That’s a very good idea, nothing like losing someone and having no clue how to proceed with everyday functions.
I sat down every few months with my wife and went over our finances and where everything was kept. But then I had the finance background, not her.
She really did not enjoy the process frankly.
I was pretty organized already from a career mostly in insurance, but when I became a financial planner/family finance doctor/CFP, one of the big things was to educate folks on
good paperwork. Including one go to spot, which frankly should be a small firesafe, because everything in it will be important.
All net worths and asset lists should be updated as regularly as you can. I do mine on an old Quicken program. Copy printed out in my firesafe for my oldest brother,
my executor, and a lawyer. He for sure requires I don't leave him a giant mess. We laugh about who will go first. Sort of...
And most importantly you need to talk about things. A Honey what if conversation. It's smart to do it. You are already overwhelmed emotionally, adding extra stress
in frantic searches for keys and financial stuff is just something to be avoided if you can.
No matter how much money you have, I guarantee you that your wife will be anywhere from worried to scared to death she is going to run out of money if you die.
I heard this over and over across the kitchen table, at night, working with spouses on their finances.
Everyone worries about their kids.
If you haven't had one of those talks, including possibly some how-to's, or your paperwork isn't in shape, good time of year to get it done. Likely stuck inside anyway.
Write it down and leave instructions. Doesn't take long.
back to regular programming. hope this helped someone
