There is a lot of discussion about the importance of owning gold and silver in the form of coins/bars in your physical possession.
And there are a lot of resources to consult on this topic.
But for the life of me I cannot seem to find a level-headed answer to this question: If my personal situation is X, and the US$ hyperinflates and/or economic system implodes (planned by WH's) such that an ounce of gold rises to $Y in value, how many gold coins do I need to survive for Z months?
Obviously there are a shit-ton of variables in that story problem. So there is no easy or perfect answer.
But is there a formula to use as a basis to begin answering this question for your unique situation?
I trust Anons... what are your thoughts, assuming you would ever be able to retrieve the gold that fell out of your boat into a deep, deep lake?
Don't try to do it all at once...continue to live your life in gratitude and joy, not in fear.
How much? This is a matter of your individual/family situation and the budget you set. General financial planning recommendations suggest 3-6 months of living expenses in your emergency fund. this should be immediately available to you. After you have achieved that, recommendations for your total portfolio are to include 5-15% of your portfolio in PMs. Be as aggressive or conservative as your personal and family situation requires. For TEOTWAWKI just stack to the moon.
A reasonable way to accumulate is to make purchases on a set schedule without regard to price (dollar cost averaging). If you have unplanned money (a bequest, an annual bonus, etc) put a substantial portion of that into PMs. And as you build your household budget for PMs, that should be a subset of total preparedness. For prioritization consider the use of the survival metric Rule of Threes - Air, shelter, water, food, interlaced with medical/hygiene and protection. And you can expand the value of these elements if your budget includes training.
What does success look like? It depends on your intent. Stacking for wealth preservation provides two benefits. First, if there is a monetary collapse or reset, you likely have something to offer as a medium of exchange (that's the role of currency) to carry you thru the financial reset. The second function provides the opposite - if there is NOT a collapse, you provide protection against inflation and a potential legacy for your heirs. In this scenario - wealth protection/preservation - PMs begin as part of your emergency funds, and then grow to an element of wealth and estate management. This is true even for those of us who have rather more modest "wealth" and estates.
if your intent is to protect against some apocalyptic scenario, PMs will likely be of limited value DURING the bad times. There will still be trade and commerce, and PMs can still be a medium of exchange, but probably pretty limited. For most common daily life goods and services, barter will be the most common medium. But AFTER the "event", with the restoration of stability, PMs will take on a larger role as currency. Of course, this is all highly speculative as we all try to envision a time we don't want to see