Don’t just keep your financial information in your head

You know the logins to your financial life, but do your family members know them? It’s a good practice to let a family member know how to access your accounts in the case of sudden trips, natural disasters, or a debilitating illness.

Let’s go over the financial information you should share with a trustworthy family member:

• Insurance policies. This includes life, disability, heath, auto, home.
• Bank accounts.
• Regular bills. This includes utilities, credit cards, phone, internet, insurance, and more.
• Mortgages and taxes.
• Retirement plans, wills, and estate documents.

Besides the names and account numbers, be sure to provide usernames and passwords if you handle accounts online, or addresses and phone numbers if you don’t. Dates that bills are due is also a helpful piece of information.

Why is this important? It’s not the most pleasant thing to think about, but you never know when your family will have to access this information on your behalf. You want to make sure you safeguard this important, sensitive information, but you also want to make sure your loved ones can access it if needed. Make sure this data is well documented, safely stored, and accessible by a trustworthy family member.

If you want to discuss more ways to safeguard your financial accounts, please come in and speak to one of our personal bankers. They have the expertise to assist you with this, or any other question you may have about your accounts.