I recently attended a seminar on financial emergency preparedness and was impressed with the information provided by the presenters. The citizens of Southeast Missouri are very aware of the dangers Mother Nature can present, earthquakes, tornados, and flooding are all serious threats to our physical health and fiscal health. There is an abundance of information on basic disaster supplies kits, which include non-perishable food, drinking water, battery powered or hand crank radios, flashlights, etc. These items are all vital to the survival of our physical health, however, we must also prepare for our fiscal survival both during and after a natural disaster. Life's emergency situations require careful advanced preparation and planning. In the event of a catastrophic event, your home and important documents could be totally destroyed. Proper preparedness can minimize the impact of such events.
The first step is to get organized. Assessing the potential risk to your family and getting adequate insurance to protect your family's health, life and property is a move in the right direction. Once accomplished, we should make a list of and organize all our important financial and legal documents. Those documents would include birth, death and marriage certificates, divorce and child custody papers, adoption papers, passports, military records, social security cards, driver's license, mortgage and property deeds, stock and bond certificates, car titles, life and health insurance policies, homeowners and renters insurance paperwork, auto, boat and other vehicle insurance papers, copies of power of attorney, advance medical directive and guardianship papers, trust papers, medical information including prescriptions taken, bank statements, credit card numbers, federal and state tax returns for at least three years and a list of telephone numbers to financial institutions where you have accounts. It is also vital to have an inventory of all household belongings. The original copies should be maintained in a portable fireproof box. It should be large enough to hold your files and a few valuables (such as cash) but not so large that you can't easily carry it out in the event of an evacuation. Copies of these documents should be made and stored in a different venue. I would recommend scanning these documents onto your computer and saving the PDF file to several different flash drives. As your situation changes, you can easily update this electronic file and save updated files. Home inventories are most easily taken on videos and photographs. A video will allow you to walk through your home and speak about what the items are, the date you purchased the items, the purchase price, warranty and insurance information, the current value of the item and documentation of appraisals. Photographs and videos also allow you to show the condition of the item and the extent of damage sustained to it during the disaster. Photographs and videos can also be uploaded to a computer and easily saved to flash drives.
It is also important to create a financial safety net in the event of job loss or disability due to natural disasters. A rule of thumb is to have at least six month's salary in savings and some cash on hand. All your financial information should be carefully secured and protected against unauthorized access, however, it is also important that someone else you trust knows the location of the files in the event you are unable to access them in a time of need and prepare loved ones to cope with the event in the event you are not there to care for them. Creating a financial preparedness checklist is a good way to organize your information and keep track of what is located in the files. Copies of a financial preparedness checklist can be obtained at the University of Missouri Extension office in Kennett at 233 North Main Street. Individual consultation by appointment can be made by calling 573-888-4722.
The University of Missouri Extension office is open Monday -- Friday, located in Kennett, Missouri at 233 North Main Street. Contact 573-888-4722 with questions or comments. MU is an equal opportunity/ADA institution.