Life Inventory: Insurance information

Life Inventory: Insurance information

I have a large family and when we were just starting, I felt it was my responsibility to provide for the family whether I was alive or dead.  Furthermore as my other blog entries have described, I have a chronic incurable disease that directly or indirectly might shorten my life.

My employer provides good benefits and these include life insurance and accident insurance.  One year during open enrollment, I decided that I should actually figure out how much insurance I should buy to ensure my wife and children had enough money to live on.  The answer, it turned out, was as much as I could get.

However, during this process I had collected all sorts of information about the amount of benefits, types of benefits, who provided them, and also contact information.  So I wrote it all down in an electronic document and promptly forgot about them.  Over time, I realized that my wife might need this information in the event that I died!  So I printed it out and gave a copy to her.

Over time, I realized that she might be incapacitated at the same time as me if we were in an automobile accident, so I started distributing copies to the people I had entrusted with my estate.

So the first things I recommend doing is record your insurance information, including:

• Life Insurance
• Accident Insurance
• Travel Insurance (if you use American Express you automatically get some travel accident insurance, check it out).
• Auto Insurance
• House Insurance
• Medical Insurance
• Prescription Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Eye Care Insurance

Ensure that you include:

• Who provides it
• What terms (e.g. life versus accident versus travel insurance)
• How much
• How to contact them (phone, web site, etc.)

I’ve provided a copy of this information to

• My wife
• My adult (and nearly adult) children living at home
• My parents
• My safe deposit box
• A fireproof safe in my house and told my children where that is

This should cover the basics in the event that you are killed or incapacitated in an accident for you and your family.