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| Home > Fact
of the Week 2010 >Financial
Preparation |
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01-04-2010
Preparedness
Facts of the Week
by
Elizabeth Hall, Emergency
Response Assistant - Kings
County Office of Emergency
Management |
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Preparation
of Your Financial Data
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If you were given only five
minutes to leave your home,
what would you
do?
The first thing to do would be to gather
your family and then get your prepared family
disaster plan and disaster supply kit. But
what about all your financial and personal
papers? Do you even know where they are? Could
you find them all in an emergency?
Think about what would happen to them in
a disaster like a fire, flood or earthquake.
In the event of a disaster, whether it occurs
naturally or is man-made, people lose their
possessions, their homes, or even their lives.
Have you thought about how difficult it would
be to rebuild your life financially, physically,
and emotionally, even if you had all of your
financial and personal information? But what
if it had all been destroyed? How would you
take care of your bills if you had no records?
How would you file your insurance claim if
you had no record of what was lost? Imagine
the time and work involved in replacing all
these essential papers!
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What
if something happened to you? |
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Let
me take it one step further. What if something
happened to you and your adult
children were left behind to manage your
estate? Would they know what insurance policies
you have, where you keep your bank account
information, safety deposit boxes and birth
certificates?
Would
they know what types of loans, credit cards
and other debts you
have to manage? What about power of attorney?
Have you planned for them to pick up
where you left off?
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Take
the First Step |
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The first step involves gathering
together your important financial and personal
documents and determining one place in which
to keep them. It can be a safety deposit box
at your bank or a fireproof box kept in your
home. There are also computer programs available
where you can input or scan personal information
and back up on a thumb/flash drive. |
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Next,
Complete a Household Inventory |
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This inventory should note
your possessions and can be done in several
different ways. You can go from room to room
and write a description of your belongings,
or, using either a video or digital camera,
you can take pictures of each room. Whichever
method you choose, you still need to write
a brief description of each item, including
cost, age, manufacturer, and model and serial
number if available. Open closet doors and
photograph or note the contents. If you have
any expensive items, try to included receipts
or appraisals for them. Don't forget to inventory
your attic, basement and garage as well. Include
a photograph or video of the outside of your
home and note special landscaping, patio, deck
and any other improvements. This inventory
of possessions will not only prove what you
owned should there be any emergency that causes
destruction of your belongings, but will also
help provide value of items. Your insurance
company will be able to respond faster with
this documentation.
After you gather together all of your information,
make a copy of everything. Get certified
copies of those documents that require certification.
Choose a trusted person to hold on to those
papers and send a complete copy of all of
them, including any computer disks/thumb
drives to that person. Keep your originals
on file in the chosen location and be sure
to update that file regularly. Most importantly,
be sure to tell your family where they can
find both sets of documents. If you keep
one copy in a safety deposit box, keep only
one key and give the other to a trusted individual
outside your home.
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Financial
Data Details
The following list details some of the information that you would
want to include in your documentation:
- Credit
card numbers
- Bank
account numbers
- Insurance
policy numbers
- Social
security cards and correspondenc
- Automobile
license plate numbers
and registration cards
- Drivers'
license numbers
- Automobile
titles
- Birth
Certificates
- Death
Certificates
- Marriage
Licenses
- Passports
- Copies
of
wills
- Home
loan
information
- Personal
loan
information
- Stock/bond
certificates
- Real
estate
deeds
and
titles
- Savings
Bonds
- Divorce/custody/adoption
papers
- Tax
returns
- Armed
services
papers
- Benefits
information
- Medical
records
- Immunization
records
- Pharmaceutical
prescriptions
- Eyeglass
prescriptions
- Important
receipts
- Business
incorporation
record
- Business
contracts
- Computer
backups
- Household
inventory
- Funeral
wishes
- Address
book
with numbers for
friends,
relatives,
attorney,
accountant,
broker,
doctors, vet, etc.
- Additional
vital
records
as
per
your
situation
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Save
yourself and your family from countless hours
of work |
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By
taking the time now to prepare your personal
and financial records, you can save yourself
and your family from countless hours of work
and worry in case the papers are destroyed,
and you will be able to concentrate on your
safety and the safety of your family. |
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Have
a great first week of the New Year and Remember....
Be
Responsible - Be Ready - Be Prepared!
Teaming Up for Emergency Preparedness
Elizabeth Hall
Office of Emergency Management
280 Campus Drive Hanford, CA 93230
(559) 582-3211, Ext. 2634
www.kingscountyoem.com
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