> During WWII, a number of stock markets had “permanent breaks” with the market closing and never restarting again. That happened in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland and Finland when they were taken over by the Soviet Union. Communism is clearly the greatest enemy of wealth preservation.

The author forgets about the Baltic republics. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were also occupied by the USSR, incorporated into it even.

> A working farm often protected both wealth and your life, providing safety and food. There are number of anecdotes of affluent French families that shuttered their Paris houses in 1940 and retreated with their most precious possessions to family farms in the deep countryside, living in relative comfort through the war.

My significant other and I have consciously invested in a remote countryside property with adjacent agricultural land. Great holiday house. Decent returns as a holiday rental. Comfortable to live in if everything goes poof.

With some research, this is surprisingly affordable in many EU regions. I'm not just speaking of eastern Europe. Even western Europe has super affordable pockets. Check out northern Spain, remote regions of France, and most of Portugal.