Preparing for your own mortality
In a time whenwewear masks in public, hesitate to embrace and change plans to celebrate the holidays with family, it makes sense to consider our mortality in financial aswell as spiritual terms. As theCOVID-19 pandemic resurges, we are again faced with the horrible possibility of distanced goodbyes and things left undone. Perhaps you can lessen the burden if you are prepared in advance.
Consider these steps as investments in peace of mind. And since youwon’t be out holiday shopping or cooking a turkey, you will have time in theweeks ahead to confront this issue in an organizedway.
There is a link tomy Personal Financial Organizer form at the top right corner of mywebsite, www.TerrySavage.com. It will be a guide to your loved ones if you are unable to communicate. And it will serve as a reminder of things undone.
On these four pages, you’ll be able to list all your important financial information, fromthe location of your will to your banking and investment accounts and insurance policies. If you have a safe deposit box, list it here. There’s a section for all the important contact numbers of your attorney, accountant, financial adviser and insurance agent. Make a list of your credit card numbers and the toll-free numbers to call for replacements (handy if you lose the card).
All in all, it adds up to quite a project. Here aremy suggestions:
Every insurance policy and retirement account should have a named beneficiary. That’s because these accounts pass directly to the people you have listed, outside your will. You don’t need a lawyer to make changes. Simply contact the fundmanagement company or insurance company and ask for a “change of beneficiary” form. Some require a “signature guarantee” froma notary or bank.
Check your beneficiaries. Sign a healthcare power of attorney and livingwill.
These are two separate documents. The first authorizes someone you trust tomake decisions about your healthcare if you cannot do so for yourself. The living will gives yourwishes about prolonging life when reasonable treatment has failed. Having those two documents could save anguish for your loved ones. You don’t need an attorney for these documents. Search online for those two forms, for your state of residence. Sign them and attach them to this financial organizer form so that they are available in an emergency. Also give a copy to your physician.
Update your will or, better yet, your revocable living trust.
Please search the columns atmywebsite for more information about these two topics. A simple will is enough for many people, but a revocable living trust has many advantages— if you remember to retitle your property in the name of the trust.
In either case, this is definitelyNOT a do-it-yourself project. Youwon’t be around to correct your mistakes by the time they are found. Find an estate planning attorney through your local bar association or bank trust department and do it right.
Organize everything else. Where are your most recent tax returns, the deed to your home, the title to your car, your life insurance policies, your IRA statements? Do you have a pre-paid funeral policy or cemetery deed? Don’t leave it to a grieving family member to search through disorganized paperwork and benefits cards while dealing with emotional trauma.
Purchase a small plastic file box and a few folders. Store this completed financial organizer form and your significant papers together. And let your trusted spouse or adult child knowwhere you have placed it in your home.
Yes, it may seem morbid to organize your end-of life-documents at a time whenwe traditionally cheer the holiday season. But this activity may be strangely comforting, a chance to make order out of the random nature of this dreadful pandemic. And that’s The Savage Truth.