A lot of people believe that keeping your prized positions in a safety deposit box at the bank is the best option when it comes to protecting your belongings. The 24-hour security may entice you to do this but using a safety deposit box often means your items do not have insurance.
To keep them insured and safe, you should think about featuring a personal safe in your own home. Your home contents insurance will cover your items, while the characteristics and design of a safe will protect them, even more so if it is fireproof. Here are some items you should include in your home safe.
Social Security Card
There are lots of different reasons a Social Security Card is an important thing to have and keep safe. You need them to apply for jobs, register for classes at college, apply for a driver’s license, insurance, and much more. Most importantly, they are a crucial piece of identification, the main reason you would want to protect them.
Wills
Keeping original wills in a safe deposit box or safe at a lawyer’s office is recommended by lawyers to their clients. A copy of your will needs to be preserved in both the fireproof safe at home as well as the fireproof safe of the executor, meaning that your will should be protected in three different places.
Financial Documents
The time immediately after the destruction of your home would be a good time to access your funds. Whether your home is destroyed or not, you should protect important documents such as investment documents, retirement plans, bank accounts, and associated contact information.
Property Deed and Car Title
Car titles and property deeds give you the proof to show that you own your house or vehicle. Without these, you would not be able to refinance your property or transfer your property title for any estate planning permission required.
Insurance Information
Insurance is the first thing you must take care of if you experience a fire, tornado, flood, hurricane, or flooding in your home. The information you need almost right away if your house suffers fire damage should be stored securely in your policy and agent’s contact information.
Medical Documents
If you have insurance, you will need documentation of any medical forms as well as copies of your insurance cards if you keep the originals in your wallet. Keep these along with a list of the doctors and prescriptions each member of your family takes and the addresses of any pharmacies they use. You may need them to get new supplies of medicines you take regularly.
Birth Certificates
Birth certificates are required for everything. Students and military personnel must use them to enroll in schools or join the military. They are needed to obtain a driver’s license, passport, or marriage license and apply for government or private benefits (such as health insurance and pensions). To enroll your child in elementary school or Little League, you need to provide a birth certificate as proof of age. The process of getting a copy of your birth certificate isn’t too complicated or expensive so you can keep a copy in your fireproof safe, another in your safe deposit box, and perhaps one with a family member.
Passport
In its literal sense, a passport to the world means a ticket to travel anywhere. You can travel abroad with a passport and use it whenever you need more than one form of photo identification in case your wallet or purse is stolen or lost.
Other Legal Documents
A power of attorney, living will, and health care proxy, both for yourself and for anyone you have designated as an attorney-in-fact or health care surrogate, are other legal documents that you want to keep well protected. Documents like these may be helpful in times of tragedy.
Photos
Make sure that all family photos, or other cherished photos, are kept on CDs or an external hard drive in your safe. Ensure that you keep up to date with technology if your images are digital; you don’t want to lose them due to having old technology.
Extra Items
For added home security, it is a great idea to include a video of the contents of your home and put it in your safe. Having this video evidence will be the perfect way to show insurers what you had in your house before making a claim. If you have inherited valuables such as your grandmother’s jewelry that hold a lot of sentiment, keep these in your safe too.
