I have a friend and a few older family members that pulled their money out of their banks and hid it in their house during “The Great Recession“. I asked why, and most said in case the country (United States) falls apart, they want to have that money available
This is damaging on so many levels both personally and for the whole country.
Reasons not to have much money hidden at home:
- If everybody does this, money tightens and we are in another “Great Recession” scenario, because banks have less to lend to businesses.
- Money hidden at home losses value due to Inflation.
- What if you forget where you hid your money? We always hear of stories of people finding money in old houses where the previous owners hid the money and forgot it.
- Money hidden at home has a good chance of getting stolen. Sometimes even by other family members…
- What if a fire or some other disaster happens? That money wouldn’t be insured!
- (Update) My wife mentioned that people that hide money in their house are afraid to leave their house because they are afraid they would get burglarized if they leave. Sometimes, such people even skip vacations because of this fear!
Another thing to remember is if the government does go down, that money is worthless anyway.
Since the banks are Federally insured up to $250,000 through 12/31/2013, doesn’t it make sense to take advantage of the free insurance (via the FDIC) not to mention the abeit small amount of interest you could get paid!!!
I do think it’s a good idea to hold a little bit of money at home, just for emergencies, perhaps a few thousand at the maxium.
I definitely wouldn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars squirrelled away at home (if I had hundreds of thousands 😉 ).
What do you think should be thx max amount of cash hidden at home?
-MR
the maximum that should be hidden at home enough for the family to survive on for like two weeks in the case something happens. Those two weeks will give you enough time to find an alternative. I actually have very little cash hidden at home and i like it that way. As for forgetting where i hid cash, that would never happen. Whenever i have to hide cash i hide it in something that i own so that in the case i move i move with it. I would also rather keep it circulating in an investment like my online business or stocks or something instead of keeping it at home. It is not even biblical not to do something constructive with available cash
I would consider a thousand dollars to be a reasonable amount of money to stash. I so rarely use cash anymore that I don’t even think much about it. But it would be a good idea to have some around just in case. Or, I could just lug my giant piggy bank around to make my purchases in case of catastrophe…
Growing up, both my parents worked so we had a petty cash box at home. If we needed money to order pizza or go to the movies or something we’d just call our parents and get permission to grab money out of the petty cash box. That was convenient but other than that, I don’t really see any reason to keep cash at home.
I don’t like cash, if you lose it (or it’s stolen), it’s gone. It’s not like a debit card where you can call your bank and put a hold on your account while a new card is issued. The most I’ve ever had at home was $100. It was a birthday present and it just sat there because I was too lazy to go to the bank. I think I eventually ended up re-gifting it.
If you want to be “financially” prepared for a disaster, I think it would be better to stock up on water, coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, toilet paper, etc. and just barter. Like you said, if the government goes down, that money’s useless.
Oh, and like a year ago there was a story circulating in the PF blogs about a woman in Israel who had a million dollars stuffed in her mattress. Her daughter, who didn’t know about the hiding place, decided to surprise her with a new mattress and had the old one thrown away!
I rarely have any cash on me, so I don’t see myself pulling out money and sticking it under my mattress anytime soon. However, I think the maximum amount I could comfortably keep in the house without becoming a nervous wreck would be around a few hundred dollars up to a thousand dollars. Anything more than that and I would be in a state of constant worry about the house burning down or getting burglarized!
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@kt
Sounds like sound advice! Hmmm, thinking about it now, I have about $450 or so dollars in various locations in my house.
@everyday tips
lol, that would be a funny sight, throwing the piggy bank on the counter and going thru the change to pay for things :). Like you I love to use my credit card, even at fast food places. Reward cards rock!
@Jin6655321
That’s the problem with stuffing money in a mattress. What if somehow it caught on fire…
I like your point of view on the matter. If one is going to prepare for the worse, I think stocking up on supplies as you suggest makes more sense!
@Little House
Me too! I have just in case money at home, but it’s less than $500! Most places take credit cards anyway. I would suggest to have both primary providers (Visa and Mastercard). I was at a football game and all they took was Visa. Unforunately, I was only carrying Mastercard at the time!!!
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@Bucksome Boomer
Yeah, It’s crazy huh. I would never have some much money hidden in my house! A couple of hundred thousand dollars is way to much to trust laying around the house, hidden or not!
A thousand or less should be fine (depending where you live…).
I actually keep quite a bit of money at home, not to sound old school but it is actually buried. Water proof container with approx 21k in it. Dont get me wrong, I keep money in the bank as well but it my thing I guess. The old timers out here in the country talked about it so maybe it stuck, who knows.
I think you should keep at least $100,000 in a van down by the river for safe keeping,but move the van if it is going to rain.
Wise advice, thanks for the great add :\
Oh, and what river do you park besides and what it the make of your van again?
A collection agent seized my bank account twice(actually on two different occasions, two different accounts). I never saw that money again. Your money is NOT safe in the bank, and that’s the way the law works.