The Importance of Keeping a Safe in your Home

Be Better Safe Than Sorry!

Banks, businesses, and billionaires have safes. But what about regular folks like us? If you reside in a quiet neighborhood, you may think of a safe as unnecessary. On the other hand, if you live in a dicey area, you may at least be curious about what type of safe you ought to buy. You could still be wondering: What would I put in the safe, anyway? There are actually a good number of reasons to purchase a home safe, some of which may not have occurred to you.

Most people have valuable objects of some kind - cherished heirlooms, collectibles, and crucial documents. Don’t risk misplacing or losing them! Here are some critical points for you to consider:

Protect against fire. A prime-quality safe will protect whatever is inside from destruction in case of a fire. What would you do if you lost the following important items to a fire?

• copies of your driver's licenses or other identification cards and papers
• insurance papers for filing a possible claim
• emergency cash
• safe deposit box keys or other vital keys that you rarely use
• passports
• rare coins or stamps
• birth certificates
• documents regarding any properties you own
• your will
• mortgage records
• any outstanding loans or any other debt records
• a list of family doctors with contact information
• pharmacy and prescription medication information
• titles to all your vehicles
• bank account information
• powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, & living wills
• funeral arrangements
• tax records
• retirement plans
• investment documents

Prevent theft. A safe stops a robber from stealing your beloved possessions. Guarding your precious items inside a safe will give you added peace of mind. Do you throw a lot of parties at your place? Do you often entertain house guests? When large groups of people come to your place, you cannot possibly keep an eye on every individual. Accordingly, it’s a comfort to know that your irreplaceable items will remain untouched inside your safe.

A shield against floods. If a flood occurs, or any kind of water-related disaster, when you own the proper safe, whatever’s inside it will stay intact.

Preserve your family photographs. Keep digital copies of all your treasured family pictures in your home safe, and also store older family photos. These photographic memories are otherwise irreplaceable.

A safe is better than a safety deposit box. You may presume that a safety deposit box at your bank is superior to a safe that you keep at home. Nevertheless, a home safe does give you a few advantages:

• With a home safe, you’ll make a one-time investment, rather than paying a monthly charge.
• Believe it or not, at a bank, the contents in a safe deposit box are usually not insured. But your home safe’s items will likely be covered by your renter's or homeowner's insurance policy.
• Any cash that you keep inside a safety deposit box isn’t FDIC-insured.
• You will have 24/7 access, rather than only during office hours.
• After the death of a loved one, if you’re the beneficiary, you may assume you will be able to open that person’s safe deposit box; but the fact is, your bank will routinely seal a safety deposit box upon receipt of the death certificate. That means you won’t be permitted to open it until the estate representatives supply the bank with the court papers.
• Your home is fully private, so anytime you want, you can take items out of the safe, and put them back in.

Keep your family out of harm’s way. If you own any guns, it’s essential that you prevent them from landing in the hands of an intruder, a child, or a teen. Avoid danger and tragedy! Don’t allow anyone but you to gain access to your firearms, explosives, knives, axes, or any other weapons.

Restore your computer data. Obviously, you should always store backups of every file and program on your computer. When you keep all this data in your safe as well, if you ever face any computer glitches, thankfully everything will be completely retrievable. If your computer ever sustains a hard-drive crash, you’ll be able to restore all the information from your backup you’ve kept in the safe.

You will always know where your things are. If you are prone to misplacing your stuff, store your important items inside a safe, and you’ll never lose them again.

Do your research. Thoroughly do your homework so you can find the best safe for your place. You’ll want to look at the following:

• How big does the safe need to be?
• Standard industry guidelines indicate the security rating for each safe manufacturer. What level of security fits your situation? Would you like to have a simple metal box? Or a significantly anchored safe? Do you want a regular combination lock, or something much more sophisticated, such as an eye scan, or certain features in between?
• Review the industry standards for your preferred water-resistance and fire-resistance levels.
• Do you want your safe to be visible or hidden?
• What company will you be able to contact if you ever were to encounter technical problems? Is it open 24/7?
• Where’s the most secure location in your home to put your safe?
• Which individuals do you trust to know how to open your safe?
• Formulate a backup plan, in case you ever misplace the information needed to get your safe open?
• Are there any additional factors to consider for the appropriate protection of your specific items - such as light, humidity, temperature, and so on?