I own the things I do because I don't trust the banks. I own gold and silver because I distrust paper wealth. I'm not going to march into the bank and hand over my hedge against them.

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I own the things I do because I don't trust the banks. I own gold and silver because I distrust paper wealth. I'm not going to march into the bank and hand over my hedge against them.

+1000. Game, set and match.

Corn - thats fine, what are you prepared, trained, and EQUIPPED! to do to stop the FSA meth head pounding at YOUR door, demanding YOUR ****? you ever killed anything with a firearm? do you even own one?

From a friend whose family had kept things in a safe deposit box during GD1 - during the 'Bank Holiday', the bank examiners came in and took anything of value. That included safe deposit boxes. While the pretext no doubt was looking for illegal gold, in reality they took anything that was worth anything - jewelry, cash, bonds, stock certificates for companies that were still in business. They only left things like Marriage Licenses, stock/bond certificates for companies that had already been shut down, things that were worthless to anyone except maybe the boxholder.

In addition to the risk of theft by the FDIC people, there is (as already mentioned) the IRS. In PA, at any rate, when someone dies the executor of the estate (all of them if there is more than one) go to the bank and ask to have the contents of the safe deposit box. It's a long process, generally done by appointment only, because the bank is required to catalog every single item in the safe deposit box. If there are savings bonds, they don't just count the value, they itemize every number. A copy of the official bank inventory goes straight to the IRS. That's where you'll get the IRS sending government agents to your heirs to get the cash for the government...

Sirius,

Thanks. I had not heard of theft from SDB in the GD. Seems I will indeed buy a good safe.

Calling CORN - you don't own what you can't KEEP/defend bro -

Gates,

I've already got that stuff taken care of.

My opinion remains on safe deposit boxes: colossally stupid idea to store anything of value in there. Maybe some paperwork, but that's about it.

Safe-deposit boxes are good for things like fire storage of paperwork and encrypted backup disks and tapes (worthless if stolen but valuable if there's a fire or other natural calamity.)

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Safe-deposit boxes are good for things like fire storage of paperwork and encrypted backup disks and tapes

So is a good (waterproof / fireproof) safe....

There ain't no such thing as a fireproof safe. The point of offsite storage is less security than it is that it is unlikely that BOTH locations will get destroyed at once.

Well, that's true, but you could always bury it for extra protection.

When you think you need gold, you'll wish you had lead. Or beans.

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so buy a tractor with it. buy a hay barn. buy cows. or grapes. or fishing ponds. or cnc machine. or carpenters tools. find productive assets and convert us dollars to assets.

This is the winner

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Corn - thats fine, what are you prepared, trained, and EQUIPPED! to do to stop the FSA meth head pounding at YOUR door, demanding YOUR ****? you ever killed anything with a firearm? do you even own one?

I think the old method only requires a shovel.

The new method uses a backhoe and a shovel.

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I think the old method only requires a shovel.

The new method uses a backhoe and a shovel.

the best method is to let the pigs or gators do the dirty work.

Hannibal is that you?

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When you think you need gold, you'll wish you had lead.

You can cast gold into bullets just about as easy as you can lead. :P

Silver, too. For the vampires.

With all the blatant and widespread fraud in government and the banking sector, why on Earth would you trust a safety deposit box? More precisely, why would you trust the sociopathic people in the sociopathic industry that handle the SDB? So you drain your bank account and put it into a SDB and you keep the receipts. You go there a year later to get it out and the money is gone. Prove you had it, prove who took it, prove you didn't come and take it out. You can't. You are ****ed and out the money.

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You go there a year later to get it out and the money is gone. Prove you had it, prove who took it, prove you didn't come and take it out. You can't. You are ****ed and out the money.

This was the rumor going around in Japan in the 1980's into the early 1990's, that people (especially elderly people) were putting jewelery into safe deposit boxes and going back later to find that that some particular item wasn't there. "You must have taken it out the last time you were here." "You must have thought you put it in the box last time, but apparently you forgot to return it to the box."

Only a rumor, and way pre-Internet, so no way to confirm that that was anything more than sheer rumor. However, it was told to me by a bank employee who said I was nuts for trying to get a safe deposit box. I'm guessing he himself thought it was more than just rumor.

I haven't heard of ANY such stories in more than 15 years, so upon reflection, maybe it was just urban legend. Or maybe they beefed up their internal control systems so that theft became less possible. But Fraglord definitely gives us something to think about.

Gen, End, and Gen said:

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Safe-deposit boxes are good for things like fire storage of paperwork and encrypted backup disks and tapes (worthless if stolen but valuable if there's a fire or other natural calamity.)

So is a good (waterproof / fireproof) safe....

There ain't no such thing as a fireproof safe. The point of offsite storage is less security than it is that it is unlikely that BOTH locations will get destroyed at once.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. When I was working on my dissertation I had a backup at my apartment in case of HD failure, a copy at my office at school in case something happened at my apartment, and a copy over at a friends apartment in another apartment complex. Why/how? Because it was just data. It does not matter if its electronic or paper, its easy to copy.

I would go so far as to say that you don't really need to pay for a safe deposit box for such items if you have a friend/relative you even sort of trust. Go buy one of those fire resistant boxes (they are billed as safes at Wally world) put a copy of your paperwork in it, and leave it over at your friends house. You might even go as far as writing your name on the outside. You can do this because you are not storing money, just a copy of papers. Your friend can even do the same in a reciprocal agreement.

Sirius said:

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From a friend whose family had kept things in a safe deposit box during GD1 - during the 'Bank Holiday', the bank examiners came in and took anything of value. That included safe deposit boxes. While the pretext no doubt was looking for illegal gold, in reality they took anything that was worth anything - jewelry, cash, bonds, stock certificates for companies that were still in business. They only left things like Marriage Licenses, stock/bond certificates for companies that had already been shut down, things that were worthless to anyone except maybe the boxholder.

In addition to the risk of theft by the FDIC people, there is (as already mentioned) the IRS. In PA, at any rate, when someone dies the executor of the estate (all of them if there is more than one) go to the bank and ask to have the contents of the safe deposit box. It's a long process, generally done by appointment only, because the bank is required to catalog every single item in the safe deposit box. If there are savings bonds, they don't just count the value, they itemize every number. A copy of the official bank inventory goes straight to the IRS. That's where you'll get the IRS sending government agents to your heirs to get the cash for the government...

I have never heard everything mentioned in the first paragraph. I'd heard that the bank person looked for gold but I'd not heard that they took a variety of items. As far as I know, everything in the second paragraph is correct in both PA and GA as I've lived in both states.

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