Things to Consider When Storing Precious Metals At Home
As the owner of a rather large physical precious metal collection (~300,000 USD value, last update: May 2022), I often get asked about the safest way to store precious metals at home. In general, I propose to keep half of your stack in your home, the other half with a trusted storage operator.
First off, here’s a rundown of the coins and bullion I own:
🥇Gold
- 4x 100-gram Argor-Heraeus bar/Assay Card (or 3,2 Ounces)
- 35x 50-gram Valcambi Combibar (or 1,64 ounce)
- 50+x gold coins of various ounces, mainly 1 Oz Krugerrands
🥈Silver
- 3x 100 Ounce Royal Canadian Mint Silver Bars
- 1x 1,000 Ounce LBMA bar
- 100sx of silver coins of various ounces, mainly Wiener Philharmoniker
💍Platinum
- 1x 1kg Valcambi bar (equals 32 Ounces), purchase value 30,895 USD
Total physical metal value: ~$458,000 US (as of Oct 2024)
representing ~7% of my total net worth
The Wrong Way To Store Precious Metals At Home
Before I share my recommended way to store coins at home, let’s talk about some ‘creative ideas‘.
Some stackers are suggesting unconventional and straight-out weird places. Some suggestions are rather creative, but the problem is that any semi-professional burglar might also know about these spots, and will thank you for making it so easy for him/her.
If you still like to consider any of these creative ways, here they are.
Creative Ways To Store Precious Metals
If you have to choose one of the presented options, take this one! I believe this one is easy and practical to do and should be pretty safe. The idea here is to simply put your coins or bullion in your freezer! Yep, right next to your frozen pizza. You could take it a step further and even put your coins or bars in a Tupperware, labeled “minced meat” or “dog food”, and then you could even put actual minced meat on top of it.
Putting your hard-earned gold and silver under your mattress is such a bad idea that it does not even deserve to be discussed. If you choose to store precious metals at home, then at least make some effort and make it difficult to find them.
Some suggest a great hide-out is to hollow out a book so that from the outside it looks like any other book. I think this can work well if you have a rather large book collection or a study room/library. Most likely any burglar would not have the time or patience to go through every single book. Not a bad option I believe.
Is putting your precious metals in potting soil a good idea? I doubt it. It for sure is easy, but experienced burglars might know this trick and find your gold and silver within minutes. Not worth the risk!
How about some good old midnight gardening? If you have a backyard, you could dig a hole and put your stack there. However, it’s a lot of work, and if your neighbor ever spots you he might get stupid ideas. He either might expect you to do something really weird or might take a peak once you are out of town! I think this is a pretty bad idea and I’d not recommend it.
The Right Way To Store Precious Metals At Home
Logically, you want to opt for maximum security when storing your precious metals at home. This means you should buy a modern and secure vault (see below the ones I use). A good safe is simply a must. The safe does not have to be big, doesn’t need to be super expensive, and should be hidden behind books or a painting, etc.
In my home in Singapore, I opted for a SentrySafe Safe, which is both fireproof as well as waterproof, and has a neat digital keypad. After using it for multiple years, I can say it serves me really well.
In my home in Germany, I’m using a different one. It’s called ENGINDOT Home Safe, also comes with a Digital Keypad, and is relatively small (13.8″ x 13.0″ x 19.7″). I bought this one back in 2019, and am happy with it as well:
In our vacation home in Austria, I am using my favorite one, the Verifi Smart Safe Biometric Safe, it comes with a Fingerprint Lock, check it out below.
Best Alternative to Storing Precious Metals At Home?
The best alternative to storing precious metals at home is a trustworthy precious metal storage company. My go-to-vaulting facility is called Goldbroker. I have used and trusted them for years. It’s a French-led team, with vaulting facilities in London, Zürich, New York, Toronto, and Singapore. Very solid company. Being advised by gold guru Egon Von Greyerz, they have been around long enough to earn my trust, and I can recommend doing business with them.
Alternative To Storing Precious Metals At Home
Should it not be possible for you to store precious metals at home, or at a storage facility, the next-best alternative is to put your metals in a deposit box at your local bank. I do not recommend this. We keep our precious metals outside the banking sector as insurance. I don’t buy precious metals out of greed, but out of fear, hoping that I’ll never have to rely on them. Should the global financial system indeed implode, you want to keep your assets as far as possible from any bank or financial institution. Storing gold with your local bank is like asking your neighbor’s dog to guard your meaty bone! Not good.
Final 5 Tips For Storing Precious Metals At Home
1/ I recommend storing all of your gold with a trusted precious metal vaulting operator such as the one I use, GoldBroker.
2/ If you prefer to store precious metal at home, maybe consider just storing 50% at home, and the rest at a storage facility.
3/ Get a high-quality safe, such as the Verifi Smart Safe Biometric Safe I use myself.
4/ The next best option is to store your gold and silver coins in your large freezer, labeled minced meat.
5/ Be wide and don’t brag or tell anyone about your physical metal stack – keep it fully to yourself.
Big Thanks To The Great Icon Artists
Book icons created by Freepik – Flaticon
Book icons created by Freepik – Flaticon
Shovel icons created by Freepik – Flaticon
Pot icons created by Smashicons – Flaticon
Bed icons created by xnimrodx – Flaticon
Recommendation icons created by srip – Flaticon
📘 Read Also
- How to build a portfolio of gold mining companies
- Why invest in commodities – 15x great stocks for the coming commodity supercycle
- Why I am betting my money on the renewable energy stock Brookfield Partners
How to best store precious metals at home?
Many people believe the best way to store precious metals at home is to get creative and use unexpected places like your freezer or carve out some pages in a book on your bookshelf. I believe still the best way is to have a properly-installed security vault or safe, which is not possible to be easily open or that burglars can take with them. One good idea is to have a second more hidden safe, causing any thieves to stop searching once they found the first more obvious one.
What are good alternative ways to store precious metals at home?
You can opt for some good old midnight gardening, put your previous metals under your mattress, or put it in a box labeled minced meat and put it in your freezer. These are ways people do in fact store their precious metals at home, but those are not recommended. Any semi-professional burglar is equipped with a metal detector, enabling him/her to find any secret stash quite easily. My recommendation is to purchase two secure vaults, placing one in an easy-to-find spot, and a second one containing the bulk of your precious metals in a difficult-to-find spot!
What is the best way to store gold?
I recommend either having two vaults at home or storing your gold and precious metals with a trusted and registered precious metal vaulting service provider like Goldbroker.com or Sprott.
wpDiscuz
Age when reaching FI: 40 in 2018
Left the rat race: May 2017
Living in: Singapore
Number of kids: 2
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