
Not all safes are the same and therefore need to be treated differently.
#Personal document safebox professional
If you’re concerned about the size of the safe you are purchasing, speak to a professional for assistance. No one wants to crawl into the depths of an attic or basement each day to retrieve something. If your safe weighs over 1,000 pounds, it belongs on the first floor of your home to prevent damage. Keeping your safe in an easy-to-access location will encourage you to use it. Also think about how frequently you’ll be using your safe. If you plan on keeping valuable everyday items inside of the safe, like a wallet or your camera, then keep it in a spot you can easily get to. It also makes accessing your belongings quick and easy. Before choosing a place, take into account what you’ll be using the safe for will it be holding expensive jewelry, stacks of cash, or valuable family antiques? Tuck these away in a safe in your master bedroom/bathroom or within your closet. Understanding where to keep a safe in your home is an excellent way to make sure the wrong people don’t find your most prized possessions. Physical media would typically be a backup for critical data on a computer or tablet, or home-cloud storage systems (these are essentially just an external hard drive with Wi-Fi capability), which could be destroyed in a fire. The bank’s vault won’t be susceptible to extreme temperatures or magnetic interference that could erase data. Lastly, information stored on physical computer media (discs, USBs, or external hard drives) should go in the bank box. Savings Bonds that haven’t been converted into electronic securities should also be stored at the bank. Also, if you take pictures or shoot video of personal property for insurance purposes, such as proof of ownership after a fire, you should store the media in a bank box, not at home. Other items that belong in a safety deposit box include the deed to your home, birth certificates, and car titles. (Since the bank won’t cover losses from a safe deposit box, talk with your home insurance or renter’s insurance carrier if you’d like to insure valuables stored there.) Don’t sock away a lot of cash in a bank deposit box, because FDIC insurance only covers cash deposited in bank accounts. While it’s okay to store a reasonable amount of emergency cash in a home safe, large sums should be in a bank account where it can earn interest. Until someone is ready to wear it, Grandma’s engagement ring should be secured in a bank box. Vintage photographs, old-school camera negatives, stamp collections, and small amounts of emergency cash- these are the kinds of items that should go into resealable plastic bags to reduce risk of water damage, then into either a media or fireproof safe. If you absolutely must store it at the bank, prevent delays by making sure in advance the executors are named in the document. Your last will and testament should also be protected inside a home safe. Unless you have an estate attorney who will hold the original will documents for you, keep this paperwork in a fireproof home safe and give the combination or spare key to a trusted person who doesn’t live with you. Take other irreplaceable items to the bank. Things you should keep in a home safe include: Social Security cards passports, insurance policies and “power of attorney” documents. Since banks are not open 24/7, a good home safe is a better place to keep these key documents. However, burglars could easily break into your home, force you to open the safe, or haul off the entire thing before breaking into a bank and swiping your safety deposit box. This is why many experts insist that your fireproof home safe be anchored to the wall or floor, so your personal documents and/or high-price items should be secure enough. Generally, anything of value to you - but not to a thief - can be stored in a home safe.

The very items we often keep in a home safe may the ones that shouldn’t be there, such as valuables that aren’t inventoried, documents you rarely need, and large sums of cash. Other items such as insurance documents and priceless heirlooms also need to be stored in a safe place, but which valuables are best protected in a fireproof, gun safe at home, and which belong in a safety deposit box at a bank? Let’s take a look.
