Emergency Financial List: What Your Family May Need This Summer

For many, summer is when families come together. We check the more obvious things: flights, medications, hotel reservations, and maybe passports if it’s an international trip.

But families often overlook another kind of preparedness. If something unplanned happens while traveling, like a hospitalization, would your loved ones know where to find your financial and legal information?

If you have done estate planning, such as creating a will, trust, power of attorney, or health care directive, great. But just because you created those documents does not necessarily mean your family has a clear instruction list.

Estate Documents Are Only Part of Your Emergency Financial List

You might have a will or power of attorney (and those are important), but neither of these documents, by itself, will tell your family what they need to know when an emergency happens.

• Would they know who you bank with?
• Would they know where you keep your documents?
• Would they know which bills you pay monthly versus annually, and which are on autopay and from what account?
• Would they know what the names of your attorney, accountant, financial advisor, or insurance company are?

Will your family ultimately “figure it out”? Probably. But oftentimes, they cannot, at least not as quickly as they would like.

For some, when they think of estate planning, they think of death or illness. That is understandable. But I propose, instead, that you view estate planning as a way to reduce confusion for the people in your life who will try to help you while you are living.

The Emergency Financial List Nobody Wants to Make

I get it: who wakes up excited to make an emergency financial list? It will probably be tedious and, for some, emotionally uncomfortable. However, the list does not need to be perfect. Your goal is to create a practical roadmap for the trusted people in your life.

The document might include the following:

• Financial Accounts: Bank, investment, and retirement account names.
• Insurance Policies: Life, health, long-term care, home, or auto insurance providers.
• Monthly Bills: Mortgages, rent, utilities, credit cards, and loans (please note if you use autopay).
• Key Contacts: Phone numbers for your estate attorney, financial advisor, and tax preparer.
• Medical Information: Medicare or supplemental insurance details, a prescription list, and current doctors and specialists.
• Home Logistics: Safe deposit box location, house keys, and alarm codes.
• Emergency Notifications: The names and phone numbers of those your trusted person should notify.

Importantly, you do not need to share this list with everyone in the family. The goal is for the trusted person, or people, to know how to find certain information if you are unable to communicate.

And, if you hold on to account statements for accounts that are closed, please make a note that the account is closed. It will be one less phone call for the trusted person to make.

Why “My Kids Will Figure It Out” Is Not a Plan

You may see or talk to your loved ones often. But that does not mean they necessarily know where you keep your paperwork, if you have changed banks recently, or what bills are on autopay.

This is probably even more important if you live alone, are widowed, divorced, or live in a blended family. One person, an adult child, might assume a different person, a step-parent, knows where everything is, but that step-parent might assume the attorney has it all covered. Meanwhile, the attorney is completely unaware that an emergency has even occurred.

This is one reason to be careful before using a joint account as a shortcut. Adding a person to your account can be easy to do and can provide convenience. But in reality, there is a change in legal ownership. There is no distinguishing between helping, managing, and inheriting.

That’s why a little time spent today to organize can help your loved ones.

When Unfinished Paperwork Becomes Someone Else’s Problem

Unfinished paperwork doesn’t just disappear. And it can end up in someone else’s lap at the worst possible time.

A friend of mine lost her father unexpectedly. She soon discovered that when his own parents had passed away years earlier, no one had fully completed the title changes and estate administration. Now it was up to my friend not only to deal with her father’s estate but also to manage two generations of paperwork while grieving.

One way to mitigate this is to ask: When was the last time I reviewed titles and beneficiary designations, including any Transfer on Death deeds? Did someone fully deal with older family members’ estates? Do the people you name as your executor or agent under your power of attorney know where to find your financial list and documents?

Be Careful with Passwords and Sensitive Financial Information

An emergency list can be a double-edged sword: useful but also a new security concern. You should never email important information like passwords, account numbers, and Social Security numbers. Also, do not leave the financial list out in plain sight.

Some alternatives to consider include:

• Digital Options: Using a secure password manager and making sure a trusted person knows how to use its emergency access feature (if one is available).
• Physical Options: If you are writing the financial list, keep it in a home safe or lock box and let your trusted person know where the key is.
• Professional Options: Talk with the appropriate attorney, financial advisor, or professional to help figure out what information to share, in what format, and with whom.

You are trying to balance sharing too much with not sharing anything at all.

Summer Travel Can Be a Good Time to Start the Conversation

If your adult children or trusted friends are visiting, it could be an opportunity to let them know where you keep your important information.

There is no need to go into details about your finances, but you can simply let them know where you keep your financial list and how it will provide a roadmap for them. You are still in control, but you have also helped minimize the guessing for your loved ones during a stressful time.

A Few Questions to Think About

Would your trusted person know where to find your legal documents and financial accounts? Who has legal authority to step in and manage your bills if you become incapacitated? Do you have any outstanding title, estate, or beneficiary paperwork to finish? If you have had to help sort through paperwork for a parent, spouse, or friend, what do you wish they would have written down ahead of time?