The first question people ask after acquiring gold is, “Okay, now where do I keep it?”

In today’s post, let’s review the advantages and disadvantages of popular places to store your gold.

Option One: Hiding Gold in Your Home

You could remove a brick from a basement wall to create a storage place, stick your gold in there, then cement the brick back in again. Or you could hollow out a book or put your gold into a package and tape it to the bottom of a dresser drawer. You get the idea – there are dozens of places to conceal gold in your home.

Shown: a woman searching for lost gold jewelry in the seat cushions of her couch, after reading our post on Gold Refiners.com, part of Specialty Metals Smelters & Refiners.

Advantages: You don’t have to pay storage fees, and your gold is available to you whenever you need it. If you like the idea of concealing any profits you make from buying and selling gold, you might also find this option appealing, because you alone know what you have and where it is. (We are not recommending that you hide income you make from trading gold or engage in any other illegal activity.)

Disadvantages: If you don’t tell anyone where your gold is, it could be lost if you become incapacitated or die. If there is a fire in your home, it could virtually disappear. And hiding gold in a home doesn’t offer ironclad theft protection.

Option Two: Storing Gold in a Safe in Your Home

You buy a big fireproof safe that is too heavy for thieves to carry, bolt it to your floor or into wall joists, and keep your gold there. Many people find this option appealing.

Advantages: Safes are secure and can effectively protect gold in the event of a fire. And if you share the safe’s lock combination with the people you want, they will have access to your gold. You can also file that information with your will and other estate documents.

Disadvantages: Safes are expensive, heavy and difficult to install. If you move, you will need to do it all over again. If your home is burglarized, thieves will immediately know the location of your most valuable possessions. (It’s like putting all your valuables in one place with a sign on it that says, “Hey, look in here!”) Although it is difficult to open safes equipped with combination locks, it can be done. And very determined thieves who bring along oxyacetylene torches can cut open your safe and carry your gold away.

Option Three: A Safety Deposit Box

If you own a small quantity of gold, a safety deposit box at your bank can be a good option.

Advantages: Excellent security. Relative ease of access. You can file information about your deposit box with your will and other estate papers and assure that your heirs will have access to your gold holdings.

Disadvantages: Some inconvenience - even though your gold holdings will be as near as your bank, you will only have access to them during business hours. Storing your gold in a safety deposit box may not be as anonymous or secretive as you would like, even though your bank will not know the contents of your box. Again, we are not recommending that you hide the profits you make from selling gold, conceal gold to avoid estate tax, or engage in other illegal activities. Incidentally, there is no truth to the common belief that the IRS freezes or seizes the contents of safety deposit boxes if their renter happens to die.

Option Four: A Precious Metal Depository

These are companies that offer storage services for large quantities of precious metals.

Advantages: Excellent security. At the time you set up your account, you can specify other people who can have access to your holdings at any time, in the event that you become incapacitated or die, or under other circumstances.

Disadvantages: Lack of convenience unless you live near a precious metal depository, which is unlikely. It is expensive to ship gold to them and to insure it during shipping. And when you want to retrieve your holdings, the same holds true.

Option Five: Set Up a Specialty Metals Gold Pool Account with Us

More investors are calling us at 800-426-2344 to set up these accounts. They send us their unrecycled gold scrap and other materials and specify the price point when they would like us to recycle their gold. When the trading price of gold hits that mark, Specialty Metals refines their gold and sends them a check.

Advantages: There is no need to store quantities of unrefined gold in your home or elsewhere, and no storage fees are associated with these accounts. You can lock in the profits that you will realize from recycling and selling your gold and will not need to watch selling prices. Plus, your holdings are secure.

To Learn More…

Call our gold recycling consultants today at 800-426-2344 to learn more about how a Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners Gold Pool Account can help you lock in future profits from your gold holdings.

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