LIFE INFORMATION DOCUMENT KIT

Not to be morbid, but we know we’re all going to die sometime. Some sooner than others.

After years of helping people organize their personal papers, I retired from professional organizing. I noticed that 90% of the time, one person in the family—and only one person—handled all the finances.

Imagine if your spouse died, and they paid all the bills, handled all the investments, did the tax return, and used the computer for financial tracking. And they didn’t leave you any information about any of this.

A few years ago, my tax preparer asked if I could help one of her new clients, a recent widow I’ll call Janice. Janice was trying to find the previous year’s tax return her husband had filed and information about foreign accounts she knew they had but did not know anything about them. Janice and I started going through stacks of papers in the home office…

After two hours, we found multiple copies of the previous year’s tax return—with none of the pages in order and different dollar amounts on each. However, I did find the final version in TurboTax on the computer, not password protected. This wonderful man, who died in early February, had nearly completed the current year’s tax return, with all the information about foreign accounts included.

Wouldn’t it have been nice if he had left Janice a Life Information Document?

What is a Life Information Document?

It’s a document containing all the information, in one place, for whomever needs it when you die or if you are incapacitated:

• Financial accounts and where they are held
• Assets and liabilities
• Income and expenses
• Location of legal documents, medical records, passwords, etc.
• Contact information for the key people in your life
• And much more.

• I had previously spent a lot of time documenting just a couple aspects of my ‘life information,’ mainly my estate plan and financial resources. Your document is more comprehensive and covers more aspects than I had considered. I overlooked a lot of details your template includes. It’s a valuable addition to what I have already documented and will be helpful to my family. I encouraged my sons to consider doing this as well.
  Jerry H., Virginia
• This Life Information Document is really good to have! Our kids should do this, too! I didn't really think we needed it, but once it was done, I saw the benefit of having a document like this. It's definitely worth the time of doing it.
  Mark T., Mount Pleasant, WI

My story: After 9/11, I vowed I would not get on a plane again until I had a formal will.

I got all my legal documents done and thought that was all I needed. Over time, I heard stories about someone dying and their survivors had no idea where anything was—the original of their will, where the money was, passwords, etc. I realized I needed something more than the legal documents. Being single and with my immediate family living in Wisconsin and in Australia, they don’t know the details of my financial life.

It would not be easy for them to deal with handling my estate.

But if they have a roadmap to information about my finances, the location of important documents, key people in my life, information about my business, my house, my burial wishes, etc. it will be so much easier and less stressful for them.

I created a Word® document for myself, listing everything I could think of, and then organized it using Word’s table feature. This makes it easier to read and quickly scan the document. Plus, I can enter as much information about each item as I want.

As I spoke about this to clients, colleagues, and friends, many of them said “I need something like that!”

I realized I could provide this as a template for others to use to make it as easy as possible to complete.

Two years ago, while visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Wisconsin, I gave my completed Life Information Document to my brother-in-law who handles their family finances and would be handling mine if needed. I said “While I’m here, why don’t I help you do yours? I think it would be good to have.”

His reply, “Oh, it’s not needed. All our financial and other important information is in these two file drawers next to my desk.” My response was, “You know, if something happens to you, I’m probably the one who will be handling the paperwork, and I wouldn’t be sure if I have everything.” He grudgingly agreed to give me some time. We spent a couple of hours over two days working together (he dictated; I typed).

When I handed him the finished document his face lit up, and he said, “This is really good to have! Our kids should do this too!”

A Life Information Document can give you and your family peace of mind, knowing they have the information needed when you die or if you are incapacitated. What a gift to give them!

Buy Your Life Information Document Kit!

The Life Information Document Kit costs $30 and includes:

• A Life Information Document Word® template
• Detailed instructions for using it
• Tips on what to include in your document

(The kit will be emailed to you shortly after purchase.)

To buy multiple copies at a discount, please contact Susan directly.

If you want help completing your Life Information Document, check out my Resources section. You’ll find tips there as well.