TODAY is money AND passwords. WHY, you might wonder, do they go together? Because, let;'s face it, you can't get to one without the other.

Let's start with money. Where are your accounts? How many do you have? Do you have a financial planner? Do you have separate brokerage or IRA accounts? Does the family know about them? Are they joint accounts? Is someone a signer? Who are the beneficiaries?

Beneficiary designation supersedes your will. This little tidbit is stupidly important. You may want your monies to be split evenly amongst your heirs. However, if someone is the beneficiary, they get it all. Too bad, so sad for the others. This is something you want to check into on ALL your accounts. Make this priority one on your to-do list.

Are your accounts joint accounts? Great. Whomever is on the account with you will still have access to the money. Now it is a single account - either join someone in on it, or check the beneficiary status. (In my case my accounts are joint with Marco. But not all of them.)

Is someone a signer on your accounts. This is all well and good, yet, the rub here is when you die, they lose the ability to sign into the accounts as the Social Security office will notify the bank and shut everything down. (This is like magic and happens very quickly.) If you have a relationship with the bankers there, you can usually work things out until the will goes into probate - and depending on where you live this can take a bit of time.

Debit card PIN - someone needs that.
Online banking info - someone needs that.

Your financial planner will have whatever you have invested with them at their fingertips. If you have joint accounts, make sure you at least know the person who is handling your accounts and how to get in touch with them.

Whoever is next in line to your financials will need ALL of this information. Don't make people guess. Or check your states unclaimed money directory.

From my friend, Carol, in the comments on my last post on FB:
"Make sure the beneficiaries for all of the investments or accounts not in your trust are easily identifiable...preferably written down or printed out with your most recent year end statement. ESPECIALLY if it is an online bank or Treasury account that may not have a live person to call about that information."

In the case of my mom, I had access to everything ahead of time and once we got the Death Certificate*, it was very easy to get into the accounts and get the beneficiaries their money.

*DEATH CERTIFICATE FYI:
I would suggest at least six "official" death certificates with the seal. A lot of online places will take a PDF. You can get them with and without the cause of death. No one except you needs to know the cause of death.

Automatic payments, the greatest thing in the world. Until someone dies. Make up a list of what you have automatically taken from you bank accounts AND your credit cards. In this house it's a LONG list. Check on subscriptions on Amazon. (Kindle, auto shipments of stuff, BritBox, etc.) STOP them all. All the TV apps. The music apps. News apps. The newspaper and the corresponding newspaper app. They don't care that someone is dead. They're going to keep taking the money. Scan in a death certificate and have it ready to email to whomever you need to.

Credit cards. How many do you have? How many do you frequently use? These are probably two very different numbers. Your estate is responsible for paying off the debts of your cards providing there is money to do so. Not everyone will have this. I suggest having a "family card" so that your caregivers can get you what you need without dipping into their own money. (Unless they're millionaires, in which case, they can pay.) If you have store cards, see if they are automatically withdrawn. These make it easier on the executor to know what to stop ASAP.

PASSWORDS are the bane of all of our existence and two-step authentication makes it even more cumbersome. My mom had a  book I am one hundred percent certain she bought on Amazon that had all the passwords for everything in it handwritten. (I just searched Amazon - there are too many to count.) My aunt had an alphabetical typed out document. Ninety percent of mine are saved on my laptop or in my phone - which then requires face recognition. Technology is great until it is a hindrance. Figure out what will work best for you and your family and make sure everyone is on board.

This is also a most excellent time to unsubscribe to the eight million things we all click yes to to save 25% on our first purchase. And, all the stuff we get because we donated to a fundraiser. There is an amazing service called Unroll.Me that I have used for 13 years that makes condensing all these types of email AND unsubscribing VERY, very easy. Yes, you need to give it your email address and password, but you get one daily digest (you choose the time) with ALL of the emails and it creates a folder in your email account so when you're looking for a particular brands coupon it is right there at your fingertips.

Some thoughts: There is a tremendous book: I'm Dead, Now What? (There are many iterations of this type of book out there.) My friend Carolyn suggested it to me when I was with my mom. I have it and still haven't filled it out. I have not done a majority of what I am suggesting here, let's not be too terribly surprised at this. My aunt took the book and made it into a document with everything gorgeously separated. She was an attorney who enjoyed lots of order. It definitely made life easier.

My goal is to slowly get to this stuff and I will do like Nancy and create a document and mail it to my cherubs so they're in the know. Also, and I think this is of paramount importance, if you have everything on your computer, make sure the file is easily found. It doesn't do anyone any good if they can't get to this very important stuff.

We all have different lived experiences, so feel free to add your thoughts to this or any other piece I write.
xoxo

 Hello and Happy 2025!

As many of you know, I had the good fortune to be with my mom and help organize her house before she died. I was recently able to do the same thing for my Aunt Nancy, my mom's sister.

I've learned a few things. SO.MANY.THINGS. And since many of you are around my age, we have GOT to get our acts together so whomever is responsible for our "cherished possessions" after we die doesn't say, think, or write disparaging things about us to their siblings and cousins.

First off, they are ONLY cherished to us. Our kids do not give half a shit. If they are like mine, they have already started saying what they want. Lucky for my daughter and my son's girlfriend, I have no problem handing over the jewelry now. Let me witness their delight at wearing stuff I haven't  worn in years. We will get to the actual treasures in a future blog post.

TODAY is paperwork. Sweet baby Jesus. The beauty of the Internet is so much is online. We honestly don't need all the paperwork that may or may not come into our homes. (I am on mostly paperless.)

With that said, your taxes - you need seven years worth. TOSS THE REST. Do you want a reminder of how far you've come? Make a spreadsheet and congratulate yourself. Yes, you made $642 in 1978. You may be retired now. It doesn't matter. Put it in a bag to get to a shredder (our library does this twice a year) and plan on getting rid of it. PS - I believe social security shows all you've made since the beginning of time as well. That would require me going to actually look that up, so presume I am correct about this.

But wait, you've owned a business and now it's closed. It's the same principal. Seven years and then you can toss. My stuff is out of sight so it doesn't bother me.

Paperwork that you leave in the envelope. You're killing me. Stop opening your mail, looking at it, and then putting it back in the envelope. EOB's (Explanation of Benefits) were the most common paperwork I found like this. All of the same info is on the health portal. For the love of all that is holy, get rid of it.

Cancelled checks from the year Einstein was a baby. SHRED. SHRED. SHRED.
::: picture me banging my head against a wall ::: The same goes for the related statements and registers. During my time doing this, I did ask my family who still balances their checkbook, something I haven't done since the invention of online banking, and two out of seven still do. I remain curious about this but live and let live and all that.

All of your IRA, money market, index funds info since you opened the accounts. Your financial planner will have that. Breathe a sigh of relief and get rid of everything except perhaps the last year.

Articles that interested you that you printed, saved from the paper, cut out from a magazine OR, and this is hilarious, printed out from the Internet? Reread it and junk.

RECIPES! Between my mother and my aunt there were no less than a bajillion recipes. Often the same one printed more than once. Quite literally six of the same recipe so they could tweak it and make it their own. Inevitably, they have called their people to tell them the success of the recipe so now, you already have your own copy. I can't. Toss them all.

Cards, letters and sentimental items. Truly, most of this is only sentimental to you. Look at it all again and if something sparks a chord, reach out to the person who sent it to you and connect. The phone still works and who doesn't delight in a real live conversation? Okay, I do have friends who hate the phone, but too bad. I still call once in a while. First I text to make sure it's a good time; they usually say yes. LOL The other option is taking a picture. This then adds another one million pictures to your camera. After a while you'll probably delete the picture, but for now, it's in a safe spot.

So, what should you keep?
Your will. If it's not filled with all kinds of provisions, share it with the executor - even if it's in a sealed envelope to open upon your death. This is especially helpful if you die on the weekend. Wait? What? You don't have a will? GO GET ONE. Figure it will cost about $3,000 or so. It is worth it to make sure your wishes are honored.  Along with the will, a Power of Attorney, Advanced Medical Directives, a DNR (which I believe may need to be signed by a doctor - please correct me if I'm wrong), anything in trust and, if you have family heirlooms a letter dictating who gets what if you haven't already given it all away and/or if your people haven't called dibs on things. (More on this in a future blog.)
If you have life insurance policies - have them in the same folder as your will.
Birth Certificates. Marriage Certificates. Divorce Decrees. Social Security Cards. Passports. The title to cars you own or the info about it.
Have you decided your end of life wishes? Do you want to be buried? Do you want to be cremated? Do you want a wake? Do you want a service? Do you want a celebration of life? Your wishes absolutely need to be written down and communicated with your people before all of this happens. If you have the ability to prepay for everything, do so. Your money may be tied up for a little while. (Again, we'll get to this later.)
PASSWORDS. This is a biggie and another I will address in the future.

I don't want to lose you so I going to stop for now. Stay tuned for future posts where I highlight what I've learned.

xoxo