If something were to happen to me, who would be able to access the safe deposit box? The situation forced me to ask myself a question about safe deposit boxes that I hadn’t considered:

It was a few hours before I managed to find the key at the bottom of a box of belongings, nestled with other miscellaneous objects that had been too small to deserve their own box. Here I was, writing about the importance of safe deposit boxes, and I had broken the cardinal rule: never losing the key!Īs you can imagine, panic ensued.

Just recently, as my wife and I moved all our belongings from our previous apartment to a new home, I realized that my safe deposit key had been misplaced in the move. The box is small, but it provides enough room for me to store a few valuables and items that I’d prefer not to lose.Īnd even though I’ve covered the top items found in safe deposit boxes and the items you should never put in a safe deposit box, I still have quite a bit to learn about these valuable tools. Like one out of eight Americans, I pay a small yearly fee to rent out a safe deposit box at the local bank.