If I look at various social collapses that people around me have seen in the last century and a half (and there have been many!), then it's clear that while the

If I look at various social collapses that people around me have seen in the last century and a half (and there have been many!), then it's clear that while the number in your bank account was not always useful, it did often provide options to protect you from the worst of society falling apart. Other things being equal (of course, often they were not equal) having resources during collapse did matter - sure, it might turn out that some class of your resources became worthless overnight, but generally it wasn't all resources at once; in collapses where land was confiscated by a invading nation, having some gold watches to trade for a way out on a ship were life-saving; in economic collapses where money and stock became near-worthless, having a spare farmhouse was a great benefit, etc. You do need to diversify to something more than a number at a single institution, but in general, I'd say that it's the other way around - when everything is fine in society, then life is okay even if you're a bit lacking, but when things become hard and not everyone is going to make it, then the have-nots will suffer even more due to lack of options caused by lack of resources. For a crude example, think about the difference between 1930s European Jews who could or could not afford to travel overseas (which was a much more serious expense than now) when things started to become threatening.