Safe as Houses

Hi Scott,

I followed your advice and bought the Bunnings portable safe that you wrote about in your column a couple of weeks ago. However, when we were faced with our fire I was so panicked I forgot to grab it… however it was the only thing that survived in that room! And because it survived I now have everything I have been asked to produce for insurance, quotes, and house plans. Thankyou for your old-fashioned good advice to this generation.

Jenny

Hi Jenny,

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

Still, having all your docs will make the often painful insurance process that much easier (and if you have ‘before’ pics on your phone of your house, that’ll help too).

And, while you’re the perfect case study for the importance of having a safe, I view our safe just as much as a communication device: if something should happen to me, my wife knows that the keys to our financial life (or at least the copies of our keys) are all set out in one place.

Truth be told, I got a huge reaction to my column (especially from the mysterious safe-cracker, who didn’t like me joking that he could come back and open my safe). In fact, many parents wrote to me saying that they plan to buy a cheap, fireproof safe for a Christmas present for their adult kids (though it appears Bunnings has now sold out of the $69 version!). Now that is a practical present … you could even put some gold chocolate coins in them … and a copy of my books.

Scott