Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Two Clever Ways to Safely Hide Cash and/or Gold on Your Property

From Tom Dyson, Founder, Palm Beach Research Group:

I don’t trust my bank.

I don’t trust the ATM machine.

I don’t trust my money held in digital form.

So, I’ve started to build cash balances. I’ve begun withdrawing cash — in packets — and I’m hiding them someplace safe.

Here are two ways that I recommend to safely store large amounts of cash and/or precious metals in physical form…

Store your money in a fireproof safe on your property. If you’re planning to store a large amount of cash, say, more than $100K, I’d keep two safes — one big one and one small one. Put the small safe somewhere really discreet, and put 95% of your cash in it. Then, put the big safe somewhere less discreet, and put 5% of your cash in there.

If you ever get burglarized, the thieves will assume they’ve found your valuables in the big safe. They won’t keep looking for the small safe.

I rent my home, and I don’t have a safe. So, I do the next safest thing. I learned this in 2007 when I owned a lot of gold coins.

I fill PVC pipes with valuables, then I seal them. Then, I do a little “midnight gardening” and bury them somewhere safe.

(You can find PVC pipes in the plumbing aisle at hardware stores.)

This technique is as old as ownership. If you’re smart about this, no one will ever find your treasure. But make sure you tell one other person where you’ve hidden your loot, in case something happens to you.

Regards,

Tom Dyson

(via The Crux)

11 comments:

  1. PVC may be an okay idea for non-metallic materials, but it is a terrible idea for any valuable metal unless buried very deep. Modern metal detectors can determine what type of metal they detect, and their depth ranges go up, a little, with each new generation, last I looked into it. The best way to learn how to obfuscate metal detectors is to buy one and take on the hobby long enough to understand it.

    As far as burying goes, doing it at night may be one of the most conspicuous times to take on such an activity, given that drone operators might be out looking for such. It would be better to do during regular, planned maintenance, such as a major repair to a sprinkler system or septic system, or pool installation, etc., or during the most torrential downpour and frightening thunderstorm, because not only is it difficult to detect through all of that water, it is difficult to fly a drone (or much of anything) in all that mess, and nearly impossible to maintain lower altitudes without the wind forcing the vehicle into an obstacle.

    It would also be wise to not noticeably disturb the topsoil, as taking pictures, say, weekly, could reveal a signature change that could be identified through automated image scanning.

    Don't put your gold in trees. Not mentioned here, but it is a really terrible idea that often comes up. One drone, airplane, or even a car, can cover a huge amount of turf since scanning trees with radar is largely unobstructed and anything metal in a tree sticks out like a sore thumb.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I do the PVC pipe thing too.

    I've got a gun safe that is fire rated for one hour as well because it's an inexpensive way to get into a decent safe.

    I like the idea of getting a second safe, I'm going to do that. I've got a "fake book" which I really like and it is pretty discrete & inexpensive.

    I feel like a squirrel sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So anyone who has gone to this link is now in the NSA data base as a likely gold/silver hoarder. And NSA will "wash" the Intel and share it with Treasury and its agents, no?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow you have way to much faith in the competency of the government. I doubt anyone at the NSA could even figure out how to report this to the treasury.

      Delete
    2. ahh but there the thing, you will have your gold somewhere else and the treasury agents will come and dig up everything, find nothing then leave you wuith plenty of places to hide where they have aleady looked and turned over your preppers garden for you.

      Delete
  4. By the way Tom, you forgot to tell us where your backyard is.
    And, forgot to mention what's in the pipes. (grin)

    ReplyDelete
  5. The second safe is so you have one to give away when they have a gun to your head.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mr Dyson needs to remove this post.

    Cabela's sells a gold detector ($6k) that can find gold ten feet down.

    With a few minutes and the inclination, I could find where Mr Dyson lives and his coins.

    This is a bad, bad idea.

    Wrap them in lead foil, THEN bury them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is this a tested obfuscation technique? When out in people's yards with metal detectors, is it normal to find a lead object that size? Might it be better to put the item in an old iron or brass pipe? Or a pipe of the same material as a service pipe already in the yard, but directly below the installed pipe? And how do you know that lead foil is thick enough and will not saturate, allowing remaining magnetic flux to detect what it is attempting to mask? What types of anomalies do users of metal detectors consider significant enough to start digging for?

      Delete
  7. I have safes but being a renter I cant bury anything granted I could just go to my parents house and bury it there.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good tips, thanks. Any suggestions on the breakdown in percentages of denominations for stored cash? Eg, % in $100s, % in $50s, $20s, etc? What about coins?

    ReplyDelete