Finances & Access
Our day to day lives include $$! Equally vital is to ensure we provide access to specified people to ensure our day to day lives, our departments, a company can continue humming along, should we experience an interruption. Going off-grid happens. Choosing to take a break, start a family, go back to school, change careers or by impacted by illness, accident or sudden calamity can happen. Life happens. Let’s make sure the financial aspects of our lives are up to speed to allow us to receive help when needed.
For my parents, their financial life was rooted in old school 1900’s theory – everything was on paper! This helped me incredibly when illness and death struck, as I was able to root through the paper without constraints. YET, my life is lived online! We will address the “digital asset” separately. For you, here and now, begin considering how you plan for and process payments at work and home. Money in/ Money out is an easy way to consider this!
Bank accounts, investments, credit/debit cards, crypto, bills, loans, partnerships, contracts, philanthropic endeavors include sensitive information. Financial means and access are critical for family and companies. What can you do now to protect yourself, your family and company?
The important question is this – what happens to financial accounts and the money in them if the account holder is not capable of accessing them or dies? The answer depends on whose name(s) is on the account and whether or not the account is held in a living trust. If a bank account is not held jointly or in living trust, no heirs have access to the cash held in the account, until such time that the estate is settled in full.
A judge has the option of providing a letter to allow the executor or administrator of the estate to pay “last expenses” which traditionally means funeral costs. Family members and other likely heirs are advised to refrain from forging the deceased’s name on checks to pay bills or use the deceased’s ATM or debit card to obtain cash. Forgery is fraud, as is any other unauthorized access to someone’s bank account. The last thing loved ones wish is to be charged with fraud.
Let’s consider assets more broadly. Do you have joint checking/savings accounts? If not, access to cash will be difficult for the survivors. What about recurring payments? Who is listed as the beneficiary on your investment and/or retirement accounts? Who is listed on the Title for your car or on the Grant Deed to property? Do you own investments, including cryptocurrency? Privacy and protection of assets can make this tricky for others to access financial accounts.
In many cases it can take months to sort through the details of a will/ trust, thus accounts may be frozen. Discussions with your loved ones in advance about the following will help you decide things to address earlier rather than later.
- Insurance (Auto, Medical, Dental, Disability, Homeowners, Life, Long- Term Care, Other)
- Bank Accounts (Personal and Business) Bills, Subscriptions and Prescriptions
- Credit / Debit Cards (Personal and Business)
- Real Estate
- Loans/Reverse Mortgage
- Vehicles
- Investments (including cryptocurrency)
- Retirement (Funds, Pension)
- Valuables
- Credit Report(s)
- Tax Filings
Are your heads spinning yet?! There are two goals for this section. 1) Have the ability for someone to know where to access information. 2) to ensure your family, partners, employees and vendors will be paid if you are away / incapacitated.
If you have always worked for a company or work in a company while having a side hustle, make sure to record information pertaining to your listed benefit beneficiaries for policies, pensions, stock options, et al.
If you own commercial property, patents, IP, rights to entities, investments or have affiliate and/or passive income take extra care to collate pertinent information to discuss with an attorney/accountant.
Next week we’ll continue personal life plans and discuss our online lives! Let’s discuss ways you can prepare for the upcoming year with your team or family about professional and personal readiness for anything life hands you.
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