Why Hiding Your Gold in Your Home is a Very Bad Idea
/We recently read an article that told do-it-yourselfers how to create all kinds of places to hide valuables in their homes. Some of the suggestions were interesting, such a hollowing out a book, creating a small hiding place behind a removable bathroom tile or creating a hiding compartment under a hinged stair. There were even plans for a hollow easy chair with a hidden internal compartment for valuables.
Don't make it easy for burglars to find your gold and precious metals like in this photo. Turn your old jewelry into cash at GoldRefiners.com. Image Credit: "Mark Stout/Thinkstock."
All very clever. But the fact remains that a safety deposit box in a bank is still your best option for storing gold and other precious metals. And here are some of the reasons why.
- A house can burn down. And if it does, what are the chances that you will be able to locate your gold and other precious metal items among all the rubble?
- A safe tells thieves just where to look for your valuable metals. Yes, it is hard to open and too heavy for your average burglar to carry away. But a safe is like a flashing sign that tells crooks, “Look Here!”
- If you become incapacitated or pass away, nobody will be able to find your gold. Of course, you could prevent that by storing a set of instructions in your computer (where it could get stolen by hackers and lead crooks right to your gold) or on a printed page that you keep in a safety deposit box. But if you are going to do that, why not store your gold in that safety deposit box, not a set of directions to where your gold is hidden?
- Items you hide in your home are not immune from scrutiny by Uncle Sam. Sure, you want to minimize estate taxes that will be paid by your heirs. But if you bought gold from any honest dealer or source, there is a paper trail that the government can follow. Hiding stuff is not going to help. And here is another fact. There is an old wives’ tale that the Federal government seizes and seals safety deposit boxes the moment that their owners die. We don’t know where that belief comes from, it just isn’t true. The government expects you to account for precious metals holdings wherever they are, so the location doesn’t really matter.
What’s the Best Place to Stash Unprocessed Precious Metals?
A batch of 500 gold-filled eyeglass frames isn’t going to fit in a little box at the bank. Neither is a pile of black sand that contains trace elements of gold, or a batch of 300 used gold sputtering targets.
Where are you going to put them until you use a qualified precious metals refinery like Specialty Metals to process them?
That’s a very good question, but we have answers and solutions. Call us at 800-426-2344 and when you do, mention this blog post and ask about free or discounted shipping on items that you send to us for testing.
Related Posts:
Where to Find Hidden Gold and Other Valuables in and Around Old Houses
How to Find Lost Gold Jewelry
The Worst Places to Hide Gold and Precious Metals
Is There Hidden Treasure in Your Home?
