You spent decades building your life and filling your home. But that can all be torn apart in just 10 minutes...
Your electronics are missing. Your wife's jewelry is gone.
You've just been the victim of a burglary.
Nearly 848,000 home burglaries were reported to the FBI in 2022... which amounted to billions of dollars in stolen property.
The good news, though, is that national burglary rates have been dropping for years, thanks to the massive boom in affordable, "do it yourself" home-security systems.
The bad news?
When a break-in does happen, police only solve about 13% of the cases. And for worse news... The FBI reports that in 2022, total stolen property amounted to roughly $463.6 billion in value – with just $39 billion of that value recovered (a measly 8.4%).
In other words, your best defense isn't a 911 call afterward. Rather, it's making sure that the thief never makes it inside your home in the first place.
It only takes a few minutes for a burglar to steal your valuables, so take a few minutes today to learn how to keep your stuff safe...
Advice From 86 Burglars
In 2016, investigative reporters for television news station KGW in Portland, Oregon asked 86 convicted burglars about how they chose homes to target. Their investigation shows there are some simple ways to protect your home...
1) Keep your doors and windows locked. This might be common sense, but most homes broken into had an unlocked entrance that burglars used. This included windows on second or third floors.
Along with this, lock up any items that someone can use to get to a second floor. Don't keep ladders in your backyard or in an unlocked garage.
2) Don't advertise. Keep valuables out of sight. If you have an expensive computer or television, keep it away from windows, particularly windows that face the street.
Similarly, one of the burglars surveyed in the report said to avoid certain advertisements. The example used was putting a National Rifle Association ("NRA") sticker on your car or in your window – it alerts the burglar that you have guns to steal.
3) Be visible. Keep the front of your house visible to the street, if possible. Burglars prefer homes with large trees, bushes, or other growth near the door to shield them from the street. Similarly, repair or upgrade any weak doors or old windows that might be easier to break.
4) Lean on your neighbors. Ask one of your trustworthy neighbors to keep an eye on your house and report suspicious activity. If you're gone at the same time every day, burglars could case your home and know exactly how much time they have to rob you. Prime time for this, according to the survey, was between 12:30 and 2:30 in the afternoon. Most folks are at work and kids are still at school, so few people are home.
5) Be observant of surveyors. Don't open your door to anyone you don't know. Several of the burglars explained that they would knock first to see if anyone was home. If someone was, they would pretend to be lost or looking for a lost dog. Worse, some posed as people with surveys or petitions to sign and would then take a look inside the house. Contact the company that the surveyor may claim to represent. If the company didn't send anyone to survey the neighborhood, call the police and report it.
6) Use a deterrent. The best deterrents included leaving the television or radio on. Leaving the lights on depends on the home and neighborhood, as some burglars saw lights on with the shades all drawn in a wealthy neighborhood as a clear sign no one was home.
And almost every burglar said a loud, large dog was enough to make them back off. Small dogs did not have that effect.
Home alarms also helped, particularly if they couldn't be easily disarmed. My researcher has an alarm that sends her alerts by phone when the power goes out, either because of a storm or from anyone tampering with it.
Also, if you have an alarm, let your insurance company know about it. They might even offer you a discount on your home insurance.
7) Watch what you share online. In today's digital age, burglars don't just case neighborhoods on foot. They might look for clues on social media. Try to avoid sharing your daily routines. The same goes for vacations – consider posting those beach photos after you get home. Better yet, tweak your privacy settings so that only close friends can view your posts if you absolutely must share.
8) Secure your car's key fob. You might toss your keys on a table right near the front door when you get home. But if you do that, you could be handing someone a free ride. Tech-savvy thieves can use devices from outside your home to amplify the signal given off by your key fob and unlock your car parked outside. So keep your key fob in a signal-blocking pouch or box by the door or leave it far away from exterior walls.
The One Thing You Need to Do if Someone Breaks In
Now let's say someone does break in, and worse yet, you are home when it occurs. Well, there's one thing you can do to scare the intruder away. And that tip comes straight from a former burglar himself...
John MacLean is a former burglar. He stole more than $133 million in jewels in his career as a thief. After his arrest and conviction, he decided to reform. In prison, he interviewed some 300 other burglars about their preferred tricks and tactics. He compiled what he learned in his book, Secrets of a Superthief.
It turns out 100% of the burglars admitted that one technique would scare them away from a property in an instant... They were all afraid of a blast from an extremely loud air horn. Search online or go to your local marine supply store. You can buy an air horn for around $20. Buy the $20 model... $10 horns are not loud enough. Falcon Safety Products makes ideal marine horns.
Simple, safe techniques like this are the preferred approach to stopping a threat. The threat disappears, and no one gets hurt.
Got any home security tips you'd like to share? Send 'em over to feedback@healthandwealthbulletin.com.
P.S. Reading about home break-ins is enough to make anyone break into a cold sweat. But there's a good reason for sweating that I recently talked about in Retirement Millionaire. And it all has to do with intentionally stressing out your body with a bit of heat. Basking in a hot bath or sauna doesn't just feel good... It's also a tool that can repair damaged DNA and even rebuild the internal "power plants" within your cells. Get a trial subscription here.
What We're Reading...
- Something different: Moss helped nab notorious graverobbers.
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
March 5, 2026