You brought up a good point about keeping a little cash on hand.No one can be prepared for everything , people need to be reasonably prepared for those things which will most likely and realistically impact your life. Have ample food and water on hand to get you through emergency events which occur every year due to weather . Keep a gun and ammo on hand for emergencies and no I am not just talking about intruders in your home. I have a small dog I love and yes I will dispatch a coyote or a bobcat to prevent my dog from being a potential meal , skunks carry rabies and armadillos dig leg breaking holes for humans and livestock .
A word on keeping extra food , DON't buy anything you won't actually eat, if you're not rotating it and actually eating what you have you're doing it wrong.
Keep some cash on hand for emergenices its a good idea, but If you have a pile of gold and silver coins on hand thinking the apocalyspe is coming and you'll be the warrior king of south central Oklahoma you're doing it wrong again.
A final word about guns, I have a few but I am not looking to arm all my neighbors with AR15 rifles and that idea is plain dumb.
of course YMMV and do what makes you feel good even if its stupid.
While living in Simi Valley California-NTM during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, power was out for several days and most businesses closed their doors. Security systems were out, ATM's didn't work, and Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals were down. The only grocery stores open were little Mom&Pop places that wouldn't accept any form of payment except CASH.
For those that have Gold/Silver bouillon or coins stored for use during an emergency, or plan on doing a barter for supplies - good luck. Cash tender has been used for Centuries and I'm pretty sure most people are not going to change from this familiar payment method even if they knew how (i.e. what denomination and how many gold coins, or how many cartridges for a pound of coffee or a can of stew?).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Northridge_earthquake