If digital payments go dark, you could be left with nothing. Here's how much cash to keep at home — and what else to own

The Riksbank said the recommendation is meant to prepare households for “temporary disruptions, crises and in the worst case, war,” which could interrupt digital payment systems (3). To reduce that risk, the central bank suggests keeping about C$148 in cash per adult at home to cover basic necessities if electronic payments suddenly fail.

While Canadians may argue that C$150 to C$300 per week, for a family household, may be too low, the sentiment remains: prepare for disruption and develop an emergency game plan.

Canada's growing reliance on digital payments

Canada isn't far behind Sweden. Digital payments now represent 86% of total payment volume in this country, and contactless transactions account for 58% of all purchases, according to Payments Canada's 2024 annual report (4). Cash, by contrast, made up just 11% of total payment volume in 2024 — down from 35% of all transactions back in 2014 (5).

With this context, it’s easy to appreciate that digital dominance is due to its convenience — right up until it isn't.

The Riksbank’s warning (and suggestion) demands that we consider what happens when there is a network outage, a cyberattack, a major storm or a geopolitical shock takes the grid down. For the vast majority of households, without cash on hand, there’s no way to buy groceries, fill a prescription or top up a gas tank — transactions that underpin the efficiency and effectiveness of every household in Canada.

What does the Canadian federal government suggest?

The federal government's own emergency preparedness guidance, updated in 2025, recommends Canadians keep cash at home to cover at least three days of expenses; however, households are also encouraged to keep at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food and water (6).

Sadly, this suggestion is not actively pursued by most Canadian households. According to Statistics Canada data, which tracks household emergency preparedness as a national quality-of-life indicator, many Canadians remain underprepared for even short-term disruptions (7).

Even without the threat of a global digital shutdown, emergency preparedness matters. Canada’s Department of Public Safety warned in its 2025–26 departmental plan that natural disasters, infrastructure failures and other emergencies are becoming more frequent and more severe — putting increasing pressure on households to be ready (8).

Canadians appear to recognize the risk, at least partially. The Bank of Canada’s 2024 payment survey found households held an average of $156 in cash — about $16 more than the year before (9). But once inflation is factored in, that number has barely changed since 2017.

In other words, Canadians may be cautiously optimistic and somewhat prepared — but the cash many households keep on hand would fall far short during a real disruption.

What should Canadians actually keep at home?

Using the Riksbank's benchmark as a guide — one week's worth of essential spending per adult — a reasonable Canadian equivalent would be C$200 to C$300 per adult, held in small denominations. That means a family of four should keep C$400 to C$600 in small bills in an accessible location within their home.

This amount should cover a week's worth of groceries, medications and gas.

You'd also want a backup card from a different payment network — Visa and Mastercard, for instance — so that if one system goes down, you still have options.

Start using cash, now

The Riksbank also encourages people to start using cash regularly, again, so the infrastructure supporting it stays functional.

In Canada, that's a meaningful consideration: cash use declined 14% between 2019 and 2024, and more than half of Canadian small businesses are moving toward card-only models (10).

What war and financial disruption could mean for your wealth

Emergency cash planning is the immediate concern. But the Riksbank's warning also points to a deeper financial reality: major geopolitical disruptions don't just affect whether you can tap to pay at the grocery store — they can reshape the value of money itself.

Investing legend Warren Buffett addressed this directly when Russia invaded Ukraine.

"The one thing you can be quite sure of is if we went into some very major war, the value of money would go down — that's happened in virtually every war that I'm aware of," Buffett told CNBC (11). "The last thing you'd want to do is hold money during a war."

That's a sobering thought for Canadians who hold large cash balances in savings accounts or GICs.

The concern is that war tends to ignite inflation through surges in government spending, currency debasement, supply chain disruptions and the printing of money to finance military operations. As a result, the purchasing power of cash can erode quickly, particularly if all these forces converge at once.

Gold: The time-tested hedge

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world's largest hedge funds, has offered clear guidance for investors watching geopolitical risk rise over the last few years. In a recent post on X, Dalio said investors should consider shifting out of debt instruments and toward gold — because wars are financed through borrowing and money printing, which degrades the value of bonds and cash (12).

Gold has surged more than 55% since early 2025, surpassing US$4,000 per ounce for the first time in October 2025 (13). Analysts at J.P. Morgan Global Research believe gold prices could push higher, reaching US$5,000 per ounce by the fourth quarter of 2026, driven by continued central bank buying and ETF inflows (14).

For Canadian investors, creating gold exposure in an investment portfolio doesn't always mean buying a safe full of bullion. For investors interested in adding or increasing gold in their portfolio, there are several accessible, tax-efficient options.

Canadian investors can hold gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — such as the BMO Gold Bullion ETF (TSX:ZGLD) or the Purpose Gold Bullion Fund (TSX:KILO) — directly inside a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) or a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), sheltering any gains from tax (15). The Sprott Physical Gold Trust (TSX:PHYS) is another well-established option, backed by more than 3.7 million ounces of physical gold (16).

Physical gold bullion — such as Royal Canadian Mint Gold Maple Leaf coins — also qualifies for RRSP and TFSA inclusion, provided the gold is at least 99.5% pure and stored with an approved third-party trustee through a self-directed account (17).

What Buffett says to own — and the Canadian equivalent

While Buffett has warned that cash loses value in wartime, he has also consistently pointed to productive assets as the better long-term bet.

"You might want to own a farm, you might want to own an apartment house, you might want to own securities," he told CNBC in that same 2014 interview (18). Citing the Second World War, he noted that stock markets advanced even during the conflict. "You're going to be a lot better off owning productive assets over the next 50 years than you will be owning pieces of paper," he said.

His most direct advice for everyday investors? Own a broad market index fund (19). For Canadian investors, the equivalent of Buffett's beloved S&P 500 index is a low-cost ETF tracking the S&P 500 — available in Canadian dollars through funds like the Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF (TSX:VFV), which carries an expense ratio of just 0.08% and held over C$20 billion in assets as of early 2025 (20). For those who prefer purely domestic exposure, the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF (TSX:XIU) offers broad access to the 60 largest Canadian companies at an expense ratio of 0.18% (21). Both can be held inside a TFSA or RRSP for tax-sheltered growth.

Real estate: Apartment houses, Canadian-style

Buffett has long cited rental real estate as a resilient, inflation-resistant asset. In a 2022 shareholder letter, he said he would "write a cheque" for 1% of all the apartment buildings in the country if offered the chance (22). His reasoning: people always need a place to live, and rental income tends to rise with inflation.