How Much Cash Should You Keep at Home in Your Safe?
With the introduction and widespread use of digital currency, keeping physical cash at home is becoming less and less common. Most people prefer to go cashless and stopped carrying cash in their wallets, leaving the purchasing of goods to credit cards. While this may be true,, others still want to keep physical cash on hand in their house or in traditional savings accounts. In fact, statistics can back this up; according to AARP, a survey by Edelman Intelligence shows that 1 in 10 older Americans hide money in places around their house.
Some financial experts don’t suggest keeping cash at home due to a number of risks and disadvantages. However, storing cash in your house can also be beneficial for you, especially when emergencies or other unexpected events arise, which is why we recommend buying and storing this cash in a reliable safe box, such as The Space Safe. While this can be good, remembering not to keep too much money around the house, and storing a good amount in the bank too.
So, if storing all your cash at home can be risky, what then is a safe and recommended amount? To find out how much cash you should keep at home and how to properly store your money safely, read to the end of this article.
Why People Keep Cash at Home
Despite the benefits of depositing money in the bank and the FDIC protection, many people still prefer to keep a portion, if not all, of their cash in physical form at home. For some, it can be because they want to access their money quickly in case of emergencies, while others simply don’t want to deal with banks. According to a survey by the FDIC, approximately 5.9 million US households did not have a bank account in 2021. So, if these people didn’t have bank accounts, the only place they could keep their cold hard cash is at home.
Unexpected events, such as natural disasters and power outages, can happen anytime. Hence, it is wise to have cash at home. This ensures that essentials, like gas, food, and medicine, can be purchased should the internet or power go off, rendering cashless payment methods or digital currency inaccessible. During the onslaught of hurricane Katrina in 2005, 12,000 people were out of power for 12 days making it difficult to transact using digital currency, but it would also have been wise for them not to keep a big amount of cash at home because they would’ve lost it, so the key here is to balance the amount you keep in the bank and at home.
How Much Cash To Keep at Home
No one can tell you how much cash to keep at home because you know your needs best or how much money you have. While we don’t recommend anyone to keep more than 10% of their net worth in their home, here are some points to consider when weighing on the amount of money you are to keep around your house:
1. Sufficient for Emergency Expenses
As advised by Yasmin Purnell, a financial expert and The Wallet Moth’s founder, you should keep sufficient cash for unexpected situations that would require you to avail temporary accommodation, gasoline, medicine, drink, and food. She also added that the general rule of thumb is having access to $1,000 in cash at home because it would guarantee that you can at least pay for immediate expenses in the case of a national emergency. Of course this is all subject to your net worth - if you are only worth $3,000, then you should not keep 33% of your net worth in your home as it is unsecured.
Do not leave your cash for emergency expenses lying anywhere in your home. Secure your money inside The Space Safe to avoid it from getting stolen and out in the open.
2. Keep It to A Minimum
Keeping it to a minimum is one of the best ways to store cash at home. However, how much “minimum” actually covers is still up for debate among financial experts. Nonetheless, we agree with Ryan McCarty of McCarty Money Matters when he said that keeping stored cash at home to a minimum in case of fire or theft is a great rule of thumb. If you keep a big amount of cash at home, and a fire or a burglar breaks-in, it will be difficult for you to recover. He also proceeds to say that you shouldn’t let your stored cash exceed 10% of your overall emergency fund.
The best way to keep your money safe from burglars is by storing it in The Space Safe.
3. A Thousand Dollars or Less
This figure reechoes Yasmin Purnell’s rule of thumb. According to Jesse Cramer, a financial expert and the founder of The Best Interest, the ideal amount of cash to keep at home is a thousand dollars or less. He claims that it varies from person to person, but it is preferable to keep less than $1,000 because there isn’t enough good reason to store a large amount of liquid cash at home, and he believes that banks are generally much safer. Of course this is all based on your situation, your net worth, and your daily spend.
How To Keep Your Cash Safe
Regardless of the amount of cash you want to store at home, you should always make sure that your cash is kept in The Space Safe where it isn’t easily seen and accessible by people other than yourself or your trusted person.. Keeping too much loose cash in your wallet can lead to easily spending money, which is why it is imperative to keep your cash in a reliable place like a money safe.
The Money Safe we Recommend: The Space Safe
Among the many smart and digital safes in the market, nothing protects your valuables the same way The Space Safe does. It is the most technologically advanced smart safe and the first of its kind. Here are some noteworthy points that prove why The Space Safe is the best biometric safe to keep your cash at home:
The Space App
With The Space Safe, you can stay informed anywhere at any time. You can receive notifications about your safe regardless of where you are in the world, and you can do this through The Space App. Here, your camera feeds, activity logs, and lockdown notifications are one press away. Keeping you up-to-date with what’s goin on with your safe and valuables.
Interior and Exterior Cameras
It is the first ever electronic safe with cameras inside and outside. With this feature, you can thoroughly monitor who tries to access your safe from the outside, and what they touch inside. This gives you full assurance that you are in control of your safe even when you are away.
Massive Display
Lockdown Mode
The safe’s accelerometer detects movement and tampering. So, when anybody tries to mess with your safe, you will automatically receive a notification and your safe will go into lockdown mode. When on lockdown, the LCD will be inaccessible, the alarm will go off, and you can alert 911 from the app.
Instant Access
With The Space Safe’s instant access feature, you can access the biometric safe quickly. Its round biometric fingerprint sensor allows for instant unlocking of the safe at any angle for quick access. It also has a 508 DPI, 192 x 192-pixel capacitive sensor that scans even the smallest parts of your finer to guarantee that your fingerprint isn’t mismatched.
Faux Screens
To avoid catching the attention of thieves, you can display a lock screen to disguise your electronic safe from showing the login screen. You can choose from a faux printer, faux radio, the weather, or your favorite photo. These faux screens allow the safe to be camouflage and hide its true nature - making it all the more secure for your stored cash at home.
Rechargeable Battery
Your biometric safe is powered by a discreet USB-C power adapter. In the event of a power outage, you can still secure and access your cash because the safe has an internal backup battery that will power your device.
Keeping cash at home is recommended but only to a certain extent. Even if you will only store a portion of your cash at home, you still have to be cautious by placing whatever amount you have in a biometric safe that’s smart and reliable. After all, you stockpile money at home to have something to use in times of emergency, and the best way to safeguard them until emergency comes is through The Space Safe - the most advanced smart safe box ever created.
Get it now at www.TheSpaceSafe.com.
Images used are not the property of space and are used for inspiration to discuss products.
– Charisse Thompson
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