Don’t Let Your Precious Metals Get Swept Away in a Hurricane
Hurricane Ida caused unprecedented losses of property and life in its recent rampage across Louisiana up through New England. We don’t know how many people also lost precious metals in the storm, but we believe that losses were probably substantial. Many of the places where people traditionally store precious metals were destroyed, including homes, garages, outbuildings, roadside self-storage facilities, and more.
While we were watching the news during the storm, we saw footage of a bank that had its front ripped off by winds and washed away by flood waters. Were the contents of safety deposit boxes inside also lost? We don’t know. But we do know that now would be a very good time to review where you are storing your capital investments of precious metals.
Two Strategies to Protect Your Precious Metals from Future Cataclysmic Events
First review where you are storing your metals and move them to more secure facilities
Your home might not be the safest place to store them, depending on what the structure is like. Even locations within your home that you thought were secure might no longer be good choices. Granted, a heavy safe might not be swept away in a flood. But even a safe will not be easy to access if it ended up in the rubble of a house that was decimated by wind and water.
Similarly, those outbuildings and roadside self-storage facilities might not be the best choice. Self-storage facilities are, by their very nature, not the most durable structures. Plus, many have been built in locations on flat land that borders roads and highways. We personally saw one such location that had been flooded; the furniture and other contents that people stored there had been dragged outside to dry or be discarded. Clearly, that particular self-storage facility was not the best place to store precious investments with a hurricane on the way.
Safety deposit boxes are an alternative that is worth considering, provided the bank that houses them is solid, secure, and located in an area where flooding is unlikely. Not just any bank is secure. Look for an older building where safety deposit boxes are housed in a massive and secure safe, guarded by a heavy door. Of course, this strategy will only work if the quantity of metals you store are small enough to fit in a safety deposit box or a few of them.
Second, liquidate your holdings and have them converted into cash
If your gold scrap, silver scrap, and platinum scrap are stored in a place that could be damaged by adverse weather, now could be a good time to have us recycle them for you and pay you for the precious metals they contain. Call our precious metals consultants at 800-426-2344 and we will explain how we can do this for you.
Cash that is held in bank accounts is protected from wind, rain, and even fire. Remember that even if Ida did not claim or threaten any of your holdings, there is no guarantee they will be safe the next time a disaster occurs.
Wildfires are threatening areas of California and other western states. There is even a chance that earthquakes in California could put your holdings in danger. Floods are happening across the U.S. as rains fall and rivers rise. And as we write today’s post, there are reports that a new tropical storm is forming in the Atlantic. It has already been named Larry, and who knows what damage it will cause.
Be Safe
All of us at Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners send our best wishes and prayers for your personal safety. But we want your investments to be safe and secure too. To discuss the safety of how they are stored or to explore ways to have us recycle them for you now, be sure to call us at 800-426-2344.
It’s hurricane season. Let’s all be safe.