The subject of protecting your valuables is a serious one and when you will be going on a vacation for any length of time it can get complicated. Your level of required personal security and wealth can make you a very tempting target to professional thieves.

We are not talking about the type of person that will smash a window and run off with a set of silver candle sticks we are talking about real professionals.

These are the guys that will make over $100,000 per heist and only hit a couple houses a year. They may have a circuit of 10 to 20 homes or so that they keep under surveillance. They may even go as far as to take on temp labor positions with your landscaper or pool company or both.

When the time comes for them to strike, they strike with force and they will clean out a home better than the Grinch on Christmas Eve.

The thing about a real professional thief is that they do not like violence and at the same time they do not want to get caught. The best way for them to avoid jail and violence is to rob your home while you are away on vacation.

This gives the intruders all the time in the world to go through your home and collect up all the valuables, have a few nice meals and use your entertainment system before they take it.

There have even been cases where the thieves lived in the home for up to a week before emptying it out. One of the major advantages the very professional thief has when robbing a vacant property is they have all the time they need to locate and break into your safes and go through every can and jar you have looking for valuables.

In this case your valuable are not safe in a safe of any type. These guys are professionals for a reason and there are very few if any safes made they cannot break into, given enough time; which they will have if you are on an extended overseas vacation.

There are a few solutions to this problem and they all depend on the level of security you want or need.

The first and often most obvious choice is a safety deposit box. Many banks will allow you to have a short term contract to store your valuables while you are on vacation. If you have larger valuables such as coin collections, antiques, furs or designer clothing the better known armored car companies will be a better choice. These are just about as safe as the bank and they have an added layer of security because they are always occupied.

For rare and valuable items that are large, like vehicles, it takes a bit more planning. One of the safest places to store a rare Ferrari or old Cadillac is to organize with a dealer to put it on display in their showroom while you are out of town. The vehicle will be very safe, insured and you will get paid for it also.

Something does not need to be big and rare to deserve some of your attention on how it is secured. For these items you need the ultimate level of protection and security. You need to not only make them safe, you need to also make them invisible, in other words, a secret safe.

There is only one way to truly make something disappear, and that is with a safe specifically designed to hide your valuables underground where only you know they are located.

A team of thieves could be in your home over Memorial Day weekend and having a great time. Using your BBQ, abusing your wine cellar and of course cracking your safes while all the time they don’t realize they are walking over some of the most valuable belongings you own.

An in-ground safe is out of sight and truly out of mind.