Whether you’re collecting gold and silver for the pleasure of it, for investing in them, or to help keep your family financially stable during tumultuous times, the important thing to consider when buying bullion is how to safely store it. You have a couple of options here: either in your home or in bullion banks and depositories. That’s why we’ve gathered these four simple yet important ways that will help you store your metals properly and safeguard them from theft, loss, and damage. 

Secretive Home Storage 

Keeping precious metals at home might be the easiest and most accessible way to store them. Buyers with small to medium-sized precious metal collections will benefit from this storage process. Simply hide your valuables in a safe location in your home or on your land. This prevents anyone from discovering where they are, thus allowing their owners easy access. However, our advice to you is to avoid cliche and well-known hiding spots such as burying them in your backyard or keeping them in a box in your library. 

While home storage is considered less expensive than other methods, it definitely has its drawbacks when it comes to being damage-proof. Keeping valuable metals in a hidden location at home increases their vulnerability to damage, potentially lowering their value. Not only that, but if there wasn’t any external security that alerts you of potential theft, that would be equally troubling. You might want to watch out for natural disasters as well and make sure your safes are fire and waterproof. 

Finally, liquidity is a detrimental aspect to remember when relying on home storage. You will have to return your coins and bars to a certified dealer if you wish to sell your investment in the future, which might be a hassle. Also, before the dealer can consider your precious metal properties, you will have to get them analyzed for authenticity, which is costly and time-consuming. 

Consumer Bank Vaults 

Many people are apprehensive about storing precious metals in their homes because they may become targets for burglary. If you’re one of those people, we’d suggest you use a bank to meet your storage needs. You would be relieving yourself from the burden of continually guarding your valuables by entrusting your bullion to a third-party storage facility. Banks have top-notch protection both internally and externally, allowing customers to rest easy knowing that their gold and silver assets are fully protected. 

At a bank, you have two options for storing your valuables: safety deposit boxes and bank vaults. A single customer's safety deposit box is reserved for his or her personal use. Depending on the objects to be stored, these come in a range of sizes. Bank vaults are a perfect place to store larger deposits for consumers who don't mind keeping their valuables with other people. 

However, there are some disadvantages to keeping your precious metals in a bank. Customers must first pay a premium for these storage facilities, which can vary from $200 to $500 per year. Another disadvantage would be restricted access to your assets. In order for you to view your valuables, you would have to visit the bank during its opening hours, which might be an inconvenience with some busy schedules. 

Bullion Bank Vaults

If you have a huge amount of gold to store, you should probably consider keeping them in a bullion bank vault. These banks are major financial institutions that buy, sell, lease, and lend bullion. They only allow massive gold deposits- more specifically, a minimum of 1,000 oz. of gold which must be in bar form, due to the scale at which they buy and sell gold. An advantage of storing your gold in a bullion bank rather than a regular consumer bank would be better security because of their large-scale gold warehouses. You could also open an unallocated account which means that you are a bullion bank or gold dealer's unsecured creditor. The bank will lend gold kept in unallocated accounts, just like many other bank deposits. These accounts can be settled in cash almost immediately. However, finding a bullion bank is not that easy, you have to be living in a major city to find one of them next to you. 

Precious Metals Depositories

Bullion Depositories provide the best storage and security for your precious metals. They are private security firms that specialize in bullion storage and transfer. Not only do they have enough space to accommodate larger collections, but their climate and moisture-regulated facilities ensure that your precious metals are protected from dangerous environmental conditions which make them vulnerable to damage. With these institutions, you have the advantage of keeping your bullion abroad because some of them have vaults in other countries. Consider keeping them in either Delaware Depository or Brinks Global Services, which are the two largest bullion depositories in the United States.  

These high-security depositories also have some drawbacks to consider before deciding to store your gold in them. One of which is that their storage fees are way higher than the previously mentioned options. Also, when you decide to withdraw your bullion, you will be subject to fees and most probably delays in receiving them. You might also need to travel to physically access your metals in case you store them abroad. 

For someone who invests in physical gold, storage is an absolute must. You simply cannot avoid it. Whether you decide to keep your gold at home or in banks and depositories, you'll need a secure place to store and protect it. This depends on your unique circumstances and preferences. Either way, nothing is better than being content knowing that your valuables are secured and protected.