Where do you store your financial information?

[IamwhoIsayIam]

I've just been renewing all our boring life insurance and income protection policies and its dawned on me that as I always do the admin if it were to be me that is incapacitated literally no one else knows about policies, pension, premium bonds etc etc

What does everyone do? How would people know where to look if you got hit by a bus tomorrow?

Following. I'm in a similar boat - I have set up for dh to "inherit" my Google account so that if I don't log in after a certain period of time he automatically gets access, but that's no good in the short term.

I'd be interested if there was something designed for this other than a notebook in the "important docs" box which I always forget about.

This bothers me a lot in our household too, not least because DH and I sort out different things and neither of us probably knows the logins to each others PCs.

I keep saying to DH that I would like us to compile a spreadsheet of 'what exists' at the very least, so in the awful event of one of us dying the other knows what to look for.
My dad (bless him!) did a huge hand-written document with all his info in, and updated it every year and filed a copy with his will. When He died and I had to do probate I was so, so grateful!

The fact that there are so many unclaimed banks accounts and premium bonds etc show how often things aren't known about.

There is a bank search service for lost accounts, but ti doesn't cover pensions, insurance policies etc as far as I know.

If you google 'In case of death folder/binder' you will get lots of suggestions about what to include.

Important paperwork is kept in a filing case - updated annually as new documents are issued, copies of our wills are there too. Passwords are in a password protected document on a password protected computer, backed up to 4 different places. The password is in a secure place which we and our adult children know. We are prepared in case we are wiped out tomorrow but hopefully we won't be!

Box file with copies of wills, poa, life insurance, pension info etc. Also contact details for our solicitor, accountant and financial advisor.

This is really for our children if anything should happen to both DH and I at the same time. The eldest knows where this is kept and who he should contact.

Next thing to do is note down some wishes re funeral. DH and I want totally different things. Looking in to doing a funeral plan so we can both get what we want and to save our children any bother or initial expense.

Real grown up stuff but I sleep better knowing this is in place.

We have an Excel spreadsheet (password protected) that lists the bank accounts, ISAs, children’s bank accounts etc. All the login details on there. It’s on Onedrive and copies on a couple of different email accounts. I need to sort what would happen if we both went at the same time. My sister is in the will to be executor and get the children (lucky her 😉) so I should probably share the spreadsheet with her too.

I have binders for various things. Financial is one of them, which has print-outs of all pertinent info for financials, logins, account numbers, etc. I update every few months and reprint.

I've only done this recently after my mum died and left us a folder with absolutely everything in it, all her financial info, birth certificate, passport, funeral wishes, who we need to contact, she even told us how to register her death and how many copies of her death certificate we would need! It's made me realise what an absolute gift being organised is for those left behind, so I came home after her funeral and totally organised all our paperwork, wills, everything.

There are quite a few of these type things on Amazon that I am tempted by too. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09CQBDDYH/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?encoding=UTF8&aaxitk=5ede2becb2722d8d36dd28cd0808197b&content-id=amzn1.sym.25f7c301-a223-4ff8-91c9-accfeab9fda8%3Aamzn1.sym.25f7c301-a223-4ff8-91c9-accfeab9fda8&hsa_cr_id=0&pd_rd_plhdr=t&pd_rd_r=a36dc1d4-1849-4ca1-8ff9-d6efad023e31&pd_rd_w=sk56i&pd_rd_wg=ny14H&qid=1691784010&ref=sbx_be_s_sparkle_lsi4d_asin_0_img&sr=1-1-e0fa1fdd-d857-4087-adda-5bd576b25987
I am a sucker for a notebook it must be said ...

@Legacy and @Clefable I was executor for my Dad and he had left things in a very organised way, which has made me think of what a gift that is to those struggling with grief and paper work. May be a nice notebook might also motivate me to get the task done!

I use 1Password for all passwords and other bits and pieces. I have a folder called ‘In Case of Death’ that has all pertinent information.

I have a QR code that will allow access to this. Kept on the safe next to my will.

we've included it in the wills.

Filing cabinet. It would still be a bit of a slog to take each file out and check through everything.

I was talking about this with my best friend after a funeral we went to last week. I don’t have any spouse, kids, parents, siblings so she is my executor. A bit of Googling brought up Age UK’s Life Book, which you can download for free and print off. It covers everything from funeral hymns to insurance policies to vets and subscriptions. I’m going to fill in a page every weekend.

What a hive of information you all are! Thank you 😊
I'm currently printing off the Age UK Life Book & I've emailed a local funeral director about a funeral plan!
What an exciting Saturday night this is turning out to be 😉

DH and I have a shared Gmail account (as well as our own personal emails) really useful for emails we both need details of and I add all the insurance and other important documents to the Google Drive so we can both access them.

All other important physical paperwork and bills etc are in concertina files that we can easily access.

I use spreadsheets. We have a password spreadsheet (password protected with a phrase relating to our family life!) with separate tabs for the kids passwords (they are adults so also have a copy themselves) and then tabs for banks, insurances, general web etc. relating to DH and I.

I also have a separate spreadsheet detailing what banking/savings, pensions, insurances etc we all have (we each have our own tab) and I get the rest of the family to check/update it every few months and then I print a copy to put with our wills, for SIL in case we all die together.

A friend at work used to laugh at me for having a spreadsheet for everything, but that is how my mind works and I am confident that if I died first, at least DS would know where to start. He is like me, very organised - DH and DD - not quite as much.

I have a box file for paperwork and a notebook with details of pensions / life insurances, savings and passwords, all backed up with a secure folder on my phone.
DH literally wouldn’t have a clue about anything apart from the joint account and his business account. He’d still be stuffed with his business admin as I do the books 🤣
I’ve written instructions on what to do with our pensions because I deal with all the investments too.

It's all labelled in a filing cabinet.

Online stuff - all our passwords are stored in a password manager and the master passwords are written down and kept in the safe.