I've noticed recently that this forum is increasingly dominated by posts about the impending demise of the financial system (e.g. see cgnao). These posts fascinate me but as much as I've tried to give myself a crash course on the issues underlying the credit crunch, I know that it probably takes a good few years of study to get to the levels of knowledge that would result in me making decisions I felt were 'fully informed'. Trouble is. I just want to be able to afford a reasonable house for my family. I have STR, but that was motivated by needing to move for work and not wanting to buy a shoebox in more expensive new area, rather than by speculation. Now I'm worried that my sterling will be inflated away. However, I'm also too scared to go more than 10% into PMs. I feel like I'm potentially facing a situation where I may either win masssively (if I buy gold and it rockets, and HPs crash, and financial system survives), or lose masssively (if inflation picks up so much that property becomes an even more desirable asset as everyone's mortgage debt is inflated away, and HPs stall or rise). The risk of suddenly spiking inflation / financial collapse means that I am doubtful that my hoped for scenario (earn a few K interest on my STR fund, house prices go down by 5-10% over 12-18 months, be able to buy slightly better house with mortgage of 3.5 x salary) will come about. I'm starting to think that in the new year I should just buy somewhere 'tolerable' to convert my cash into some kind of asset that is of practical use to my family (as others have said, gold may rocket but if you can't exchange it for a house because everyone won't shift from their most important asset, it is a bit superfluous). Anyone else in this cognitive/emotional boat? What will you do, do you think?