Get Your Financial Life in Order (Day 3)
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This week I have been covering an article in Fidelity’s Investors Weekly newsletter regarding how to get your financial life in order between now and 2007. I covered August and September earlier in the week. Today, I will be covering the to-do for October.
October
Plan for the Unplanned
I had actually planned to do an entry on planning based upon an entry at RothCPA referring to his “If I Get Hit by a Bus” file. What that file contained was any estate documents (Wills, Trusts, etc…), a current list of all of your assets, contact numbers of those that should be contacted in case of death, burial instructions, and a list of usernames and passwords for things like bank accounts and other investments.
Fidelity says to include both a Power of Attorney and a Health Care Proxy along with the documents above. I have no idea what a Health Care Proxy is, but I will definitely be finding out.
My wife and I will actually begin collating these documents into a file this weekend. It’s a fantastic idea to keep it all in one place so that if you do get hit by a bus, the person that will adjudicate your estate will have a much easier time doing it. This will keep them from having to negotiate with various banks and investment companies to get access to your information. It will also leave no doubt what you want to happen (I want to be cremated or buried in a decomposable box with no embalming) and where to find all of your assets, unless you are this guy.
Check Your Debt
Being a personal financial site, I’ve discussed debt many times. If you don’t have a plan to pay off all of your debt, this would be a good time to do so, especially if you have high interest debt such as credit cards.
So, there are your to-dos for October. I’ll cover November and December later in the week.