Legacy Drawer:

With the passing of my mom and then having to step in and help my dad with his financial matters, I have been thinking a lot about the following:

A Legacy Drawer is a drawer or box in your house with all the important papers that your family needs if something happens to you. It contains everything: your last will and testament, insurance policies, funeral instructions, mutual fund statements, passports, budgets, birth certificates, marriage certificates, passwords, and most importantly, instructions of who you would like to take care of minor aged children —everything that your spouse and family would need to know if you weren't around. It is also organized in such a way that a nine-year-old could open it up and find any given document in 30 seconds.
What's the Point?
There are a few big reasons to have a Legacy Drawer:
• Leave no hassle or fuss. When you die, your family will be overcome with grief. The last thing they need at that point is to have to sort through a mess of papers and forms to find out what happens to your estate. By organizing everything into one simple place, they can find what they need when they need it without getting stressed out.
• Organize other areas of your life. When you realize that you don't have a monthly budget (one of the things that goes into the Legacy Drawer), it can motivate you to sit down with your spouse and make one. Also, a Legacy Drawer can get you to open up emotionally to your family. You should consider writing a letter to each of your family members (spouse, children) and say all the things that you want them to know should you suddenly not be here to say them in person.
• Communicate with your family. If you communicate to your spouse, children or other loved ones about what to do with your things when you die, it can help you talk to them about other important things.

Having been through the process of trying to locate a vehicle title, mom and dad's marriage license, ordering medications for my dad, examining the simplest things like his cell phone account, having a Legacy Drawer would have helped immensely.

I encourage everyone to put one together. ASAP!

(Thanks to Dave Ramsey for this advice in one of his financial newsletters)