My spouse is urging us to withdraw about half of our retirement account in order to stock up with food, seed and livestock to weather an imminent economic collapse. It's a traditional IRA, so we would pay the 10% early withdrawal penalty, plus income tax (we are in the 15% bracket), which is why I'm reluctant to do so. We would have to withdraw much more than we need for our purchases, and have a lot of it sent off to the IRS.
Her main argument: The money will soon be worthless due to rampant inflation when the USA's creditors stop accepting dollars in payment, or discount the value of new dollars USA prints to pay its debt. We might as well get something of value for the money now, despite the haircut we will take to withdraw it. Hyperinflation's haircut will be even worse. But what if it isn't? On the other hand, starvation won't be pretty.
We are 25-30 years from retirement with maybe $15,000 in the IRA, less than we will need, so one could argue it won't make much difference anyway.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Ed