Safes and Home Insurance Explained

It’s fair to say that a lot of us don’t exactly trust our banks, and some of us even go further by cutting out the middle man and stashing our cash at home.

This is pretty risky business, but thanks to the latest generation of safes it is a little less risky than before. Still, keeping large amounts of money in the house is about weighing up some rather serious pros and cons. There’s no chance of online fraud, or excessive bank charges, but there’s a much bigger risk of fire or theft.

If you’re going to keep cash at home, it’s important to choose a really great safe and also making sure it is covered by your home insurance policy.

Major insurance companies will not cover a great deal of money within the home, but do make allowances for reasonable amounts of cash kept in a safe, and the better the safe, the better the cash rating.  It's important to check whether the safes you are looking at are AiS Approved Safes (Association of Insurance Surveyors) and up to which value you are covered against both in cash value & valuables too as these figures can vary.

These safes are covered to protect cash, in addition to jewellery and family heirlooms which are priceless to the owner. But all insurance policies come with an uppermost limit, so storing too much cash, or anything else, won’t be a good idea if loss or damage strike.
It isn’t just a good old fashioned robbery that you have to think about. Fires, while uncommon, pose just as great a threat to cash, files and other belongings. It’s important to choose a fire-proof safe that’s fit for purpose and ensure that this is taken into account by your insurer.

One final point that’s worth bearing in mind, however, is that a safe will go a long way to protecting your hard earned cash, but I’ve never come across a safe that will offer you interest for holding your money. So, it’s probably a good idea to keep your life savings in a bank, but with the peace of mind that the money you do stash at home will be as safe as possible.