Comment: Don't ask for advice, you always end up getting it...

1. Depends on the specific IRA you have, and what options are available in it. Sometimes your IRA will allow you to invest in precious metals, sometimes they won't let you do PM's but will allow investment in tangible assets like rural land, etc.. If that's an option, it may be less costly to reallocate into more inflation-proof or crash-proof assets than packing the whole thing up. IMO, it's a bad idea to be putting money into stocks or bonds right now though. I put money into a 401k because my employer matches. When I change jobs or get laid off, I'm liquidating.

2. This is an online service that will look for bullion or coins based on a number of criteria that you can select:

http://www.goldshark.com/

Also, if you've got a coin store in your neighborhood, they might actually be your cheapest option.

3. I like eagles, maple leafs and kruggerrands because of how easy they are to sell on ebay when I think a dip is coming. They're easily identified and thus more widely accepted.

4. I've sold silver rounds on ebay and back to the local coin store. It's just like it seems. The brick and mortar place usually offers 5% below spot for me, and with ebay I can get above spot, but it costs my time to put the thing up for auction and ship it. Once I had successfully sold a few rounds for FRNs, the wife became a lot less resistant to owning metal. Also, get a safe if you're going to make a habit of this.

5. A herd of cattle? I'd rather have a small farm than a warehouse of MRE's. You should get into growing some of your own vegetables if you're not already. It's relaxing and good for you. We have a stockpile of rice and whey protein powder for the really dire straits.

6. If you live east of the Mississippi, it's better to have a way of purifying/sterilizing water than a large stockpile of water (e.g., a Berkey lite water filter, a reverse osmosis system, or a lot of iodine tablets). A rain barrel can get you a lot of extra water storage in a pretty inconspicuous way. Also, a backflow preventer on your water heater can make it into a large tank of potable water to get you through an acute crisis.

7. I would say home defense is more about having secure doors and windows than a 12-gauge, even though the latter certainly helps too. But it's much better to have a house or apt. that's hard to break into. Get shatter-resistant film for your ground floor windows and steel doors with deadbolts, and some cheap cameras that can be linked to a smart phone, for your garage and maybe a hallway.