February 22, 2022 / in How To, Information Technology / by Jason Terry
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When you go on a trip, do you ever think about what you would be leaving behind if something happened to you? I know it might be morbid… but I think about it. I know my family would be mourning and the last thing I want them to have to think about is how to clean up my financial affairs. We’ve all thought about keeping a binder in a safe deposit box with a Living Will, a Family Trust, and lists of accounts and financial details. But have you actually done that? And if so, great! But it’s a fairly static situation… why not share this information with your family in a format that is easy to update and accessible securely online?
If the task of taking inventory of every account you have, as well as documenting username and passwords, is daunting… take the first step with a straight forward inventory. What I mean by this is you would really be helping your family out by creating a shared Google Doc with a list of every financial account you own. You don’t have to worry about all the nitty gritty details, just get the list down. Where are your checking accounts? Savings accounts? Online savings accounts? Investment accounts? iBonds through TreasuryDirect.gov? Real estate? Just get the entire list pulled together so nothing gets missed.
If something does happen to you, that shared list would be a great starting point for your family to unwind your financial affairs.
In my video this week, I show you exactly how to do this using Google Docs. I went through this process recently before going on a trip with Trista… and it felt so good to be able to provide my family with the information. It only took me about 30 minutes to create the document and enter the details. I included the name of the company or financial institution, the type of account (checking, savings, retirement, taxable investment, iBonds etc.) And then I shared the Google Doc with “view only” privileges with my family members.
Let me know what you think! Was this helpful? Did you already have this covered? If not, are you going to make it a priority to get this list knocked out for your family members? Good luck!
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