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Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

nytimes.com

131–140 of 162 posts

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#131

I used to work for a small IT company based in London on Hatton Garden a few years ago. At lunch time we used to stroll down to the food market on Leather Lane for a quick bite. It was busy like a bee hive with people working in the city and I absolutely loved it. I remember walking past all those glitzy jewelry stores on Hatton Garden and staring at the various stuff they had on display - thinking I would never want…

>Then during the Easter bank holiday in 2015 the famous heist happened at number 88. Famous somewhere, but I hadn't heard of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatton_Garden_safe_deposit_bur...

They made a movie with Michael Caine about it: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt5789976/

Not too bad

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#132

This makes me wonder if simply burying what you have is a better option. One of my long standing goals is to buy some raw land for hunting and camping, like 50+ acres. I could easily bury several caches of valuables, that only my immediate family knows about, and let nature regrow over it. I mean, what are the chances that a rando stranger is going to be in the middle of nowhere with a metal detector?

So at my last job, I did engineering/land development for cannabis farmers. Everyone I knew had a story about burying money and forgetting where it was buried and being unable to find it.

Also, lots of cash was recovered destroyed.

Now... One thing I will say about that is, it's harder to find a good spot than you'd think, and good spots are more predictable than you'd think. I've notice several such cash stashes. I worked with a guy that had an even better eye for it.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but many people have buried their money and later found it deteriorated beyond use. Make sure to use some good containers if you go that route :)

Gold. Nobody buries paper money.

Actually a lot of people have tried burrying paper money, I guess what you meant is "nobody smart buries paper money".

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#134
post #112

This makes me wonder if simply burying what you have is a better option. One of my long standing goals is to buy some raw land for hunting and camping, like 50+ acres. I could easily bury several caches of valuables, that only my immediate family knows about, and let nature regrow over it. I mean, what are the chances that a rando stranger is going to be in the middle of nowhere with a metal detector?

“There’s money in the banana stand.” Don’t take your cell phone with you when you do the burying. And only tell your family about it with hand written notes. And make sure they know not to look up any information related to the caches. And that they know to never speak of the caches near an internet enabled device. Also, don’t disturb the ground in any visible way. Just comparing google maps satellite imagery is enou…

And at that point, I ask what are you burying that is so uniquely valuable that you don't need to access? I guess there are circumstances around cash or coinage that you don't want the government to know about--though that's increasingly hard to spend in large quantities today.

And to what degree to you trust your family with this secret information?

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#135
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gold. Nobody buries paper money.

"Narcos" might not be fully factual - but I think Colombian drug cartels were burying cash.

When you have their volumes of cash its impossible to launder it.

They don't burry their cash because it makes sense to do so. They do it because it would be impossible to buy that much gold. Or much of anything, really. I wouldn't be surprised if, after expenses, the Treasury is the largest beneficiary of the drug trade through seignorage

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#136
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gold. Nobody buries paper money.

"Narcos" might not be fully factual - but I think Colombian drug cartels were burying cash.

if I recall correctly there was a part where they showed some of the cash was ruined.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#137

This makes me wonder if simply burying what you have is a better option. One of my long standing goals is to buy some raw land for hunting and camping, like 50+ acres. I could easily bury several caches of valuables, that only my immediate family knows about, and let nature regrow over it. I mean, what are the chances that a rando stranger is going to be in the middle of nowhere with a metal detector?

So at my last job, I did engineering/land development for cannabis farmers. Everyone I knew had a story about burying money and forgetting where it was buried and being unable to find it. Also, lots of cash was recovered destroyed. Now... One thing I will say about that is, it's harder to find a good spot than you'd think, and good spots are more predictable than you'd think. I've notice several such cash stashes. I…

> it's harder to find a good spot than you'd think, and good spots are more predictable than you'd think

Now you've got me curious, can you elaborate?

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#138

This makes me wonder if simply burying what you have is a better option. One of my long standing goals is to buy some raw land for hunting and camping, like 50+ acres. I could easily bury several caches of valuables, that only my immediate family knows about, and let nature regrow over it. I mean, what are the chances that a rando stranger is going to be in the middle of nowhere with a metal detector?

I know someone with considerable net worth who converted a good chunk of it into buried treasure, some of which I understand he has literally buried in places, and some he has squirrelled away under the floorboards or similar. He put a fair bit of thought into: A) Not forgetting where it is B) it being highly unlikely anyone would ever stumble across it and C) Ensuring his heirs find out about it should anything ever…

> C) ... should anything ever happen to him

I'm pretty confident he will eventually die, one way or another.

> apparently in the jurisdictions he has concealed his wealth, buried treasure is taxed far more lightly than inheritance

Ah, so basically it's a case of wanting to evade the laws of the society he lives in.

And he's a lawyer? Unsurprising, but shameful nevertheless.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#139
post #92
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to particularly safeguard the credentials to get to your encrypted blob, they can be in a gmail email you sent to your friends and/or family. They can't read the content but they can give you a copy. How do you remember where your safe deposit box is after four months in hospital recovering from a cerebral trauma? There's no perfect solution.

Engrave the address into the lens of a laser pointer, and embed the pointer into your hip. Obviously.

…and sincerely hope that the fisherman who pulls you out of the ocean half-dead is a competent enough surgeon and notices the bump on your hip ;)

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#140
post #14
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay about $400/year for $1.5 million in commercial property liability insurance for a small office space. And the risk of somebody "slipping" and collecting $1.5 million is far, far more likely. Every time you drive your car or bicycle you take the risk of running over a star athlete or CEO, and facing a $10 million judgement on lost earnings. Anyhow, banks will typically require liability disclaimers from deposit…

> labor is costly Why would one need labor to operate a safe-deposit box business? Can't you just have a very secure warehouse full of boxes, with warehouse robots that will grab those boxes and put them into a drop slot when someone taps the appropriate smart card? Before anyone says that that's impractical/too expensive: there are robotic parking garages that do this for cars, and that's a much higher OpEx.

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