Have you ever considered sitting down and documenting all of your Personal, Financial, and Medical information to have available for your family in case of an emergency or worse? It's a daunting task to consider or even begin.
• My family already knows this, right?
• What’s the purpose?
• How is it beneficial?
• What are my options?
You may be surprised by the answer. Consider your own family and loved ones. Do you know this information for your spouse, parents or children? Where do they bank? What are their debts? Do you know all their friends and acquaintances that need or should be notified should they pass away? Do you know how to notify their employer? What about insurance – life, auto, home? Who is the agent? Is it the same company for each? Where do they keep their assets and in whose name are they, if titled? Is there lien on any and if so, with whom? Is the bill auto-pay or monthly stub? If you don't know their information or even where to begin then there is a good change they don't know yours.
At some point you may become incapacitated or have passed away. Your family, an agent, an attorney, or a friend will need to settle your affairs. They will need to know your assets and liabilities. The account numbers. The contact information and even website accounts that need to be closed. If there is no guidance or direction then they will spend countless hours digging through your papers and files and mail to compile. Wouldn’t it be better for you to provide them this information?
Here's why I put this together. I'm sure you can relate. Either directly or indirectly the number of situations where friends or family have passed on leaving their loved ones to figure this all out lead me to the determination that I don’t want to leave my family with the same burden. In most instances the amount of time it took to go through the person’s papers and belongings to collect all this information and settle their affairs ranged from 12 to nearly 24 months. New things would pop up. Acquaintances would call who had not yet been notified. The time and effort on the family was stressful, hampering the grieving process. There has to be an easy and convenient way to put this all together in one location to lessen the burden for those we leave behind.