A Record of Accounts is a written (hand-written or typed) document showing where all of your money is located along with the essential information pertaining to collecting/viewing that money. This is an important document that everyone should have, married or not.
If something were to happen to you, would your husband know where your retirement accounts are or how about your emergency savings? What if you are single and something happened to you, would a loved one know how to find all of your financial information or would that hard-earned money you saved simply disappear?
These are important life lessons that many learn way too late. Keeping a record of accounts does not require special software or safety deposit box; you just have to have the information somewhere safe. The key to keeping a record of accounts is to make sure that someone you know, love, and trust knows how to find this document.
For instance, my husband obviously knows where to find our record of accounts but so does my mom and one of my trusted best friends. Why three people? If something happened to me, my husband would be able to find the document listing where all of our finances are located and in case something happened to both him and I, my mom would know where to find the information needed. The reason why my best friend knows is that, well, my husband can be a little forgetful sometimes so she is a backup to remind him and in case anything happened to me, my husband, and my mom there is still someone that can gather the information needed for the sake of our children.
What should you include in your record of accounts?
Account Name and Number
Location of Account (including the URL if applicable)
Login Information
Any additional information that may be helpful, such as the account nickname, contact phone number, or who the beneficiaries are on the account.
Make sure to include any life insurance policy information along with your Record of Accounts. Once again, in the event of your death, you will want to have made it easy for your loved ones to find your policy information.
Keeping well-organized financial documents not only ensures that your family can find the information when needed, but that you can easily find the information. For example, when our account was hacked and I could not for the life of me remember the account number, I was able to find the number on our Record of Accounts list to provide to the bank. Trust me when I tell you that you want to have this information readily available in the event that identity theft occurs.
Do you keep a record of your accounts?
Check back tomorrow for another post in our 31 Days of Real Life on a Budget series!
Linked Up To: The Thrifty Couple, Thrifty Thursday, Frugal Friday
I made one of these for my sibling should we die on our honeymoon in Mexico. I wasn’t paranoid at all… :p But I’m glad it’s there now. Like you said, you never know when something could happen.
Hahahahaa! Being paranoid was the reason I started mine! 🙂
I definitely agree, we have a centralized location for all of our financial information. Stopping by from Thrifty Thursday.
No, I don’t, but it’s on our list of things to get in order this year! Thanks for the reminder.
Oooh, this is a good idea. I made one a long time ago for this purpose, but I don’t think my husband even knows it exists or where to find it. He’d probably just be watching the mailbox for bills to come… and they wouldn’t. Plus, I never even thought about if something happened to BOTH of us, God forbid. Need to get on this!