That's for sure. My thoughts on the best strategy goes something like this...

Let's pretend that last night the Chinese dumped all their treasury bond holdings and we all woke up this morning and the headlines said "US Dollar collapses, Treasuries in Freefall - Interest rates skyrocket" and "Banks Closed in Emergency Move"

Now, what set of circumstances in your personal life could you conjur up that would make you say "So what, that's not a big deal for me"

The answer is that you would own your own land free and clear, you would have zero debt, and a good portion of your land would be under cultivation and you would own some livestock. Most, if not all, of your daily food would come directly from your land or from your immediate neighbors. Like Unimogbert said, you'd also have stored food, good neighbors, tools and materials for home repair, defense firearms, some barter goods, and books of how to do things for oneself. Sounds a bit more like 1911 instead of 2011.

In addition to that, you'd need some wealth stored up. Gold and silver are obvious choices. Energy will also be an issue and you can either store it, which is difficult at best, or have something of value to trade for it.

Notice that by doing all these things you will have separated yourself, by and large, from the banking system. You are insulated.

Now we can go further into the details, like how would you get healthcare, but those are just details. When the dollar collapses, I guarantee that you will be able to find a doctor who will trade you a chicken for setting a broken arm. It really is that simple.

My main point is that to survive the collapse of the dollar, you have to separate yourself from the banking system as much as possible. Even with all this preparation, things won't be easy. It will be hard, but at least you'd have a fighting chance at getting through it relatively unscathed.

In the end, lots of politicians will be voted out, lots of bankers will die broke, and we will most definitely get a new currency. But it will take time - on the order of many months of unrest, upheaval and uncertainty. Currency collapses are never pretty.

We're still a ways off from the demise of the dollar. There is still plenty of time to get started. Going by history, the next phase in most currency collapses would be hyperinflation. That phase could start at anytime. Once the hyperinflation starts, the inevitable currency collapse will take place within months, not years.