Now that you’ve decided to buy silver, it's time to think about properly storing and protecting it.
It is often said that silver bullion has no counter-party risk, and in a monetary sense, this is indeed true.
Although silver bullion requires no counter-party to sustain its value, there is and always remains the very real threat of theft.
With the threat of burglary in mind, there are two intelligent options in safeguarding your silver bullion purchase.
You can first arrange to take physical possession or you can choose to have your silver bullion stored at a Third-Party Insured Vault.
Many people do both.
Dangerous Deposit Boxes
One major mistake often made by first time bullion buyers is to store their precious metals in a "safe deposit box" at a bank.
Why is that a poor choice you ask?
Well, "safe deposit boxes" are not FDIC insured.
"Safe deposit boxes" are susceptable to "Bank Holidays" and seizure.
"Safe deposit boxes" expose what would be one of the most private investments one can make to the laws and regulations of the banking and financial system.
Frankly, when it comes to physical bullion, "safe deposit boxes" are a complete misnomer.
Instead we prefer to call them dangerous deposit boxes for the aforementioned reasons.
Physical Possession First
Thankfully, the high majority of our customer base chooses to take physical possession of their silver bullion.
This indeed falls in line with Mike Maloney's personal belief that taking physical possession of silver is a wise first step for precious metal purchasers.
I believe everyone should have gold and silver in his or her own private possession, where you can lay your hands on it, because they are one of the few financial assets that can be completely private and not part of the financial system.
- Mike Maloney
Mike, the author of the #1 best selling precious metals book Guide To Investing In Gold And Silver, is also often quoted stating, "If you can't hold it, you don't own it."
Being gold and silver investors ourselves, we prefer to take physical delivery first ensuring outright ownership and private possession.
Once we have enough bullion under our roof, we then begin amassing bullion holdings both domestically and internationally with fully insured third party vault storage facilities. Essential to our vaulting strategy, is the option of taking physical delivery at a later date if we so choose.
So how should you store silver bullion at home?
To maximize the efficiency and security of your decision for home storage of silver... consider the following:
The Space the Silver Will Occupy
The most obvious consideration to address is the amount of storage space you have for your silver bullion. Of course someone living on a rural farm has more options than one renting a studio apartment in a crowded city.
At today’s prices, you can get a lot more silver than gold for the same fiat dollar quantity and depending on your housing situation, this could really limit your home storage options for silver bullion.
In his book, Mike Maloney admits his preference for American Silver Eagles and to get an idea of the size of a mint case of American Silver Eagle coins, visualize a man’s shoe box.
Silver is also heavy... a mint case of silver weighs between 35-40 pounds or about 2-3 bowling balls!
Also note, 500 oz. silver coin cases take up a bit more space than stacking silver bullion bars.
Silver coins, silver bars, and case dimensions can be found by clicking onto each silver product and drilling down into their specific product page details.
Below are a few of our most popular silver bullion product dimensions:
Silver Eagle Mint Case dimensions:
15" long X 8.5" wide X 4.5" inches deep
38 cm long X 22 cm wide X 11 cm deep
Silver Canadian Maple Leaf mint case dimensions:
10" long X 8" wide X 5" inches deep
25 cm long X 20 cm wide X 13 cm deep
Royal Canadian Mint 100 oz. silver bar dimensions:
7.2" long X 3.2" wide X 0.8" deep
18.3 cm long X 8.1 cm wide X 2 cm deep
Your Safety and Comfort Level
When it comes to home storage, an important factor to consider is your safety, peace of mind, and comfort. You should never hold more silver bullion at home than you feel comfortable sleeping near.
Additionally, always limit the number of individuals who have knowledge of your investment.
It is wise to make your bullion investments a private decision, the less people who know about it, the less of a potential target you will be.
Once you establish a degree of confidence and security with your decision, you will fully understand the benefits of home storage.
Creative Means of Home Storage
Try to think outside the box and go against conventional thinking. Most importantly, have fun with it!
Everyone usually thinks of the same typical options like: purchasing a safe and/or having an alarm system.
Challenge yourself to think of multiple different means of embedding the metals. Potential options include burying it underground, stowing it away in secret compartments, underneath a stairwell, or within your walls.
Consider ways to secure the metals three layers deep, away from a burglar looking for things to grab and go.
For example, hidden in a floor safe that is bolted to the ground, covered by floor boards, with carpet and a China cabinet over it.
Simply do a Google search on terms like: “storage compartments”, “secret bookcase” or other like key terms on YouTube. This will give you many creative ideas. You should be able to discover many clever solutions that the average thief would never think of.
Once you are comfortable with the idea of having silver bullion in your personal possession, and once you have taken the proper safety measures, you will feel at ease having physical possession of your silver bullion close by.
