No one likes to think about emergencies such as fires, floods, and so on but they do happen. According to the Federal Citizen Information Center, every family should have an emergency financial records kit that is kept with their emergency supply kit. These kits should be kept in a place where they can be grabbed quickly in the event you have to leave your home in a hurry. A word of caution though, these kits contain information that can be used by thieves so be sure to keep it in a secure location.
Some suggestions for your emergency financial kit are:
- Copies of each family member’s driver’s license, social security card, birth certificate and insurance card
- A photo identification card for each family member and/or each member’s passport
- A checkbook and a supply of cash and change
- Contact information for your bank, broker, insurance agent and employer
- Copies of the front and back of credit cards and debit cards
- Insurance policies
- Retirement and pension papers
- Marriage certificate, citizenship papers, divorce or separation papers, real estate deeds
- Living wills and advance directives
- Certificates of deposit, stock certificates and IRAs
- Web page addresses along with usernames and passwords for financial sites you use
- Photo inventory of your household goods including antiques, jewelry and other valuables
- Contact information for your utility company, telephone company, cable company and cell phone provider
- Keys to your house, cars, garage, safe deposit box, storage facility and so on
Only you can make the decision of what financial papers are important for you to be able to access if something unexpected happens to you or your family. Take some time to decide what might be crucial for you to be able to survive if you should need to flee your home at a moments notice. Also consider what papers would be difficult to replace in the event your home was destroyed.
Originals of some of your important papers can be kept in a safe deposit box but it might not be a good idea to do this with documents you might need immediately. In the event of an emergency, you might not have immediate access to your safe deposit box.
Once again, be sure to keep your emergency financial kit in a secure location where you can grab it quickly but it would be difficult for thieves to find or access in the event of a robbery.