My parents went through the Depression in the 1930’s.
Both knew of older people who ‘stopped believing’ in the reliability of banks, any bank. Some of these folks would hide huge amounts of currency around the house, around the property they owned.
Every so often, I hear of such stories now, where a Second Hand Store reports $85K in cold cash found inside the cushion linings of an ancient sofa.
I too would consider keeping my meager inheritance in my apartment, instead of spread out into three banks as it now is, but my apartment could always get robbed. Then what?
My great grandmother was born in 1892, and she knew a lot of boom and bust in her life. One day she asked me to help her go to the bank to get cash for grocery shopping. The bank turned out to be her mattress, under which she had piles of bundled bills, probably about $100k in 100s and 50s. plus a lot of silver and gold coins. She handed me a bunch of 20s and the grocery list and told me to keep my mouth shut and I could have some of her beer...