As their kids grow, they unthinkingly strengthen then strong and weaken the weak, culminating in too many avoidable instances of weak, brittle, fearful young people of privilege who are unable to deal with any sort of real adversity and only really do anything when faced with the possibility that inaction might significantly damage their own precious social status, documented daily on Instagram, Facebook, etc.So in my private life of old friends and family, I find myself somewhat hemmed in by incredibly hard-working people who care a great deal about social status and constantly make utterly inane excuses about why they're all so damned broke as they drive massively depreciating cars and live in houses that are dumpster fires of various expenses.

Stop listening to rumors and fake news.With all the complaining, I don't see anyone talking about what would happen to their precious job if we had stayed the course.  

It's amazing to me that today, with all the info available on the internet and here on BP, that some people still take their hard earned PRECIOUS RETIREMENT INCOME and throw it at some stranger. 

Of course, this is only one man's observation and opinion.With regards to financial freedom, it means you own the most precious commodity in the world.