Will Your Family Members Know How to Find All of Your Financial Accounts When You Die? by Scott Stolz, CFP, RICP (week 28)

 

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article entitled “Five Financial Blind Spots that Burden Grieving Spouses.” (Five Financial Blind Spots That Burden Grieving Spouses - WSJ  These blind spots included unexpected debt and/or expenses, potentially higher tax brackets, challenges due to a lack of credit history and being locked out of financial accounts if that account(s) is only in the deceased spouses name.  The article correctly suggests that spouses have regular financial discussions so that both spouses understand their financial situation.  It goes on to recommend that “…If a spouse won’t commit to learning the details, it’s especially important for the other spouse to keep detailed records for the survivor….”  I’m going to take that advice one step further.  If you only do one thing I suggest in these blogs, it’s that you go to Everplans.com and open an account.  And no, Everplans is not paying me to say this.  Although if they want to sponsor this blog, I would be more than happy to collect a fee for endorsing a product I seriously believe should be used by virtually everyone.

I’m sure we have all heard stories about surviving spouses and/or family members that struggled to not only know where all of the assets are, but also how to access them in this digital age.  You might have encountered this situation yourself.  Everplans is the solution.  It’s essentially a digital vault that allows you to easily store information for any type of financial account – as well information that is necessary to access the account (i.e., login information and passwords).  You will designate deputies that can access all of this information.  For example, my brother will be given access only when he presents evidence of my death.  My wife on the other hand, can access it at any time.  Both will find a digital roadmap of everything they need to handle my affairs.

While I initially just documented my financial accounts, insurance policies and credit cards within my Everplan, I’ve since added passwords for anything that my family might want to access, such as my phone, my Apple account, my Kindle and my google account (so they can access all of my backed up documents and photos).  It didn’t take me long to realize there was an unexpected benefit for me as well.  Prior to setting up my Everplan, I had various files and notes where I documented that information.  This frequently created mini treasure hunts when I had to find where the information was stored.  No more.  I just go to the Everplans app on my phone and there it is.  One of these days I will also take the time to store family recipes as well as final thoughts for my kids and grandkids.

As you can probably imagine, it’s no small task to document everything within your Everplan.  You will be surprised at how many accounts you have.  And you’ll likely have to do one last treasure hunt to find where all of this information exists today.  But the good news is that Everplans’ “smart planning system” makes it easy by guiding you through the process step by step.  I can assure you that finishing this process will give you a great sense of both relief and accomplishment.  You will realize that no matter how much work it was for you, it was just a fraction of the time your family would have spent had you not completed the plan.  And that’s assuming your family could even find everything you want them to find.  But I should also note that your Everplan will never be completely finished.  Things change.  If you don’t take the time to update your Everplan whenever an account changes or a new account is added, you will leave behind a partial roadmap.

For those of you that follow this blog on a regular basis, you might be thinking “didn’t he write about this before?”  In fact, Everplans was my topic in week 14.  Everplans is the first thing I’ve chosen to write about twice.  That’s how strongly a feel that everyone – not just retirees – should so this.  You never know when something might happen.  Wouldn’t you feel better if you knew that the potential headache of accessing your accounts is not an added burden to the grieving process?