If you knew that you or your family's breadwinner was terminally ill and there was absolutely nothing you could do to stop the decline, would you try to prepare? I'm not talking about just getting your mind wrapped around it, although that's important too. I mean, physical preparations.

Getting your finances in order.

Getting urgent tasks completed.

Figuring out how those left behind would survive when the person was gone.

Completing important paperwork like wills, adding a loved one to your financial accounts, making sure your spouse was able to speak to the people at utility companies, and appointing someone to have power of attorney.

If your failing health allowed it at all, of course, you would. You'd organize everything to lift some of the burden from the people you were leaving behind.

So if we know that the US Dollar is gasping its last breath, why wouldn't we do the same and prepare to live without it?

Is the dollar dying?

Read different websites and get different stories. Many prominent financial experts are absolutely convinced that the dollar is gasping its last breaths, including Forbes.

During a three-day state visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping held friendly talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a show of unity, as both countries increasingly seek to position themselves as leaders of what they call a "multipolar world order," one that challenges U.S.-centric alliances and agreements.

Among those agreements is the petrodollar, which has been in place for over 50 years…

…Putin couldn't have been more explicit. During Xi's state visit, he named the Chinese yuan as his favored currency to conduct trade in…

…other major OPEC nations and BRICS members (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are either accepting yuan already or strongly considering it. Russia, Iran and Venezuela account for about 40% of the world's proven oilfields, and the three sell their oil in exchange for yuan. Turkey, Argentina, Indonesia and heavyweight oil producer Saudi Arabia have all applied for admittance into BRICS, while Egypt became a new member this week.

What this suggests is that the yuan's role as a reserve currency will continue to strengthen, signifying a broader shift in the global power balance and potentially giving China a bigger hand with which to shape economic policies that affect us all.

Forbes says that the US dollar is still the world's reserve currency. For now. But to lose that status would be utterly devastating to our already shaky economy. If the world no longer trades in petrodollars, then the dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency.