Teaching your in-law that keeping lots of cash is a bad idea......

SpeedFreak · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:02

...... is very easy when there's a break in and about 5k is stolen :rolleyes:

Old people are so stubborn when it comes to habits it is unreal! No insurance coverage fro the cash and a perfectly good safe where it could have been kept

Valentino · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:03

I'm so rich I have £5k laying about too.

Whappers · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:03

Thats unfortunate. They'll not do that again, hopefully anyway!

Greenlizard0 · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:04

Probably another reason why sadly old people are often targeted. Thieves must have thought they'd hit the jackpot.

Windle · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:05

Crazy how many people leave cash lying about/keep it in their property. I got broken into a few months ago, luckily very little was taken that wasn't replaceable under insurance. Only really 1 bit of my girlfriends jewellery which was a gift and can't be replaced, everything else was electricals and a bike.

SpeedFreak · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:07

old Chinese people, she isn't rich but is used to having cash about.

Rainmaker · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:30

An old work colleague has over 20k cash stashed in places such as the washing machine(!), boiler cupboard and under his mattress. He 'doesn't trust banks'...

G-MAN2004 · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:35

Reminds me of an old guy on the news recently who had £30k in savings. He didn't trust banks so he used to take it everywhere with him, including work, and one day he put it in the roof of his car for a minute whilst he opened it, and drove to work by mistake.

Destination · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:38

SpeedFreak said:
old Chinese people, she isn't rich but is used to having cash about.

Yup, old chinese, if it isn't a note, it can't be legal...
I know some myself.

The Halk · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:40

There is estimated to be billions in people's homes in the UK.

The government guarantee the first 85K in a savings account per person per institution.

There's no rational reason to keep large sums in the house - but there's no rational reason to be scared of flying, it's just a failure of the brain to assess risk properly, and all that people can do is choose to act against instinct.

dowie · 19 Jan 2011 at 21:41

Rainmaker said:
An old work colleague has over 20k cash stashed in places such as the washing machine(!), boiler cupboard and under his mattress. He 'doesn't trust banks'...

He doesn't need to trust banks - the govt guarantees up to £85k.

However if he doesn't trust the govt guarantee then there isn't much point in hoarding bank notes in the first place.... they're just bits of paper...

edit - seems its 85k not 50k and I'm out of date

Fr0dders · 19 Jan 2011 at 22:26

Valentino said:
I'm so rich I have £5k laying about too.

its not about being rich. People of that generation just don't trust banks.

i've got grandparents who are the same. Money in the kitchen cupboards, money under the mattress, money in the bedside tables etc.. basically anywhere other than the bank.

And they cant afford it - its all they've got !!!

Aod · 19 Jan 2011 at 23:00

Valentino said:
I'm so rich I have £5k laying about too.

you're just a complete prat aren't you?

Killerkebab · 19 Jan 2011 at 23:09

Valentino said:
I'm so rich I have £5k laying about too.

In the context of life savings, £5 isn't all that much imo

Spamalot · 20 Jan 2011 at 00:23

When you going to give it back?

Rainmaker · 20 Jan 2011 at 00:42

dowie said:
He doesn't need to trust banks - the govt guarantees up to £85k.

However if he doesn't trust the govt guarantee then there isn't much point in hoarding bank notes in the first place.... they're just bits of paper...

edit - seems its 85k not 50k and I'm out of date

Hence my quoting 'doesn't trust banks'... You and I know that it's probably the safest place outside of a personal fortress, but as MrLOL alludes some people of that generation just can't come to terms with trusting a bank or building society. Even if it's at the risk of having their entire life savings stolen in a burglary or whatever. I didn't say it was rational, just that it 'is'.

Al Vallario · 20 Jan 2011 at 01:31

The Halk said:
There's no rational reason to keep large sums in the house - but there's no rational reason to be scared of flying, it's just a failure of the brain to assess risk properly, and all that people can do is choose to act against instinct.

Not at all. Individuals have different attitudes to risk and uncertainty; a preference for risk aversion is not irrational.

There are good reasons for preferring not to assume the risks of air travel, just as there are good reasons for deciding against depositing assets in financial institutions. To describe either as "a failure of the brain to assess risk properly" is absurd.

hood1971 · 20 Jan 2011 at 10:46

My step-grangmother kept cash rather than put the money in the bank for the simple reason that she would have to pay for care out of savings when she got older. She always complained that if you do not have savings you get subsidised care, but if you work hard, pay NI and save you get nothing.

Greenlizard0 · 20 Jan 2011 at 10:48

The 85K thing, what does that mean exactly?

Say during the last decade I had 70K in Northern Rock, would I still have that money now?

meghatronic · 20 Jan 2011 at 11:00

hood1971 said:
My step-grangmother kept cash rather than put the money in the bank for the simple reason that she would have to pay for care out of savings when she got older. She always complained that if you do not have savings you get subsidised care, but if you work hard, pay NI and save you get nothing.

Nice to defraud the system huh?