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As we age, we all acquire various possessions and documents that we do not want to part with, are important, and need to keep safe.
My grandmother recently needed to update her will - however, she was unable to find a hard copy of it. There weren't any electronic copies of it as it hadn't been updated in over a decade and she has no computer. There were no additional paper copies either. Luckily, it was found in this chair like thing my grandfather put stuff of importance in - the back of the seat tilted back toward the wearer and there was a storage compartment underneath. The will, along with a title to a long gone car that I inherited upon his death (and which was hell to get a title to) were in there, along with various tax documents and other items.
Where do you store documents, pictures, whatever, that is important, necessary, and/or valuable to you? Do you keep them in the house, a safe deposit box, or have any offsite backups? How would you recover should these things be unavailable or something happen to you? Could others find and utilize this stuff effectively?
Logical places, and those who will need to access them after our deaths are all aware of the spots. One recent suggestion from our Daughter-In-Law was to include a list of account log-ins and pass words with these documents - and to keep it updated!
Since my wife and I travel a lot together, there is a chance that due to some accident we could pass at around the same time. So with that in mind, I made what I call a love box for all our important documents. It is a fire proof box and in it is all the usual stuff, copies of our wills, deed to the house, vehicle titles, etc. In addition, I wrote a letter to my sons that I have placed in the box and update annually. In the letter is all the information that they will need to take care of stuff such as location and account numbers of checking and savings accounts, names, phone numbers and account numbers of mutual funds, name and number of our financial advisor, life insurance information; anything I could think of that they might need to close everything out. I also included user names and passwords of all the on-line stuff. I have talked to them about it and showed them where it is so in the event of our passing, they know exactly where to go and what to do.
we have 2 places. My wife keeps financial records (paid bills, tax documents etc) in a desk drawer and she has them very well organized. I keep things like birth certificate, DD214, Social Security and Medicare papers in a 'grab n go' metal box in the closet in our office.
But my outlaws (former in-laws) kept their wills in the refrigerator under the crisper drawer! lol Their thinking was that refrigerator contents were safe from fire.
Stratman has the right idea though....concerning a letter with directions.
We bought a used safe at a garage sale, huge thing about 3 feet tall. It weighs well over 200 pounds, so no worries about theft, and it's kept in a big storage closet that we have. The combo is kept elsewhere in the house. I guess I should give the combo to a next of kin or something, since they won't know where to look for the combo and the passwords.
I have a couple of drawers for papers and a box with 3x5 index cards with important passwords on each card so my sister can log onto a couple of websites. I saw a journal advertised in a catalogue that was called "I'm Dead, Now What?"
It's divided into sections that tell the reader pertinent information to tying things up for the deceased. I'm going to buy that.
Since my wife and I travel a lot together, there is a chance that due to some accident we could pass at around the same time. So with that in mind, I made what I call a love box for all our important documents. It is a fire proof box and in it is all the usual stuff, copies of our wills, deed to the house, vehicle titles, etc. In addition, I wrote a letter to my sons that I have placed in the box and update annually. In the letter is all the information that they will need to take care of stuff such as location and account numbers of checking and savings accounts, names, phone numbers and account numbers of mutual funds, name and number of our financial advisor, life insurance information; anything I could think of that they might need to close everything out. I also included user names and passwords of all the on-line stuff. I have talked to them about it and showed them where it is so in the event of our passing, they know exactly where to go and what to do.
We've done the same thing and do an annual review and update for our heirs eventual benefit, but also to track our own retirement planning and ensure everything is still on track. We use the bookcase and online files, but should probably consider a fireproof box.
We store-up our really important treasure ... in heaven (where moth and rust don't destroy and thieves don't break-in and steal).
It's great to have a place for all this stuff...of course the right people have to know where it is and it helps if it's in a convenient enough place so you update everything as often as needed. Passwords often require being changed more and more frequently...accounts close and new accounts are opened. Make the changes as manageable as possible.
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We've done the same thing and do an annual review and update for our heirs eventual benefit, but also to track our own retirement planning and ensure everything is still on track. We use the bookcase and online files, but should probably consider a fireproof box.
