Where, exactly, should you store your gold at home?
You instinctively know that gold is valuable and understand it must be
stored safely. You probably also realize that gold coins and bars come with
no replacement policy: if you lose them, they’re gone for good. No claim
check to redeem.
This makes your home storage plan critical.
This guide provides hiding tips, the pros and cons of alarms and safes,
backyard burial advice, the home storage golden rule, and why insuring your
metal is probably not a good idea…
The Golden Rule for Home Storage: One Confidant
Everyone should have one confidant that knows where your bullion is
stored, as well as have the ability to access it. It should be someone you
trust implicitly, who knows how to keep a secret. They should have a good
idea of how much you have, where it is stored, and the key, passcode, or
instructions to access it if your chute doesn’t open from that weekend dare.
Why do you need to share your storage details with someone? Because
telling no one about the location of your gold and how to access it poses an
obvious risk. If you become ill, incapacitated, have a major accident or even
die, the reason you bought and stored bullion to begin with—to preserve and
protect your family's wealth—is defeated. You wealth strategy must include
one confidant knowing your secret.
But they are the ONLY person who should know you have gold stored in the
house. If others find out, your risk just increased. Worse, once the word is
out, you have lost control of who knows you have bullion. That’s because of
the ripple effect: once someone knows you own gold, you have little control
of who they tell—and who those people tell.
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My father had a friend who was a gold coin collector. He
had one of those big, fancy combination-lock safes. My Dad said it looked
like it would require a forklift to move it. Unfortunately, a couple local
thugs found out he had some gold. They forced their way into the house, and
held both Robert and his wife at gun point.
Once they found the safe, they demanded the combination. But Robert refused
to give it to them. He’d been collecting gold and silver all his life, and
it now represented a large chunk of his net worth. He also planned to leave
much of his wealth to his children. He wasn’t about to lose it all to two
seedy lowlifes.
The rest of the story is very unpleasant. His wife was brutally tortured
until he gave up the combination. They were both shot as the thieves fled.
My Dad’s friend didn’t have loose lips. All it took was word getting around
that he was a “gold guy.” People began to talk, and once word was out he
had no control over who found out.
We can’t stress it enough: no one else should know you have gold stored at
home!
This might never happen to you. But the point is, the greater number
of people that know you have gold, the higher your risk.
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So, how many people already know you own precious metals? If you’re honest
with yourself, it might be more than you think…
• Bullion shop staff; credit card company or bank
staff depending on how you paid; security company staff where you bought your
safe; or hired hand if you had your safe transported or installed.
• The ripple effect: if anyone other than you and
your confidant know you have gold, how sure are you that those
people haven’t mentioned it to anyone, even if it’s innocent?
• Have you talked enthusiastically about gold? Have
you posted anything positive about gold on social media?
• Is your income or assets high enough to make you a
natural target by thieves?
• Do you work in the public eye?
• Do your kids know? Depending on their age and
maturity level, could they talk? And who would those kids tell?
• Do you drive an expensive car, live in a fancy
house, or wear expensive jewelry?
If you conclude that more than one confidant may know you own gold, or
think you may be a natural target, you might want to keep less gold in the
house, or at least rethink your home storage plan. Remember, once the word is
out, there’s no takebacks. You’re now a potential target, with the risk
growing as bullion prices climb.
But can’t I just insure my home-stored bullion?
I shy away from taking out an insurance policy on gold…
1. It breaks the one-confidant rule. Think about it…
to insure your metals means you will be required to reveal to strangers the
details of your bullion holdings—the forms of gold you own, how many ounces,
and where they’re stored. This ranges from insurance agents, office staff,
and corporate offices to appraisers and their staff. And how confident are
you that they won’t mention it to anyone or that your paperwork is stored
securely? Once you go down this path and release your bullion details, how
this information is used and who has access to it is out of your control.
2. It’s costly. Professional storage, in many cases, is
cheaper. And keep in mind that most home insurance plans may not cover the
full value if gold prices rise a lot. If your gold is stolen and the price is
over $2,000/ounce at the time, will you be fully compensated? What about at
$3,000?
Insurance protects you from one set of risks, but expose you to others.
Insuring your home-stored bullion is a personal decision, but I prefer the
privacy.
• Home Storage Key: No one beyond your confidant should know
you have bullion, where it is stored, and how it can be accessed.
Following this rule will keep your risk low.
Storing Gold at Home
One of the advantages of physical gold is that it serves as a financial
backstop. You want some bullion readily accessible in an emergency, whether
that emergency be a personal one or something on a national scale.
If you have no cash handy… or the bank is temporarily closed… or the
internet is down… or there’s an economic crisis… or you even need to barter,
having some physical gold could be a lifesaver.
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“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, Guide
to Investing in Gold and Silver
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Keep some gold in a place that is immediately available and easily
accessible. If your bullion is two days away, or time-consuming or
complicated to get to, its use as an emergency financial asset has
diminished.
Unfortunately, most people don’t think too much about where to put it and
so just stick it in a sock drawer or cookie jar—it may be out of sight, but
this is obviously not an ideal way to store your wealth.
• There are 3 basic options for home storage: hide it, bury
it, or use a safe.
Hiding Tips
One of your major risks with keeping gold in the house is theft. You can
probably think of dozens of places in your home where no one would think to
look. The trick is to hide your bullion in such a way that it isn’t too
complicated for you or your heirs to find, but is very hard for a thief to
find.
Here are a few tips on hiding locations so that hopefully a persistent
burglar leaves empty-handed. (Note these are just suggestions and not
necessarily formal recommendations—each person must decide what is right for
him or her.)
Nothing Obvious: No fake cookie jars, rocks, or carved
out books. They’re too common. One way to know if your hiding location is too
obvious is if you’ve seen it in a movie—if so, find another one.
Also, think of places where a plumber, electrician, gardener, or maid
won’t stumble across it.
Three Layers Deep. Most burglars look for things
they can grab and go. They usually don’t like to spend a lot of time in the
house, so one way to combat that is to store your bullion three layers deep.
For example, a floor safe, covered by floor boards, with carpet or a china
cabinet over it.
Think like a thief. Is your hiding spot clever enough?
One way to know is to think like a thief; if you were a desperate and
persistent burglar, how long before a specific hiding spot would be located?
Decoys: The more wealth stored in your home, the more you
should consider the small cost of obtaining some decoy valuables—maybe some
inexpensive jewelry or cheap gold coins. Maybe even a decoy safe, with some
extraneous jewelry or coins in it. Anything to make the thief thinks he’s got
your stash.
Diversify: Use more than one hiding spot. Just make sure
you remember where they all are, or if you move it you tell your confidant.
Alarms and Safes
Here’s a few tips on using safes and home alarm systems…
Home Security Systems
The more metal you have at home, the more you need to consider a security
system that offers both video recording and monitoring. They may or may not
prevent a theft, but would ideally give you an immediate police response and
evidence that is prosecutable.
You could also consider a nanny cam. They're not expensive.
Check out those hidden camera video recorder systems that are disguised as
an alarm clock, wall clock, smoke detector, clothing hook, and even a light
bulb. Most of these can record many hours of surveillance video and allow you
to monitor it live, over the internet, from anywhere in the world, on your
cell phone or computer. If you go this route, be sure to get a system with
plenty of memory.
If you use a safe, check that it is:
• Fireproof
• Has protection against other elements (water
damage, for example)
• Not so small that a thief could walk out with it
• If it’s secured to the floor in some way, you and
your confidant should discuss how you’ll respond if a thief found it and
demanded you open it.
If you use a key safe, hide the key separately from the safe. If you use a
combination lock, don’t assume you’re immune from a robbery—remember my
father’s story of the robbers pointing a gun to his wife’s head while they
demanded the combination.
Another consideration is the weight of the safe. One that weighs around
100 pounds could be stolen by one or two burglars with some basic tools like
a dolly or straps. A 300-400 pound safe removes the risk of theft by a single
person. Heavier than 500 pounds and you’re probably immune from it being
stolen, unless there’s a group of them with a heavy-duty vehicle and
equipment. Don’t forget that the contents of the safe increase the weight, especially if
you’ve got silver in it. Of course, the heavier the safe the more likely
you’ll need it delivered and installed—but this would tip your hand to the
installation company that you’ve got valuables in the house.
Backyard Burial
The term “midnight gardening” comes from people who bury their precious
metals at night so the digging won’t be noticed. Here are a couple pointers
if you choose to bury your bullion.
• Use a container that is airtight, waterproof,
erosion-free, and insect-proof.
• Consider how easy or difficult it is to find. If
it’s too easy, a thief could find it. But it it’s too difficult your heirs
may have a hard time locating it. Find a place, on property you own, that
you’ll always remember but isn’t obvious if someone learns you’ve buried
something valuable. It’s probably not a good idea to leave complicated
instructions; if you use a “treasure map,” consider giving half of the
instructions to one person you trust and the other half to a different
confidant.
• Be aware that metal detectors can detect up to a
depth of about 4 feet.
• Make sure your digging isn’t noticed or raises
your neighbor’s suspicion.
A related option might be to install a safe in the floor of a storage
shed. The advantage is that you can access your bullion without being seen,
day or night.
One risk that’s hard to avoid…
Regardless of the above methods, keep in mind that you’re still exposed to
natural disasters—home stored gold isn’t protected against fire, flood,
tornado, earthquake, and other natural calamities. Remember
the 2011 Tsunami in Japan? Investors that had gold stored at home saw it
washed away, lost to the sea, no matter how strong the safe or clever the
hiding spot.
Remember, once you lose your gold, you have no recourse should you become
a victim. And consider how badly you’d need your gold at a time like that.
That’s why I recommend…
• Home storage can be practical for small quantities of
bullion. Large quantities pose too much risk and should not be stored in the
house.
The Ultimate Storage Plan
You don’t want your physical wealth to be wiped out through one act of
misfortune. We recommend storing some of your bullion at or near home, but
then diversifying where you keep the rest of it.
The ideal solution would be something that gets it out of the house—and
yet held it in such a way that it was still available at any time.
That option is available. Private, non-bank, fully allocated,
fully-insured class 3 vaults offer the highest level of security, and are the
best protection during times of financial and social crisis.
GoldSilver is widely recognized
for developing one of the most superior storage programs in the world.
