Why Buying and Storing Gold at Home is Not a Great Idea
Gold can be dangerous to keep at home, so you will need to find an area in which to conceal it so that an electrician, plumber, gardener or domestic help cannot discover its location.
No matter how careful you may be, it’s impossible to predict who may eventually discover your investment and why you possess Gold at home – making you an attractive target for thefts.
1. Theft
Gold purchased and stored at home presents increased security risks, such as theft. Burglars often target houses, and any loosely concealed home safe may make it easy for them to gain entry.
Some Gold owners get creative when it comes to storing their bullion at home, such as by hiding it behind electric radiators or burying it in their garden. Other discreet solutions include placing coins into sock drawers or cookie jars.
If storing at home, it is crucial that only one confidante knows where your bullion is kept – this ensures that in the event of your death or incapacity they can access it to secure financial future for their family. Keep in mind, however, that home storage typically requires larger initial investments for vault or safe purchases and insurance premiums than alternatives like investing in physical bullion; although it might reduce potential returns. For some investors this trade-off may be worthwhile in order to have it closer at hand.
2. Damage
Storing gold at home exposes it to numerous risks, from theft (which many home insurance policies don’t cover) and water or fire damage to being damaged itself.
Home bullion storage requires keeping it in a fireproof and secure safe, as well as keeping careful records of purchases – this will be necessary in the case of insurance claims and potential resale in the future.
Considerations when it comes to home storage should include not discussing where your gold is kept with others as doing so could allow someone else to gain access and steal it. Instead, store gold in various places, like bank lockers and home safes to reduce theft risk and diversify storage options if possible. You could even store some bullion at your local precious metal dealer’s warehouse as additional insurance against theft risk.
3. Insurance
Home storage of gold provides convenient and independent access, which may be ideal for certain investors. However, to do this safely you will require both a safe to protect them as well as insurance to cover them against loss or damage.
Insurance only protects against one set of risks. If someone learns of your plan to keep bullion at home and discovers its location, this could alert others who could attempt to either steal it from you or alter its integrity in some way.
This may seem like a minor problem, but the stakes can quickly escalate if your government decides to seize gold assets from you – as we saw with the 1933 seizure. One way of protecting yourself against this scenario is keeping investments at a bank which offers high-level security – this should also be relatively affordable; just be sure that its hours allow quick retrieval in case of emergencies.
4. Taxes
Many gold bullion buyers opt to store some of their precious metals at home for various reasons. Some value discretion, knowing no one knows of their ownership. Others enjoy having easy access to coins and bars.
Home storage can be risky. Thieves could break in and steal your items; or natural disaster could destroy them completely; for instance a house fire could consume your gold, while flooding could wash it away completely.
Your standard homeowner’s policy likely won’t cover gold, so supplemental coverage should be sought out. Furthermore, storing it at home would violate IRS rules and force you to pay income tax on it; to avoid such complications it is wiser to store it safely with a bank vault or third party facility.
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