Could your family find your important papers if you were gone?

A recent Parade magazine in the Sunday newspapers had a wonderful article about getting your finances organized in the event of an emergency. Click here to read the article on Parade’s website.

We often help people organize their papers, and this issue is one I would love to address more directly with our clients. I have seen it happen– someone has passed away and important documents, even cash, are either hidden away or just unknown. We once found over $5000 in cash and undeposited checks in the home of a client’s parents who had passed away, and these items were in very unpredictable places.

This article recommends creating a one-page cheat sheet showing the whereabouts of all your financial information, such as bank accounts, investment accounts, life insurance policies, birth certificates, marriage licenses, wills, and beneficiary designation forms.

You need to make copies of this document and give it to a close, trusted friend or family member nearby, along with sending it to a trusted person outside your geographic area who is not subject to the same natural disasters you would be.