When Higher Income Does Not Mean Greater Purchasing Power
The numbers say households are earning more. Technology has advanced. Convenience is everywhere. Yet for many people, the lived experience does not feel like greater prosperity.
In this Changing Planks livestream, Lynette Zang connected three seemingly separate subjects: energy, economic sentiment, and surveillance.
Her central point was that energy costs do not remain isolated in the energy market. Oil and diesel are embedded throughout food production, processing, refrigeration, packaging, and transportation. When those costs rise, the effects can eventually reach household budgets.
That pressure becomes especially important when compared with household income. Lynette pointed to median household income rising from $9,030 in 1971 to roughly $87,460 in the latest figures she presented, an increase of approximately 869%.
But she argued that counting dollars does not tell the entire story.
When she changed the measuring stick from dollars to gold and silver, the picture looked very different. According to the figures presented during the livestream, median household income represented roughly 214 ounces of gold in 1971 versus approximately 20 ounces today. In silver, she compared roughly 5,826 ounces in 1971 with about 1,300 ounces today.
Her conclusion was simple: more dollars do not necessarily mean more purchasing power.
Lynette then connected declining confidence with expanding surveillance infrastructure. Facial recognition, digital identification, cameras, and connected payment systems may be introduced for convenience or security, she said, but the same infrastructure can potentially be used differently once people are integrated into it.
That is why she continues to emphasize eight areas of preparation: food, water, energy, security, barterability, wealth preservation, community, and shelter.
With that framework established, Lynette turned to viewer questions.
Question 1: Did you see where Larry Fink was on TV talking about everything being tokenized?
Full Question: “Hi, Lynette. Did you see where Larry Fink was on TV talking about everything should be tokenized? Thank you. Love your Tuesdays and thank you so much for that new updated collateral video. I finally get it.”
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette said she had not seen the specific television appearance because she had taken the previous week off, but tokenization itself was not new to her. She said she has been discussing the subject since 2015.
Her concern centers on ownership and control. Lynette described tokenization as a structure that can divide equity or assets into small digital units, making them easier to trade and potentially expanding what can be used as collateral.
She stressed the distinction between being a beneficial owner and being the legal owner, something she considers critical when evaluating tokenized assets.
Lynette also connected tokenization to the broader digital infrastructure being built around payments, smartphones, AI, and financial markets. Her concern is not simply what these systems can do today, but how their rules and uses could change after widespread adoption.
Her response returned to physical gold, community, and the concept of becoming your own central banker. In her view, physical sound money that holds purchasing power through time provides a different form of control than tokenized financial claims.
Question 2: I know GLD/SLV ETFs are supposed to mirror actual metal prices, but since they don’t do so perfectly, does that mean they’re not required to? And as such, how do financial institutions actually use them?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette first corrected the premise. She said GLD and SLV are designed to track spot contract prices rather than what she considers the fundamental value of physical gold and silver.
During the livestream, she compared GLD with the spot gold contract. Over shorter periods, she showed that GLD tracked the spot market closely. Over longer periods, however, the lines gradually separated.
Lynette attributed that divergence to the trust selling underlying physical gold to cover management fees. She emphasized that ordinary shareholders cannot simply convert their shares into the underlying physical metal, while authorized financial institutions have different access.
Her key distinction was between physical ownership and exposure through a trust structure.
She described GLD and SLV primarily as trading instruments and argued that financial institutions can use ETFs, contracts, and options to influence visible market prices through buying and selling.
She encouraged viewers to read the prospectuses themselves and understand exactly what they own rather than assuming an ETF share is equivalent to possessing physical gold or silver.
Question 3: Can you feel the acceleration beginning?
Full Question: “Rock and roll, doomloop, poochie coup. And are you liking them better? But many blessings to you, Lynette, and your family and crew. No big question today. But can you feel the acceleration beginning?”
Lynette Zang’s Answer
“Yes,” was Lynette’s direct answer.
She focused primarily on the bond market. Lynette pointed back to 2022, when major central banks sharply increased interest rates after a roughly 40-year trend of generally declining rates.
She characterized that change as the event that “popped the debt bubble.”
In her view, the consequences have become increasingly visible. She highlighted the 10-year U.S. Treasury market because of its foundational role in global finance and defined liquidity as the ability to buy or sell without causing a major price shift.
Lynette interpreted Treasury buybacks and other interventions as signs of growing stress within that foundation. This, she said, is where she sees the acceleration becoming increasingly apparent.
Question 4: I’m still working for a corporation. Am I able to withdraw my 401(k)?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette said the answer depends on the specific retirement plan and advised contacting the plan administrator.
She outlined two possibilities that may be available depending on the plan:
- Borrowing against the 401(k), which could provide access to cash while repaying the loan into the account.
- An in-service withdrawal or rollover election, if the plan permits it.
She emphasized that the administrator should be able to explain exactly what the participant is allowed to do.
Lynette also encouraged viewers to obtain and understand the complete terms governing their retirement plans, including their rights, limitations, and potential risks.
Question 5: I know you mentioned Kinesis many times, but what seems too good to be true with the yields and what do you think about their expansion into different metals and commodities?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette said the reason she has discussed Kinesis is that the gold is redeemable, although she noted that redemption sizes may make physical redemption impractical for the average person.
She does not view a digital gold platform as the place to hold all of her wealth. Instead, she sees this type of holding as potentially fitting into the early liquidity portion of a broader sound money strategy.
She made a similar point about Glint and Goldbacks. In her framework, different tools have different purposes. Digital gold or silver can provide liquidity during the initial phase of a crisis, while physical gold and silver play different roles within the overall strategy.
She divided her sound money strategy into immediate, intermediate, longer-term, and very long-term needs.
The larger goal, she said, is to establish these layers with urgency before a crisis turns that urgency into an emergency and reduces the choices available.
Lynette also stressed that physical gold and silver alone are not the entirety of wealth preservation. Food, water, energy, security, barterability, community, and shelter all remain part of the strategy.
Question 6: Are credit unions less risky than regular banks?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette said she would like to answer yes, but believes the reality depends on the institution and its dependencies.
She noted that credit unions generally are not participating in the same types of derivative trading as major commercial banks. However, she argued that smaller financial institutions may still depend on larger commercial banks for liquidity and other functions.
That creates interconnected risk.
If a major institution experiences severe losses and pulls back lending or liquidity, Lynette said the consequences can move through the system and reach smaller institutions.
She also recalled that many smaller banks failed during the 2008 financial crisis while the largest institutions were treated as too big to fail.
Her broader point was that the size of an institution alone does not eliminate systemic dependency.
Question 7: The Canadian dollar is depreciating rapidly against the U.S. dollar. How much worse do you think it will depreciate over the next 12 months?
Full Question: “The CAD is depreciating rapidly against the U.S. dollar. How much worse do you think it will depreciate over the next 12 months? Also would love to see you and Francis.”
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette said she would need to conduct a more technical analysis before estimating how far the Canadian dollar might depreciate against the U.S. dollar over the following 12 months.
More importantly, she questioned whether comparing one fiat currency with another provides the most useful picture of purchasing power.
During the livestream, she compared the Canadian dollar with the U.S. dollar, then changed the measuring stick to spot gold and spot silver.
Using the figures displayed during the livestream, she noted that the U.S. dollar had risen almost 2% against the Canadian dollar over the previous year. Over that same period, spot gold had risen almost 11% against the Canadian dollar, while spot silver had risen nearly 33.75%.
Over the 10-year period displayed, she cited increases of approximately 242.74% for spot gold and 246% for spot silver against the Canadian dollar.
Her lesson was that a currency can appear stronger relative to another currency while both are losing purchasing power when measured against something else.
Question 8: Would you recommend anyone cashing out a 401(k) or a pension early to buy precious metals? 2030 is so close.
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette said she could not tell viewers what they personally should do, but explained that moving retirement assets into sound money was a choice she personally had made when she had the ability to do so.
She also emphasized that many people do not have the option to remove money from an employer-sponsored plan while they are still working.
For people who cannot or do not want to exit those markets, Lynette emphasized what she calls proper diversification.
In her view, owning multiple stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, or similar Wall Street products does not necessarily create true diversification because those holdings can still depend on the same underlying financial system.
Her sound money strategy begins with the individual's goals and current cost of living. It then considers immediate liquidity, fractional silver and gold for maintaining purchasing power, protection for assets that remain inside traditional markets, longer-term needs, and legacy planning.
The objective is to structure assets so that a severe loss inside the fiat financial markets does not destroy the household's entire financial position.
Question 9: I’ve been hearing people talk about investing in Iraqi dinars. Any thoughts on that? Also, any plans on creating Zanger merch?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
On the Iraqi dinar, Lynette was strongly opposed to buying it as a strategy based on expectations that a severely depreciated currency will suddenly regain substantial value.
She used historical currencies and her Zimbabwe 10 trillion dollar note to illustrate her point. Once confidence in a currency has been destroyed through severe devaluation or hyperinflation, she said, issuing another version of money does not retroactively restore the purchasing power of the old currency.
Lynette also showed a 25,000 Iraqi dinar note and questioned why a government would structure a monetary change that transferred enormous purchasing power to people around the world holding old currency.
She described hopes for that type of dramatic revaluation as “hopium,” not a sound plan.
On Zanger merchandise, Lynette answered yes, indicating there were plans for it.
Question 10: Do you expect the reset this year or next year?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette said she does not expect what she calls the full reset this year or next year.
Instead, she said she expects hyperinflationary conditions to become increasingly obvious and believes the process could create severe economic hardship.
She pointed to monetary velocity and changes beginning around 2022 as part of her reasoning. She also connected the outlook to rising stress in interest rates and global debt markets.
Her stated timeframe for hyperinflation becoming apparent was roughly the next 12 to 24 months, while she said the broader reset could take longer than the next couple of years.
That distinction is important. Lynette did not say the reset itself would necessarily occur within 12 to 24 months. She described that period as when she expects the effects she associates with hyperinflation and widespread financial hardship to become much more visible.
This is why she repeatedly distinguishes urgency from emergency. Her message is to prepare while choices remain available rather than waiting until a crisis restricts them.
Question 11: So, in the next couple of years, are we still going to be able to own property and have a mortgage?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette said yes, assuming the borrower can qualify.
She explained that real estate can fit within a sound money strategy, but owning property introduces ongoing obligations that must also be considered.
One is property taxes. Lynette pointed to the Great Depression as an example of people losing property even when they did not have a mortgage because they could not meet their property-tax obligations.
She therefore emphasized having a strategy for maintaining the property, paying taxes and insurance, and potentially paying off a mortgage if monetary conditions change dramatically.
Lynette distinguished a home used for shelter from speculative real estate. She said she personally would not be buying investment property for speculation at this stage because she believes better opportunities could emerge later.
Shelter, however, remains one of her eight core pillars.
Question 12: Can you talk more about the dynastic gold portion? What particular type of pre-1933 gold does this include?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette defined dynastic wealth as wealth that remains within a family for at least 300 years.
She identified real estate, genuinely rare collectibles, art, and gold as examples of assets that can fit within that concept.
For pre-1933 gold coins specifically, Lynette emphasized rarity, not simply grade. She discussed coins with extremely low known populations, potentially fewer than 100 examples, particularly at the highest available quality levels.
A coin does not necessarily have to receive the highest possible numerical grade to fit this category. A lower-graded coin could still be exceptionally rare if very few examples exist and there are few or no superior examples.
Her point was that dynastic gold is intended for a different purpose than ordinary liquidity. These are assets designed to be passed from generation to generation or potentially used later to acquire income-producing assets, eliminate debt, or accomplish other legacy goals.
This is why Lynette repeatedly emphasizes starting with the goal before selecting the product. The correct tool depends on what the individual is trying to accomplish.
Question 13: Would you do another interview with Felix Fine? Also, I would appreciate more interviews with people who have lived through hyperinflation, from those who are young in their 20s right through to older individuals and those at peak spending years.
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette welcomed the suggestions and said the team would make efforts to arrange them.
She specifically liked the idea of speaking with people of different ages who have personally experienced hyperinflation. She also mentioned Javier as someone who could potentially help connect the team with younger people who have lived through such conditions.
Question 14: If a country’s currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar, for example, Panama, what happens when the U.S. dollar spikes up? Decoupling?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette pulled up the Panamanian balboa during the livestream and confirmed that it is pegged directly to the U.S. dollar.
Her answer was that, as long as the peg remains in place, there is no decoupling. If the dollar rises relative to another currency, the pegged currency moves with it.
She then emphasized the larger consequence of a currency peg: the country maintaining the peg can be forced to respond to monetary conditions created elsewhere.
Lynette argued that Panama is not in exactly the same fiscal position as the United States, yet maintaining the peg links its currency to U.S. monetary conditions.
She connected this concept with historical currency pegs and concluded that pegs can come under increasing pressure when the economic circumstances of the participating countries diverge.
Question 15: What do you think about United Arab Emirates having people own a piece of those 1,971 kilograms?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette did not answer this question because she was unfamiliar with the specific subject being referenced.
Rather than speculate, she asked her team to flag the question so she could research it.
Question 16: What is your opinion on the potential double dip in the 10-year/2-year? Do you trust this signal as a potential U.S. recession indicator?
Lynette Zang’s Answer
Lynette said yes, she considers the relationship between the 10-year and 2-year Treasury yields an important historical recession signal.
She explained that an inversion occurs when shorter-term yields rise above longer-term yields. She said that historically, an inversion has been associated with recession within roughly 18 months.
At the time of the livestream, she said the curve appeared as though it could potentially invert again.
Lynette connected that possibility to the broader stress she sees in bond markets and said she intended to examine the subject more closely in a future piece.
She did not claim to know whether there were 18 months remaining before a recession or broader financial disruption. Instead, she emphasized that the bond market itself was signaling conditions she believed deserved close attention.
The Bigger Message: Measure Wealth by What It Can Do
Throughout the livestream, one idea connected the discussion about energy, income, gold, retirement accounts, currencies, banks, and property: the number attached to an asset or income stream does not necessarily tell you what it can actually do for you.
A household can earn more dollars while losing purchasing power. A currency can strengthen against another fiat currency while both weaken against gold or silver. An investor can own shares linked to precious metals without having direct access to physical gold and silver. A retirement account can contain many different funds while remaining dependent on the same underlying financial system.
For Lynette, these distinctions come back to control, access, and choice.
That is why her sound money strategy extends beyond precious metals alone. It incorporates food, water, energy, security, barterability, wealth preservation, community, and shelter, with physical silver serving primarily as a barterability tool and physical gold serving primarily as a wealth preservation tool.
The objective is not simply to make a number on a statement larger. It is to preserve purchasing power, maintain access to necessities, and keep as many choices available as possible before financial stress becomes an emergency.
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