Since September is National Preparedness Month, this is a good time to think about being prepared for someone else to have to locate your important documents, accounts, and policies.Seventy years ago, when Robert Smyrl, Sr. started his real estate office, most people only had a handful of important papers with just a few providers. They usually had a copy of everything somewhere safe at home, and the provider had a copy in their filing cabinets. If something could not be found at home for whatever reason, almost everything could be figured out with several phone calls.
Today, we have dozens of important documents, and they might be anywhere between our desk, hard drive, and the cloud. Not everything has a paper record anymore. And even when there are papers, we don’t all have organized filing systems. Added to that, we work with much larger providers that have complex systems for accessing accounts.
Without some level of organization, though, someone might find themselves totally unprepared for a major life or death event. Being prepared means knowing how to access the necessary information in all of your most important records no matter what happens. This includes having some kind of list and making sure someone else can use it on your behalf. When your insurance policies, medical directives, and financial records are needed most, they need to be accessible.
Physical Document Filing Systems
Even with paperless record keeping and online accounts, most of us still have physical documents for the important things. Insurance policies, mortgage or deed paperwork, car titles, and wills are all records that really should be in print and somewhere safe, yet accessible. Everyone should also have official print versions of birth certificates, marriage certificates, and divorce decrees.
There are many situations in which physical proof needs to be provided before a process can begin. Sometimes, you will be the one who needs to produce your own documents. But there will also be times when someone else needs to present these records on your behalf. If you are traveling when your house floods, you are seriously injured and taken to the hospital, or you get stranded far from home during a natural disaster, someone may have to locate all of the relevant information to help you.
An organized filing system at home will help that person get started. Whether you use a sturdy filing cabinet or a fireproof safe, keep everything in clearly labeled folders. Write the name and direct contact information of personal agents and account managers inside each folder to make first phone calls easier. If you keep your documents at another location, like a safety deposit box, at least have a copy of all those pages in your safe at home, along with the key and information needed to access the secure records.
Electronic Document Tracking
An electronic filing system can be as simple as an Excel spreadsheet that contains a list of every account or policy that might be needed, type of account, identifying information, direct contact, payments made, and effective dates. For example:
Insurance – provider, policy number, type of coverage (medical, home, auto, life, disability, long-term care, etc.), policy dates, premium, last payment date, contact name and number
Finance – provider, account number, type of account (savings, retirement, money market, checking, stocks, etc.), balance as of a specific date, beneficiaries, contact name and number
Utilities – provider, account number, type of service (electric, gas, oil, water, internet, etc.), payment cycle and amount, type of payment (autopay, paper check, online bill pay, etc.), contact name and number
Print this sheet and keep it with your paper files, but also consider sharing it with one or two trusted contacts. At least one of those contacts should be someone who does not live in your household. It’s not necessary to provide your passwords to them. But do consider adding them as an approved contact on certain accounts. If this person is your power of attorney, they should have a copy of that document so that they can make important decisions on your behalf.
Other electronic filing systems are available through software that you can download or store in the cloud. Be vigilant about cyber security, taking steps to prevent bad actors from getting access to all of your most sensitive information. Always do your due diligence on any provider that handles sensitive information to make sure they have effective security.
Keep Your Documents Ready for When They are Most Needed
So many of our most important records, policies, and accounts are things we don’t use or think about from day to day. They exist for very specific reasons, but that means they need to be accessible when those specifics happen. As an insurance agency, we at Smyrl are all too aware of how a difficult situation can be made much worse because no one has the necessary information to step in and help.
Remember that when you are purchasing insurance policies, especially things like life insurance, disability coverage, or long-term care insurance, someone other than you will usually have to initiate a claim. Remember the purpose of these policies, which is to make things easier on the people who love you, and make them effortless to locate and implement.
If you are one of our insurance clients, and we do not have your emergency contact person on file, contact us to set up your records. At Smyrl, we are serious about educating, nurturing, and empowering our clients through insurance to verify that it can be used whenever it is needed. This means making your policies accessible to loved ones who may need to act on your behalf. If you need tips on how to identify your trusted contact and how to provide them with the tools to help you, we would be happy to discuss this while we review your existing policies or explore the types of insurance that are right for your current life circumstances. Give us a call to get started. We help clients with life, disability, long-term care, homeowners, auto, umbrella, and other types of insurance in Hatfield, Lansdale, Souderton, Harleysville, and throughout the region in Montgomery County and Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
