Hiding Places for Valuables?

[PastTense]

Drifted Cowboy has shared with us the story of an RV user who had $48,000 confiscated by law enforcement:
https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Man-wins-back-money-sized-from-RV

The obvious question is hiding places so no one find will our valuables. Suggestions?

I'm sure someone will suggest banks--but everyone here remembers what happened in the 1930s.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Canada, as well as some states - Ohio is one - have laws on the books making it illegal to build hidden compartments into vehicles.

Get caught with one, even if it's empty, and they can seize your vehicle.

Regards
John

 

[cyndi]

Link to a previous post
https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=618&highlight=hiding

and another one, that's more on the humorous side, but still has value
https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=3000&highlight=hiding

 

[jeanontheroad]

In the house, Wolf built some rough looking shelving in the garage bathroom with a false bottom just big enough for my good jewelry ( which means it was pretty small). No fingers holes or hinges, so it was not easy to spot. It opened using a magnet.

 

[Drifted_Cowboy]

I hide my valuables in other people's pockets. It seems easier.

I have nothing a thief would need steal he couldn't have willingly.

---

However that thief may be dressed...

 

[compassrose]

I really don't have any hiding places. I am more concerned with fire than theft. And I have had houses robbed more than once. I have a "fireproof" file safe holding important papers (and a canning jar). It should outlast a vehicle fire. I have places that a common thief won't find but a determined or skilled one will. You can hide paper money, etc in plastic baggies held against metal walls (I suggest inside, not outside) by tucking a few neodymium magnets in the baggie. I suggest if you do this, you keep the baggies small and light weight.

 

[offroad]

Hide it in a 401k account. There are so many protections on those accounts. Even bankruptcy can't touch them in many states. Was not alive in the 1930s so don't know about bank runs that happened on uninsured accounts.

 

[jeanontheroad]

401k's work very well if you can wait for your money until withdrawal age. Anyone who has a paycheck should be putting some away in one, anyway, even if it's only a few bucks a month. If you think money is tight for you, now, just wait until you are old!

Bank accounts are insured for an amount greater than I expect anyone here will need to have available for ready cash needs. If you have more than that and don't want to invest it in the market, split it up with 2 or more banks so it's all insured.

 

[Zil]

I have two bank accounts with cards and checks. If one bank has a temporary problem I am not stuck for cash.
I'm past my age and I will tell you from experience. Put as much as you can in a retirement account! 401k or Roth, there are advantages to each, but long term growth account is the secret to a comfortable retirement.

 

[jeanontheroad]

Re laws against hidden compartments, if Wolf were to build in something like that garage shelf compartment in the RV, I would have him put a couple screws in the cover. Sand it and put some stain and varnish on it. It would look just like any of several other hidden empty spaces that resulted from shoddy planning on the part of the factory.

 

[LeeRevell]

The Goobermint has laws allowing them, if things get really bad economically, to raid the banks and seize any and all monies deposited therein. So keep at least an 'emergency fund' hidden where only YOU can access it!
Easily liquidated hard goods are good too, but if one is living full time in a van or RV, this can be difficult to do.

 

[offroad]

LeeR - what are you talking about. They can print whatever they want. No need to raid anything.

 

[Zil]

That is why I chose to live in the USA. Our government does not seize bank accounts. A court of law can if you are proven a criminal or refuse to pay your bills.

 

[akrvbob]

I'm pretty pessimistic for the future, especially for American dollars. Inflation is so much more likely than all the other risks we face and probably more devastating to most of us. That's the thief I'm worried about. 10 years of 10% inflation will solve the government debt problem, but also wipe out your 401Ks and savings accounts. History and common sense say that you can't have this level of government debt without ending up with inflation.

So some of my money is safely hidden in a 6 months supply of food, which I doubt anyone would want to steal--yet. Also in guns, ammo and other survival basics. Also in gold and silver kept off-site. Inflation proof.
Bob

 

[dragon rider]

In our country if u had all ur money in one bank then u lost nearly all of it with what happened with the bankers. So if I had money, I would put it in a fire proof safe under the floor boards screwed down. Can't trust any banking system any more. If u do use a bank here then u have to spread it out to different banking systems. But still u need to be careful that none of them are merged or about to.

 

[Lucky mike]

Every dime I have in the bank is insured.....so let them fold.......Im not going to panic....no Y2K....no End of the world Myan prediction......the last 3 meteors missed us......and most of all Twinkie's came back......

 

[jeanontheroad]

Yeah, Mike, that's pretty much my attitude. At our age, going survivalist is, frankly, silly. If chaos comes, we aren't going to weather it by storing canned beets and bullets. We need our diabetes and blood pressure meds to stay healthy. We need our eye glasses updated to see. We need clean water and adequate sewage disposal in order not to die in less than a week of explosive diarrhea. We need good roads and reliable power for heat and air conditioning in order not to die of heat stroke or freeze to death. Humans used to die before hitting 30, on average, and we would do so, again, if the survivalist nightmare came to pass. It would probably happen even faster in the western world as our medical advancements have allowed a lot of us who would have died because of our genetic weaknesses to survive and breed. You can be armed to the teeth, but hanta-virus and cholera and rabies and parasites don't care.

I'm not going to worry about the end of the world. I can't do anything about it and I don't think it's going to happen, anyway.

 

[Zil]

No one has lost 1 cent in USA banks since 1930. If you want to panic, please, at least get your facts right.

 

[jeanontheroad]

You have to watch how you give them your money. You have to make sure you are depositing it in an insured account. When Regions was Amsouth, they had an in-house rep for their separate brokerage business. Those accounts were not insured, but they did their best to give the impression to vulnerable clients that they were. They talked Wolf's mother into one of their uninsured accounts, and the rep had the brazen gall to try to use her as a selling point to convince me to put my 4o1k into one. I asked her if Wolf's mom had given her permission to discuss private financial matters with anyone else, and she claimed up fast. I knew the old lady gave no permission because she is pathologically paranoid about anyone knowing anything about her money. If she buys bananas on sale, she won't tell you what she paid. She thru a fit and moved to a different bank when I told her.

 

[offroad]

Zil - banks no loss. Uninsured credit unions - big big loss. Happened 25 years ago to friends.