10 Best Things to Keep in a Safe Deposit Box
10 Best Things to Keep in a Safe Deposit Box
By Bob Niedt September 28, 2018
As digital records and cloud storage become the norm, the stodgy safe deposit box is under threat to join our growing list of things that will soon disappear forever. “They’re probably going to be extinct at some point,” says Michele Awash, a certified financial planner with Family Office Solutions in Greenville, Del. “Everything is electronic these days.”
But don’t rush to declare the safe deposit box a relic of the past just yet. You still need to be able to produce certain original documents, rather than digital scans or photocopies, and some valuables simply can’t be digitized.
Installing a safe in your home is one alternative to a safe deposit box, but they aren’t foolproof, says Luke W. Reynolds, Chief of the FDIC's Community Outreach Section. Home safes are more susceptible to fire and water damage, not to mention theft, than bank safe deposit boxes, he says.
“Personally, I use both,” says William P. Simons IV, president and CEO of Rust Insurance Agency in Washington, D.C. Hard-to-replace items that Simons might need frequently, such as his passport, are kept in the home safe, while other important items he rarely needs stay in his safe deposit box. Here are 10 of the best things to keep in a safe deposit box at your bank.
Social Security Card
Your Social Security number falling into the hands of an identity thief can be the start of years of headaches as you are forced to file disputes, freeze accounts and monitor credit reports for signs of financial fraud. It’s why we rank the Social Security card among the worst things to keep in your wallet in case it’s ever lost or stolen.
Stow your Social Security card in your safe deposit box. On the rare occasions when you actually might need to produce it, say, for a real estate closing, you can plan in advance to retrieve the card. Meantime, memorize the number, if you haven’t already, for filling out routine paperwork.
Birth, Marriage, Divorce and Death Certificates
Vital records that are rarely needed but a hassle to replace are prime candidates for your safe deposit box. Think birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates and divorce certificates. Ditto for adoption-related documents; in particular, foreign birth certificates from an overseas adoption are extremely difficult to replace if lost or destroyed.
Government agencies typically can issue certified copies of vital records, but it’ll cost you time and money. You’ll also need to provide proof that you are entitled to copies. Virginia, for example, charges $12 per certified record, and it can take weeks to receive the document by mail.
Expedited delivery through a third-party service called VitalChek takes just 2-5 days, but the charge is $20.80 per certified record, plus an $11.95 service fee. Overnight delivery costs an extra $18.50. VitalChek says it works with every state plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
Paper Stock and Bond Certificates
Bookkeeping for stock and bond ownership and transactions is handled electronically these days, but there was a time when actual paper certificates were issued to investors. The New York Stock Exchange eliminated its requirement for physical certificates in 2001, and paper savings bonds haven’t been available from banks since 2011.
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