I keep all my important stuff in my bank safe deposit box. By important stuff, I mean my life insurance policy, will, advance health care directive, and password spreadsheets stored on a USB drive.
I revised my life insurance policy recently after I received a letter about privacy from my insurance carrier. That letter prompted me to check my privacy settings on the carrier’s website. I discovered that I hadn’t updated my policy in 5 years…before my father died. So, I updated my beneficiary list, and I checked my will at the same time. I made a couple of minor changes to the will, had it signed, and notified my executors of the changes.
Some tragic news also pushed me to make these changes: Early this month I learned that my cousin’s 25-year-old stepson passed away. That reminded me that things can change quickly, so I checked and ensured all my important documents were in order.
I hope you aren’t compelled to look at your important stuff because of a family calamity. Instead, the calendar should compel you — next weekend, the first weekend of July, is the halfway point of the year. So, use that date as an opportunity for you to review your important stuff.
What’s more, if you don’t have as much important stuff as you should, consider shopping for it. You may need life insurance, business insurance, a will, or an advance health care directive. It’s possible you may need a copy of your birth certificate. And you should put together a list of your passwords and put it on a USB drive. Then your executor can get important information from your computing device(s) and website accounts. And your executor will thank you for making things easier during a stressful time.
As Peter Drucker said, “Long-range planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the future of present decisions.”