As you might imagine, I am a big believer in doing all you can to get prepared. One of the things that makes me pull my hair out is that generally speaking, people wait to get prepared until it is too late. Like many of you, I always think I will be the exception to the rule. I will say to myself, “It won’t happen to me” or “That could never happen here” or (and this is the one most of us use) “Even if it does happen it won’t be that bad”. I look at having emergency supplies on hand like any other insurance policy that you hold. We insure ourselves in so many other ways, and yet we don’t purchase food, water and preparedness insurance like we should.

If you are reading this then you are making an effort to get prepared. Let me congratulate you on being some of the very few in the United States that don’t make the types of excuses I have outlined above. I am not a doom and gloom guy, we have enough of that going on. But I want to make sure you have the tools necessary to make it through life’s emergencies.

We are in the midst of one of those emergencies right now. The Swine Flu could turn into a serious epidemic. We need to be prepared for that. I understand we have had a number of near misses on the previous flu epidemics such as SARS and the Bird Flu (H5N1). Swine flu may fall into the same category. But, then again it may not. No one knows for sure. My crystal ball is on loan to some Wall Street analysts, so unfortunately, I won’t be able to tell you the future as clearly as normally could.

Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that whatever reason people have to get prepared is a good reason. Maybe for you, it is the “Swine Flu” and maybe it will be nothing. But, you will be glad that you have given yourself the peace of mind that comes with being prepared.