By: Lynette Zang

Many people wonder where and how to hold their metals and cash. First permit me to say, that you must hold them in places you trust and feel comfortable with. Secondly think diversification, in other words, hold your metals in several places. And lastly, be creative. If you choose to hold some metals in your home, look around for obscure spaces. Since I no longer live in my condo, I’ll give you examples of how I held my metals there.

Below the bottom shelf in a cupboard is a 2” empty space. I had the bottom shelve converted into a false shelf, wrapped a floor safe in heavy mill plastic and embedded it in the ground. There was also some dead space inside a wall between my stove and the wall at the end of a built in book shelf. I had a false matching bookcase installed and held my metals behind the false bookcase.

I also have clients that put coins behind loose bricks their chimney flu’ or wrapped, inserted in a water tight PVC pipe, then buried beneath a very large boulder (yes they have a backhoe).

You get the idea, look for places that are not obvious or easy to spot. Think like a crook.

The following is a list of options; you decide where but make sure you hold them in more than one place.

1.    Bank Safe Deposit Boxes
2.    Private Safe Deposit Boxes
3.    Hidden Wall Safe in your home (make sure this is professionally installed)
4.    Hidden Floor Safe in your home
5.    Gun Safe Bolted to the floor, hidden somewhere like a closet

Steps and flooring have natural hollow spaces underneath. Carpentry skills are required to effectively create a seamless surface that escapes detection

Hollow core doors can have sections cut out of the hinge edge to give access to the space within the door. Use the cutout piece as a plug.

Normal places for thieves to look for valuables; back bedroom closet, freezer so try to avoid these common places. If you think like a thief when you enter your home, the place you think to look is likely a good place to avoid.

There are probably more places, but each home is unique. These are just some ideas, but remember, you need to be completely private about your metals and cash holdings, though your heirs that you trust also need to know where you’ve stashed your valuables. As example, my daughters know where everything is, but their husbands do not. Not that I don’t trust them, but you never know.