What do you put in your safety deposit box?

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
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bdobson
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What do you put in your safety deposit box?

Post by bdobson »

Just wandering what items people suggest putting in a safety deposit box?

Brandon
livesoft
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Post by livesoft »

Nothing. Don't have one. :)

Otherwise in a fireproof box at home: Passports, birth certificates, marriage license, old tax returns. I think wills and estate documents are in our lawyer's office.
jeffarvon
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Post by jeffarvon »

In last 2 months, I emptied mine (had just a copy of will) and I hadn't visited it in years. It was often on my mind to get organized and understand what to have in it. As above, gone with the fire-resistant box.
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chaz
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Post by chaz »

I don't need one.
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Gekko
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Post by Gekko »

don't have one. i have a cheap fire resistant lockbox i keep at home for birth certificate, car title, extra car keys, old coins, etc.

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/ ... 6:CL141449
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Post by nisiprius »

Series I savings bonds.

Paperwork associated with our house: assessor's survey, quitclaim deed, others.

Personal identification documents including: Social Security cards, Voter identification cards, birth certificates (ours and ours kids), marriage certificate.

Documents establishing my wife's legal authority with respect to her mother: (Power of Attorney, Power of Attorney for health care, etc.)

Two granola bars, a Harlequin romance paperback, a nail file, a pocket tin with six aspirins in it, three mismatched socks, and all our safe deposit box keys. Nope, not really, just kidding about all those.
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sscritic
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Post by sscritic »

I have two boxes:

One is for diamonds, pearls, etc. If someone breaks into my house (it has happened before), he won't get all the jewelry.

The other is for important papers, although most of those are in my house.
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yesosaka
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Post by yesosaka »

Bleach, waterproof matches, and an axe...no sorry, that is in my force denial box.
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Post by bearcub »

My $$5000 wristwatch. No sorry thats another thread.

I have a small fireproof safe.
gkaplan
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Post by gkaplan »

Don't have one.
Gordon
EyeDee
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Safe Deposit Box

Post by EyeDee »

.
DVD & CD Backups of PC hard drive files (different sizes for different backup cycles – critical records being backed up more often than large music files for example). Plus some paper copies of critical records to aid in rebuilding financial identity if house burns down – fireproof boxes do not always survive fires and most will not protect DVD & CD’s from melting if heat is too intense.

Might not be needed if you have trusted family nearby (but not too close) where you could keep an offsite firebox.
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Chuck T
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Post by Chuck T »

here is a thread that recently addressed this subject.

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... eposit+box
MOBoglehead
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Post by MOBoglehead »

The decision between a home safe versus safe deposit box has always been tough for me. I like the idea of the home safe for easy access and personal control, plus the ability to store more things.

But doesn't anyone with a home safe worry about theft ? If someone breaks into my home I figure the first thing they would grab is a home safe. Isn't a safe deposit box a better choice for security ?
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Steelersfan
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Post by Steelersfan »

I don't have a safe deposit box.

In my small fire resistant box I keep: birth certificate, will, health directive, passport, car title, some paper iBonds, a few Euros left over from previous trips that I'll use again, and a bunch of old coins that aren't valuable enough to take up the space they do.

It's full.

I probably should take the keys out of the key hole, but then it wouldn't be as convenient to get into when I need to. Plus it's way more likely that someone I know will need to get into it at my demise than a thief.
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bdobson
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Post by bdobson »

I also thought about a fireproof box. I have read on other threads that in a major house fire they may not keep your papers safe from charring.
Could anyone recommend a fireproof box and list the approximate cost?
Also, could anyone give me the approximate cost of renting a safe deposit box?
I currently have neither but don't like my most important documents sittind in easily accessible files and unprotected from disasters.
My current list of things to store would be:
Vanguard and BOA acoount numbers
Home insurance policy
Life insurance policy
Disability insurance policy
Videotape of all contents of home
Will
Car titles
Passports
Investment Policy Statement
Birth Certificates
Marriage certificate

Brandon
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pjstack
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Post by pjstack »

Birth certificates, marriage certificate, COPY of will, house papers (deed,etc.), and my "personal affairs" notebook that has all my bank,insurance,mutual fund, and other account numbered items,listed.

In other words, all the stuff I would miss if the house burned to the ground. (I even have a couple of gold coins in it.)

I have a fire resistant box at home, too, but it holds mostly stuff that's on its way to the bank box.

Cost: $90/year. Well worth it IMHO.
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tibbitts
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small safe

Post by tibbitts »

Had the small personal safe/fire-resistant box. Had it stolen in a burglary. They can be either opened or detached from their mounting in just a few seconds with minimal tools, in our case similar to what was used to break into the house.

Obviously if you upgrade to a serious-sized home safe or vault, that wouldn't be an issue.

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bozo
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Re: What do you put in your safety deposit box?

Post by bozo »

bdobson wrote:Just wandering what items people suggest putting in a safety deposit box?

Brandon
Right now, nada. Used to have a box at Wachovia (formerly World Savings), but closed it when their CD rates tanked.

Bozo
livesoft
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Re: small safe

Post by livesoft »

tibbitts wrote:Had the small personal safe/fire-resistant box. Had it stolen in a burglary. ...
We leave the keys in our fire-proof boxes. Our idea is that we hope any thieves would be smart enough to open them and see that there was nothing of re-sale value in them.
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Post by Horatio »

bdobson wrote:?
Also, could anyone give me the approximate cost of renting a safe deposit box?
$42/year.
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Post by arthurb999 »

Fireproof safe well hidden and bolted to the floor.
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Post by shirleyann »

We receive a small safety deposit box at our bank for free. It is adequate for the papers we keep there. I think we are also eligible for a reduced rate on a larger box. Check with your bank to see what their requirements are. I know my brother rents one for $30 a year from B of A. We bank at Wachovia...have checking and a money market account.
Larry Johnson
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put in safety deposit box

Post by Larry Johnson »

Absolutely nothing. When you die, most state estate tax agencies freeze the contents, and that isn't nice.
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risharinga
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Post by risharinga »

Jewelery and 1 USB key which contains the latest backup of all my relevent financial + legal documents.
I have a pair of USB keys that I rotate through every other month with the latest backup.
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bearwolf
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Re: What do you put in your safety deposit box?

Post by bearwolf »

bdobson wrote:Just wandering what items people suggest putting in a safety deposit box?

Brandon
You should put things in it that would be difficult or time consuming to replace should something happen to your local storage. That could be fire, tornado, theft, accidentally thrown away, etc...

My short list include passports, birth certificates, abstract of title for house, title for automobiles and boats, family heirloom jewelry, copy of life insurance policy, monthly time machine backup for all computers in the house (Only for Mac computers). It should probably also contain investment info, but I haven't found my round toits yet for that.

The cost depends on the size of the box. I have one that is approximately 12x12x18 (don't remember the actual size) it will hold legal size document folders with room to spare. It costs $75/year. Some banks will give you a free or reduced price if you also have an account there. I no longer have checking or savings at this bank, but it is nearby and has underground vaults. I like that because we are in tornado country.

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Post by btenny »

Home fireproof safes or boxes are basically worthless JUNK. None of them will really survive a complete house burndown. They will melt just like the cars or tools in your garage. My data is firsthand results from several friends who lost everything in their safes in the fire at Lake Tahoe two years ago. Every person lost jewelry and papers etc. when their safes melted into puddles..... They never found anything of value in any of 200+ houses that burned.

So since then we keep insurance papers, deeds, car titles, copy of computer discs on portable drives, digital copies of all our hanging pictures and old pictures, marrage liscense, etc. in the box at our bank. The cost for a medium box is $24 or so. A small box was free.

The wife and I also keep a thumb drive for each of our computers on our key chain that we use for more regular backups of bill paying data and stock account stuff, etc..

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Post by livesoft »

btenny wrote:Home fireproof safes or boxes are basically worthless JUNK. None of them will really survive a complete house burndown. They will melt just like the cars or tools in your garage. My data is firsthand results from several friends who lost everything in their safes in the fire at Lake Tahoe two years ago. Every person lost jewelry and papers etc. when their safes melted into puddles..... They never found anything of value in any of 200+ houses that burned. ....
That's quite a strong statement that I would like clarified. My understanding is that the small fireproof boxes are supposed to melt and thus seal themselves closed. All the contents on the inside will get incredibly hot as well. So only things that can get incredibly hot and bake for about an hour are so should go into these boxes. I would not expect disk drives, USB memory or other memory cards, and some kinds of jewelry to survive.

I would imagine that if a bank burned down that the safe deposit boxes would fare no better. Now you can write that the bank would have fire sprinkler in the box room and other measures. But I think most of these safety measures would assume that the fire department gets there in time ... whether it is your box at home or your box at the bank.[/b]
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Post by bearwolf »

livesoft wrote: That's quite a strong statement that I would like clarified. My understanding is that the small fireproof boxes are supposed to melt and thus seal themselves closed. All the contents on the inside will get incredibly hot as well. So only things that can get incredibly hot and bake for about an hour are so should go into these boxes. I would not expect disk drives, USB memory or other memory cards, and some kinds of jewelry to survive.

I would imagine that if a bank burned down that the safe deposit boxes would fare no better. Now you can write that the bank would have fire sprinkler in the box room and other measures. But I think most of these safety measures would assume that the fire department gets there in time ... whether it is your box at home or your box at the bank.[/b]
This is true, I think the chance of the bank surviving a fire are better than mine. They are near the fire station, the have built in sprinklers, and they are on a main access road not buried back in an addition. That being said, I keep a copy of the things I can at home. Obviously you can't make a copy of jewels and coins, so you have to pick your spot that is most likely to survive. I think the bank is the better choice.

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Post by btenny »

The Lake Tahoe Angora fire was so hot that everything burned up. I mean everything but stone stairways and fireplaces. Burned out cars were flat pieces of metal with steel wheels as the only recognizable element. The bodies were melted down to flat things. Everything else in the houses melted into puddles of ash and metal and junk. I think this is typical of big forest fires.

One friend ran two businesses out of his house and had lots of big metal tool chests and a big tool truck and two safes and some strong boxes with money and papers, etc.. He carried big insurance (more than 6 figures) on his wifes jewelry separately as well as business insurance and home insurance. Everything was a total loss. Nothing could be recovered. They and the insurance company sifted the ashes for a day or so after it cooled. They found nothing.

The sites for this fire were so hot that after the fire they declared the whole area an environmental disaster. Then the city/county called in big earth moving equipment and dug out every house site to remove all the mixed metals and ash and bad stuff.

So you know how hot a forest fire is my friends son kept souveniers. They are big steel wrenches that are grey black twisted pieces of metal now. They used to be big tempered shinny straight steel open end wrenches. It takes 2500 degrees F to melt steel so the fire was very close to that temperature for a long time as measured by these tools.......

Bill
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Post by Sidney »

The wife and I also keep a thumb drive for each of our computers on our key chain that we use for more regular backups of bill paying data and stock account stuff, etc..
Presumably these are encrypted drives?
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Post by btenny »

Sidney,

No the thumb drives are not encrypted but so far we only keep data for spread sheets and some pictures and Quicken data. As far as I know there are no account numbers or details on accounts. I guess this is not great but not that bad either. Maybe if I add more data to the thumbs I will think about encryption. Any comments or ideas welcome......

Bill
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Post by Sidney »

btenny,

I am always careful with flash drives since they are so easy to misplace or fall into someone elses hands.

I use Truecrypt to create an encrypted volume for any flash drive I use in case I accidently lose it. That way, I never have to worry about whether or not I can remember if there is confidential or other personal information on the drive.

I also use this for my data drive for my laptop.

Truecrypt is free and fairly easy to setup and use.

http://www.truecrypt.org/
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Post by theac »

I use Tru-crypt also on everything. It's great, and free.
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Post by bpp »

btenny wrote:Home fireproof safes or boxes are basically worthless JUNK.
I use one as a decoy, "hidden" in the first obvious place to look. With luck, a thief in a hurry will grab that and run without bothering to search further. The house alarm system should help make the thief be in a hurry... (Not that there is much to steal, but replacing passports, signature stamps, etc. would be a nuisance.)
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Bounca
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Post by Bounca »

risharinga wrote:Jewelery and 1 USB key which contains the latest backup of all my relevent financial + legal documents.
I have a pair of USB keys that I rotate through every other month with the latest backup.
I like that USB idea.

Like others, I have a firebox with the usual stuff. + an old engagement ring from a former girlfriend many moons ago, wife doesn't know of it....long story :roll: :?
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MahoningValley
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Post by MahoningValley »

Krugerrands, morgan silver dollars and I-bonds. Living wills for me and mrs. Property deeds.
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Post by Mike Willis »

livesoft wrote:
btenny wrote:Home fireproof safes or boxes are basically worthless JUNK. None of them will really survive a complete house burndown. They will melt just like the cars or tools in your garage. My data is firsthand results from several friends who lost everything in their safes in the fire at Lake Tahoe two years ago. Every person lost jewelry and papers etc. when their safes melted into puddles..... They never found anything of value in any of 200+ houses that burned. ....
That's quite a strong statement that I would like clarified. My understanding is that the small fireproof boxes are supposed to melt and thus seal themselves closed. All the contents on the inside will get incredibly hot as well. So only things that can get incredibly hot and bake for about an hour are so should go into these boxes. I would not expect disk drives, USB memory or other memory cards, and some kinds of jewelry to survive.

I would imagine that if a bank burned down that the safe deposit boxes would fare no better. Now you can write that the bank would have fire sprinkler in the box room and other measures. But I think most of these safety measures would assume that the fire department gets there in time ... whether it is your box at home or your box at the bank.[/b]

its a lot less likely that the bank will burn down than your home. its FAR less likely that someone will steal your belongings in the bank than your home. but i think the best use of a safety deposit box is to have backups of important documents, data, digital photos, etc.. far away from the originals, but you could just leave them at an office, friend or family members house as well.. for free. i keep my bonds in mine as well.
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Post by nisiprius »

stebedoni wrote:its a lot less likely that the bank will burn down than your home. its FAR less likely that someone will steal your belongings in the bank than your home.
Even if you thought the bank was just as likely to burn down as your house, the principle of offsite storage, or, if you will, "diversification" would still apply.

If we were to lose everything in our safe deposit box but still had a house to live in, credit and ATM cards, drivers' license, we'd say "bummer," daily life would go on, and we'd begin a slow, painful, but leisurely process of finding out how to replace birth certificates, house-ownership documents, etc. To lose all of that stuff at the same time as losing a house would be pretty bad.

I don't know if that big, thick door is just for show, but I have to think that a bank safe deposit vault is safer from both fire and theft than any home safe. I'm really surprised at the number of posts in this thread by people who use home safes rather than safe deposit boxes.
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Post by smackboy1 »

Spare contact lenses
USB thumb drive
Pens
Tag Heuer watch
American Express Platinum
Air France Club Card
US passport
Brazilian passport
Russian passport
French passport
Canadian passport
Semi-automatic handgun
US $100,000 in various world currencies

I'm not a amnesiac CIA assassin, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night...
Disclaimer: nothing written here should be taken as legal advice, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
looking
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Post by looking »

Can you put $100 bill for $100k in to safe deposite box???

just wondering

ts
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Post by pjstack »

tomser wrote:Can you put $100 bill for $100k in to safe deposite box???

just wondering

ts
Yes, of course you can. But, why?
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Post by bearwolf »

pjstack wrote:
tomser wrote:Can you put $100 bill for $100k in to safe deposite box???

just wondering

ts
Yes, of course you can. But, why?
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Post by nisiprius »

pjstack wrote:
tomser wrote:Can you put $100 bill for $100k in to safe deposite box???

just wondering

ts
Yes, of course you can. But, why?
I'm guessing Tomser wanted to know how much money would fit. According to this web page, "Our present sized currency measures 2.61 inches wide by 6.14 inches long, and the thickness is .0043 inches." That would make the thickness of a wrapped stack of one hundred bills .43 inches, so we can fit $10,000 in 2.61 x 6.14 x .43 = 6.89 cubic inches.

The smallest safe deposit box at some banks is 3” x 5” x 22” = 330 cubic inches.

So on the face of it the maximum amount you could possibly put in would be 47.9 stacks of $10,000 = about $470,000.

Let's try for more precision, although my wife is the real expert on packing things. Here's a plausible way to put them in. Pile the stacks of bills on top of each other until they reach a height just under 5"; 11 stacks would fit, because 11 * 100 * .0043 = 4.73", but let's say ten to allow for the wrappers and Kentucky windage.

That brick contains $100,000 and we can put it into the front of the safe deposit box, using up 6.14" of its 22" length. We can fit in two more, using up a total of 3 x 6.14 = 18.42" of length.

So it seems as if you should be able to fit $300,000 in the smallest safe deposit box.
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Post by rb313 »

The very LAST thing that belongs in a bank box is your will! The executor needs to access your estate, the probate court wants the original will in order to appoint the executor or you'll have extra hearings, extra rules just to access the will. My father made us go thru that. Golly, your will is just about the simplest document you have to recreate, your lawyer probably has it on disk. or re-execute from a copy.
Also surprised by deeds and titles. For a couple of bucks you can get a copy from the clerk, it's a public document for goodness sakes. Nothing against bank boxes, just that a lot of people don't need them.
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beoba
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Post by beoba »

Treasury will replace I-Bonds if they're lost, stolen, etc. Can't post links yet, so just do a search for "treasury reissue i-bond".

I had a classmate whose parents' San Diego house was a casualty of the 2003 wildfires. All that was left were a couple cast-iron pans.
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Post by Bigfoothunter »

I bonds, DVD of childhood movies, antique watch and coins, wills, deeds and mortage cancellation, letter for family. Bigfoot
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FrugalInvestor
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Post by FrugalInvestor »

MOBoglehead wrote:The decision between a home safe versus safe deposit box has always been tough for me. I like the idea of the home safe for easy access and personal control, plus the ability to store more things.

But doesn't anyone with a home safe worry about theft ? If someone breaks into my home I figure the first thing they would grab is a home safe. Isn't a safe deposit box a better choice for security ?
The safe I purchased (Costco) had a provision for bolting it to the floor of the house....which I did. I don't believe any run-of-the-mill thief would be able or want to take the time to rip it out. I hope I'm not surprised.

We are not subject to forest fires or floods, but could definitely have a big earthquake which I'm sure the small safe would survive.
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Post by Sidney »

The safe I purchased (Costco) had a provision for bolting it to the floor of the house....which I did. I don't believe any run-of-the-mill thief would be able or want to take the time to rip it out. I hope I'm not surprised.
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tjg911
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Post by tjg911 »

if you saw the thickness of the vault door on the safe at the bank i don't think you'd see a fire hot enough to melt that vault. now the heat could cause paper to burn and jewelry to melt but i can't imagine the vault melting. besides they have sprinkers and are about 1/4 miles from the firehouse.

mine is about 12" wide X 3" thick and 22" long, the cost is $75 per year. the bank guarantees nothing in a safe deposit box as they have no idea what is in that box - you could have an oz of coke and a 38 special for all they know!

i keep my original copy of my revocable living trust, a copy of all financial institutions (banks, credit cards, investments) with account numbers and phone numbers, insurance policy numbers and phone numbers, birth certificate, ss card, misc important papers. my reasoning is in case of a disaster (fire, flood, tornado, 747 falls out of the sky and hits house, in addition to ease of survivors upon death, i/they have access to all important info in 1 place. my sister keeps her important stuff in it too and she as the 2nd key.

i wouldn't trust a small fire proof box besides a thief can steal that. how silly!

tom
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btenny
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Post by btenny »

Well Frugal your safe may not work in an earthquake. You house may burn down from the side effects of the quake in your area. Think back to the fires that followed the San Francisco earthquakes of 1906 and 1994(?) when many fires resulted from broken gas lines. Same thing happend in LA after the 1986 earthquake, lots of house fires due to ruptured gas lines.

So I repeat, home safes just do not offer you any diversification or much safety. Yes they will stop the local teenager (your kid or the baby sitter) from stealing your jewelry/cash but not much more. So only keep what you can afford to lose in this safe, all else put away in real safe deposit boxes....

Bill
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