TIFU by keeping my savings in gold

Submitted by Feisty_Text6309 t3_yhwojz in tifu

Title is typo I meant silver

I am a 19 yo male. For the last six years I have saved every dollar I've made from working and reinvested it in silver. I know that sounds stupid. But unlike a bank account physical currency like gold and silver hold up against inflation. Plus I liked feeling like a pirate. During covid I sold most of it when it was around 30$ and reinvested more when it was around 20$

In total I had around fifteen thousand dollars in silver ounces. This was really good for me BECAUSE If I didn't have the money locked somewhere I was terrified I was gonna be like my parents and spend it all. For a little background history, My mom and my dad never graduated high school, they were extremely abusive throughout my childhood. They would spend every dollar we had on smokes and chew. I would go several days only eating take out but at least they had their stuff. We lived paycheck to paycheck.

Well I took a gap year from college. I am beginning to apply and I got accepted to a small low scale school. I did the FASFA and I got around five thousand in grants. I was so excited! The tuition is around eighteen thousand dollars including meal tickets, room and board and classes. I was so glad that I had saved my money in silver. I had around 800 ounces. Well, tell me why I went to my garage where its usually kept. (I hadn't checked on it for a few months because of the current economy) and its all gone. Everything, at first I thought what you are all thinking right now. Must've been my parents right? They would've posted something on social media, my siblings would've told me something, there is no way they magically got fifteen grand and I wouldn't know about it.

My dad, leaves things unlocked occasionally. What I'm guessing what happened is that someone went into the garage and stole them without knowing what they were worth or did know and hit the jackpot. I am so angry, I am hurt and I am so sad. I yelled at my dad for the first time in my life today. I feel bad about it already. But we dont have any cameras. I didn't have the silver insured so I have no way to get it back.

This was my way to get out of this generational trauma my family pushed onto me. I was gonna be different, I was gonna get my kids birthday presents. I wasn't gonna tell my kids Santa Clause forgot to come. This sets me back so freaking much and I don't know if I can recover from it. I am so distraught. Years of savings down the drain.

I shouldn't of been an idiot and stored it in a bank vault or something. But I trusted my family to keep the door locked. Is it too much to ask of my parents for them to keep a door locked? I forgave all of their trauma and abuse over the years and was a pushover my entire life! But this?!? This was my future that they destroyed.

TLDR: I stupidly stored fifteen grand in silver in the garage and my dad left the door unlocked and it got stolen.

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MoistCatcher t1_iui5xv2 wrote

Who typos silver as gold? That seems weird as hell to me

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paperfett t1_iuhbeu8 wrote

This has a been a very expensive but valuable lesson. Did your family know where you kept all of it? I know this is terrible to say but are you absolutely sure your parents didn't take it? They could have just used it to pay off debts and not noticable spending sprees. I'm shocked you kept it unsecured in a garage. It should have been hidden somewhere under a floor board or in a wall. Better yet a safe deposit box at a bank. To think someone just randomly stumbled into your garage and found it seems a bit crazy. Did anyone know you kept it there?

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Bimimans t1_iuj5d3q wrote

>To think someone just randomly stumbled into your garage and found it seems a bit crazy.

Yeah because it's made up.

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isthatpossibl t1_iuhgr42 wrote

geez. I mean, let him mull that over and figure it out, that's a pretty dark seed to plant if you're wrong

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apple-masher t1_iuif9mr wrote

yeah, but OP already has his suspicions (read the post) and it's the first thing I thought.

How many people knew about it?

There's your list of suspects. Especially if there's nothing else missing.

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misspmh t1_iujn1k8 wrote

Harsh truths are indeed still truths. Growing up around drug using extended family, we knew we needed to hide valuables.

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ninernetneepneep t1_iuirjis wrote

Title says gold, story says silver. Couldn't have been that bad of an experience if you're not sure what you lost.

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CuriousAstronaut3 t1_iugwopu wrote

Its defenetly a setback, sorry to hear it. Perhaps file a police report just for documentation, might come handy if anything comes up.
From now on get a bank account and get out of there asap, still improvement.

Btw "where its usually kept" - is there anywhere else it could be?

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Doe966 t1_iuhwqxt wrote

So I was in the neighborhood a few months ago and noticed this open garage and found a sack full of coins. They didn’t look like regular quarters, but they fit perfectly in the washing machine slot. I’m so glad that I didn’t have to pay for laundry that week.

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heyitsvonage t1_iui3xd7 wrote

It seems suspicious that somebody would’ve happened by and took one of the only valuable things in the garage...

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BigTradeDeal69_420 t1_iuhy6h3 wrote

Storing precious metals in a garage is a dumb move. You can learn from this, save your future money in a bank, store physical items in a bank safety deposit box.

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NungaFakeer t1_iugtmjs wrote

It's the discipline you learnt, good person, that will see you through in life. I cannot begin to relate to the overwhelming emotions you're perhaps feeling right now. But know that how you behave during these times, and what you do next, whether you report to the authorities, or channel your lessons even harder, what's important is you'll look back one day and consider this a valuable lesson, rather than a significant loss.

Godspeed. You do not need luck when you've got the will.

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Prinz_ t1_iuh7igu wrote

You need a bank account and a brokerage. You can buy a silver etf (what would probably be better, but more volatile, this is not investment advice, would be a sp500/nasdaq/dow Jones /any index fund in the world etf)

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JefferyTheQuaxly t1_iuhp82f wrote

frankly just keeping the silver in a lockbox or something at the bank would be better than nothing.

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ElectroStaticSpeaker t1_iui94od wrote

Safety deposit boxes aren't safe and aren't regulated. Would not recommend storing gold or silver in one. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html

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Ghost17088 t1_iujt4jv wrote

As correct as you are, a locked box in a bank is still a vastly safer spot than being unsecured in an unlocked garage that impulsive broke family know about and have access to.

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Contank t1_iui51m9 wrote

"If I didn't have the money locked somewhere" but you didn't. You left it unguarded and out in the open. In future I recommend buying a safe yoy can place in the wall or floor

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frygod t1_iuia2jm wrote

Judging from "FAFSA" in your post, you're probably in the US. I recommend looking into series i savings bonds for the kind of liquidity limitation and inflation protection you are looking for.

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nadnerb4ever t1_iuizq07 wrote

First, I just wanted to say wow that's really shitty regardless of who took it, and I imagine you are feeling a crushing sense of disappointment, shock and hopelessness. I felt that when I was poor and lost $100, and losing what you lost is so much worse.

Now with that said, you absolutely can come back from this. You have already demonstrated that you can manage your money (choice of where to store it notwithstanding) without blowing it all, and you plan to invest in an education and self-improvement. This may feel like a dark, dark time to you, but I hope you will keep trying anyways, because if you do I promise you will persevere.

I sincerely hope that in 10 or 20 years time when there is another major recession you will look at $500k losses that you have in your investments (because that's what happens during recessions) and look back at this time and say "man, remember when losing $15k felt like the end of the world?". And then you will shrug and go on with your life because even though you just lost $500k, you will know you will recover and you can deal with this kind of thing.

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Embarrassed-Bus-8591 t1_iuhql60 wrote

Was only the silver/gold stolen? If so, who knew where you kept it?

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Ejsberg t1_iuj4szd wrote

I feel sad for you.. but I do have to say that your stupidity here has crossed all borders. Why on earth would you hide 15K worth of Silver in a place that is used by family members when you first hand know about their debts and problems. And secondly, who the hell doesn't even bother to check the items for months ?

I think this is a very valuable lesson learnt.

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smileymn t1_iuimto4 wrote

Libertarians doing dumb things with their money, go figure…

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navywater t1_iujdga8 wrote

I mean. I do the same thing but my stuff is in the attic. A garage it too easily accessible. Even a closet or under a bed isn’t really safe enough.

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throwawayallmyposts t1_iuj6eq1 wrote

You know when people say to invest into precious metals, they don't mean to physically store it in your garage, right? Dude...?

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barstoolpigeons t1_iuj7i00 wrote

Ever heard the phrase “don’t keep all your eggs in one basket?”

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lilbitdead t1_iuihqgb wrote

Ah dude, you’re 19 it’s not the end lol f the world. You’ll figure school out if you put your mind to it.

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rememedy t1_iuiy4a5 wrote

Sad story, but the title is misleading, as the fact your savings were stolen has nothing to do with them being in gold (or silver, I didn't get this part). It could have been cash money or any other material thing.

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ap3sniperv4 t1_iuiy7e8 wrote

Way to be a fucking re✝️ard lol what's your next idea? Putting your money under your mattress? Lmfao your fault not your parents

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Bimimans t1_iuj5lls wrote

>Putting your money under your mattress?

That would have been way better.

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