Year End Review

**forHISglory** · 12-21-2010, 11:11 AM

My inlaws did something that I found admirable, and we began doing it also, as a married couple. It's a year-end review.

Basically the review is a listing of debts and assets, along with ID info. For example, my inlaws had CDs at various banks. They listed the account numbers, plus the name, address, and phone numbers of each bank. They listed where their safe deposit box was, and where the key was kept. They listed where their will was kept, and the name of their lawyer.

They added info such as where their pre-paid funeral was to be, and where to find the documents about that. They listed the names, addresses, and phone numbers of their insurance accounts, annuities, pension fund, etc. They gave the names of their doctors, hospitals, and listed all their prescriptions.

Also, they made a list of monthly bills, which were mainly utilities. And finally they made a list of family and friends, along with addresses and phone numbers.

Each year, they updated the list and then made copies to give to my husband his sibs. And when they died, that list became invaluable. We knew exactly where everything was. We knew who to contact about stopping utilities, what funeral home to go to, what insurance companies to contact, etc. We knew what banks to go to for settling the estate. We knew who to tell about their deaths and funeral arrangements.

We were so impressed when we first received this from them. So I do this each year now, giving a copy to my son and to my sibs. So next month, it is time to again update this most valuable document. Happy New Year, everyone!

**August29th** · 12-21-2010, 03:04 PM

This is something I've been meaning to do for ages. I copied your post and printed it out and am determined to whip something up today!
I think it would be incredibly cruel of me to die and leave my only child to have to struggle to deal with, on top of everything else, my lack of organizations skills.
Thanks.

**forHISglory** · 12-21-2010, 03:19 PM

Yes, it a kindness that we can do for those left behind. But it also allows me to see where we are in regard to our material holdings, and take whatever steps we need to strengthen our positions. It allows me to see what we need to do with so many areas of life. There's something about seeing it in black and white.

**Tess B** · 12-21-2010, 03:37 PM

this really is a fabulous idea....kind of like changing the batteries in the smoke detector at daylight savings time, using the end of the year for the "timing" of the review and updates.

it struck me that if something were to happen to ME today, my husband would be hopelessly lost as to what's what and what's where, etc. so i started compiling the master list, showed it to him and then put it in the file with the life insurance policies. to me that was the tricky part, you want this list to be handy, but you don't want to draw arrows and signs that say, Bad Guys this Way to all my important information and the bright neon yellow file folder with Take My Identity Please on it. but you don't want it so cleverly hidden that under duress it cannot be located.

my mom passed away when i was 33 and she left me nary a clue one about her life. just finding a copy of her will was nothing but sheer luck. i had to nearly ransack the house and found it in a briefcase, in the spare bedroom........could only hope that incoming mail would provide clues about bank accounts and all the rest. of course that was never her INTENT, but she also chose NOT to deal with it while she was alive.

**mom2three** · 12-21-2010, 05:14 PM

This is exactly the idea I'm looking for. Thank you.

**Sassyclass** · 12-22-2010, 11:23 AM

Wow, how thoughtful of them. Amazing how something so "not important right now", becomes very important when left for someone else. I need to discuss this with DH. Thank you.

Cat

**handerson2005** · 12-22-2010, 11:56 AM

Thanks for posting this. We're "followers" of Dave Ramsey and know we need to start the legacy drawer, and your post just reminded me that we really need to get on it. We just purchased our term life insurance, so it'll be a perfect time to start it!

**rskmom** · 12-22-2010, 12:45 PM

Having lost my father and mil in the past year, I can't stress how important this kind of information is! My father's stuff we pretty much knew ahead of time and was fairly simple.

My mil's filing system, oy vey. She died in July and we still can't find stuff. Very frustrating, and makes an already difficult time even more so.

**khaski** · 12-26-2010, 02:39 PM

Having just put to rest my MIL this past summer, I can tell you having everything organized for 'when the time comes' is an invaluable gift to the loved ones, letting them concentrate more on grieving their loss than trying to juggle finding and identifying assets in the midst of a terrible loss. My MIL sadly left many open ended things we had to hunt down and figure out in the midst of it all, what a terribly hard time it became for the whole family, more than needed to be. To plan ahead so well and communicate like that is A true gift of love!

**Debbie-cat** · 12-26-2010, 03:08 PM

Great idea! Thank you. I am going to get started on this right away.

**mcphlips** · 12-27-2010, 08:34 AM

Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea. I am going to bring it up to my parents and DH. This would be so helpful!

**August29th** · 12-27-2010, 07:16 PM

I did it.

I printed off your first post and gathered up tons of info and a notebook & sat at the kitchen table scrawling out notes & details until it was all written up.

Then I recopied it a bit more legibly and gave a copy to son. (he reacted as if I were bringing up bad news and terrible thoughts. I told him he didn't even have to look at it, just put it someplace safe)

I put my full name, birth date & birth place as well as ssn at the top.
I put all the details I could think of for each account, as well as a note about where the bills and policies are kept.
I put clues to my email passwords. I couldn't bring myself to write them out (what if a burgler found the list) But wanted to give him a clue that might help him remember.

Has anyone else figured out a good way to write down passwords?

The big plus here for me was that I really liked seeing everything written out clearly & saw some follow-up I need to do on an insurance pollicy and enjoyed seeing all the annuities lined up and added up.

Thanks so much to the original poster (and your family who did it for you)

**ruderring** · 12-27-2010, 08:16 PM

What a great idea. Thanks for posting.

**forHISglory** · 12-27-2010, 08:24 PM

About the passwords and SSN: I agree that it is not a good idea to have those floating around. Our SSNs are in our safe deposit box at the bank. I have not thought about the passwords.......... Will have to mull that one over.

Might be possible to write these down and seal in an envelope that is left with a friend. Just don't have name, address, phone number, etc. on that paper.

Any other ideas on this?

**Brat** · 12-28-2010, 08:14 AM

Haveing everyting planned out and in a safe place sure makes a difference..My late DH had taken care of all of that and it made the passing and everything so much easyer..He also make out all of mine and they are still in the safe place to that the kids will have no problem getting it all taken care of..Right now the kids have been told where everything is and it is all in black and white...