Safe and Sound?
This past weekend didn't really go the way I had planned. @mrsbozz was feeling pretty under the weather, so a lot of the tentative plans we had made earlier in the week kind of went out the window. With her being in bed most the weekend, I took an opportunity to do some cleaning around the house and get some things done that I had been putting off for a while.
One of them just happened to be cleaning off the nightstand on my side of the bed. It's not that had a lot of stuff on there, but as my recent silver purchases came in the mail, I took photos and then set them on the nightstand until I was able to get them in the safe.
My wife and I actually have two safes, one that she had before we were married and one that I had before we were married. We don't honestly have much valuable stuff to keep in them besides some boring documents, but I do tend to squirrel away my silver in one of them.
As I think about it, we really have them for fire protection more than anything. They are both quite small, so if someone broke into the house they could easily walk off with them. In addition to that, if you have ever seen one of those storage shows on TV where people buy old storage units, you know that dropping one "just so" on the corner often makes it pop right open.
It's kind of a scary thought.
Unfortunately, unless you want to install a vault in your house there isn't much other option.
Quite a bit ago I remember getting a letter from one of our local banks or credit unions and I made a note of what it said in my Google Keep so I could write a post about it at a later date. Well, here we are at that later date.
Basically, the letter said that they were no longer going to be offering safety deposit box services at their local branches. Apparently, the demand for deposit boxes has become unsustainable in their opinion.
If you do a quick Google search, you can find countless articles like this one. They talk about how many major banks are starting to offer less of these services due to rising costs and declining interest.
However, there are still a few banks like Wells Fargo that cater to a generally older crowd who still offer things like this.
I think we are all familiar with those old movie scenes where something significant happens in a safety deposit box room. In my opinion there has always been something kind of magical about them. I've actually never been in one myself, but just all the doors and locks and security adds a bit of mystery to it.
I'll be the first to admit, I am a sucker for a good treasure hunt and I can't help but wonder what treasures (or secrets) might be hidden behind those doors.
I'm sure most of us here on HIVE will not be surprised to learn that the majority of young people are preferring to take digital routes to store their valuable items. Documents have never really been an issue, but things like silver would be. However, with the advent of cryptocurrency, we are likely seeing more of a need for secure digital storage solutions. Banks are taking notice of that.
In the article I shared earlier in this post, they specifically point out the fact that some banks are replacing physical storage options with digital ones. Now, that raises even more concerns as we all know how centralized the Internet has become. If these banks are leveraging cloud options versus on prem solutions that require power, hardware, and maintenance, then there are certainly other things to worry about.
I'd be more worried about data theft than a natural disaster because even with a physical safety deposit boxes, natural disasters are always a concern.
In any event, it's an interesting subject that I had never really considered before until I got that letter in the mail.
What do you think? Should safety deposit boxes stay around? Have you ever used one or do you currently pay for one? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
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Actually, the contents of a safety deposit box are not insured. The bank has no way of knowing what's in there so if there is a robbery (that does happen) you're up the creek unless you have the stuff insured separately (ex: home insurance). Also, the last time we rented a box we were assured that it was high enough so a flood wouldn't affect the contents. Never occurred to me that the bank could be flooded and the boxes also flooded.
We had one for years, but this year decided it wasn't worth the expense. We have a fireproof/waterproof (they say?) chest at home and that's good enough for us. For security, there's always the large, ferocious looking dog :)
Ah yeah, I guess that makes sense. I think some of our more important stuff we have insured separately. Again, we don't really have that much of value though.
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I'm not particularly against safety deposit boxes, but don't trust banks either. I know first hand how they are handling accounts you rent from them, as those accounts are not yours. Safety deposit boxes are not available 24/7 either, so basically you're at their mercy.
Yeah, I moved out of the banks a while ago. I still use credit unions which probably aren't much better, but it's something.
I think safe deposit boxes are a great thing for banks to offer, but executives view them as more space they could use for something else I'm sure. I've used many safe deposit boxes over the years and still have a couple open to keep documents I don't want to have laying around the house.
Safes are great too, just make sure you can bolt them down. It makes it harder to walk off with it that way. In one office I had a floor safe built into the concrete in the floor. That was really nice because it was covered by flooring and unless you knew what to move and how you wouldn't have known it was there! They are expensive to install after your place is built though!
Digital stuff has more risks in my eyes, because of hacking, large solar flares, electromagnetic pulse, and good old fashioned losing your your password. In today's world nothing is truly safe, sadly...
Yeah, it is interesting how things have shifted. That is a good point about the floor safe, but definitely something you need to plan ahead for. Ultimately, I don't feel like anything I have is that important, but who knows!
Hmm... I really should buy a safe for my coins for protecting in the case of fire. I have to admit, I've jumped on the digital train for documents. The only important physical documents I have are my and my kids SSN cards, their birth certificates, and our Japanese my number cards (Japan's version of SSN). All other documents I have scanned and keep on an external drive and encrypted on iCloud.
That seems to be the way things are moving lately. My parents have a safe that is a bit more substantial, but I still think it wouldn't be hard to get into if you really wanted to.
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We have a little safe for things like passports. I try to scan any other documents so I don't rely on paper copies. We don't have really valuable items that need secure storage.
I've never used a bank deposit box, but I've seen plenty of movies where they get robbed. Have you seen the ones at Harrods? The biggest ones are walk-in.
No, I haven't seen those. I don't have one myself either. I don't think I would ever consider getting one. I just don't have anything that valuable.
I guess I don't own much of the valuable stuff that could be put into a safety deposit box :) So no, never owned a safe or used a deposit service at the bank...
I was just saying I am pretty much the same way.
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I still have stuff in a safe deposit box. It's a great place to keep the deed to the house and other such things. And if the bank is ever robbed, the thieves aren't gonna hang around long enough to open all those teeny little boxes, they're gonna grab the bags of cash and run. My safe deposit box is free at the moment, as a perk with one of my accounts, so it's a good deal, imho.
Oh yeah, that is a good deal then. Very cool.
Safety deposit boxes are not a great option. You can only access your stuff at the hours of business, and if there is a shut down you’ll have zero access!!!! There are options of private security places. More now then ever
I feel there is some novelty to safety boxes.
So in most wills instead of an address and a location of the safety box key they'll leave a long string of random alphanumeric characters for the predecessor to see what was left him?
Rough...
Yeah, I don't know. I have my trust documents stored in a secure online storage since it is in .pdf form anyway.
I may be known for keeping my silver treasures in small wooden chests, and the chest are a collection in themselves, yet security of our physical holdings have to be a part of the Stacking plan.
I've known a few Stackers that have been burglarized of their precious metals in the past. This prompted me to think about it more strategically. I got off YouTube, putting it out there makes me a target. I stopped entering most silver giveaways, being a winner means giving away my address, sometimes I use my cousin's address with his permission as my Post office box. I have a fire safe too, it's great for documents but not very secure for gold and silver storage. I do have a safety deposit box with enough room for some items but the Bank just rents the space and doesn't insure loss should that happens. That does add a counter-party risk.
It's big subject.
A lot of details that would make a for an interesting blog series.
Wow, that is crazy that the bank just rents the space, so they don't insure it at all. Like what's the point!? I guess they have to cover themselves, but why even offer the service then. It's a bit of a quagmire to figure out the best way to keep our valuables safe.
I believe SDBs Safety Deposit boxes are a liability to the banks so they may be fazing out over the long term and so the onus will be upon the private individual to secure his or her own valuables.
One option that I am beginning to favor is contracting a private vaulting facility space shared with my siblings, It's an hours drive from where I live.
My holdings are getting significant enough to justify the cost, and I can write the expense off as a Carrying Cost.
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