Keeping Track of Assets Just in Case

RobinWolaner

Posted: May 19, 07 10:43am

Great article in today's Wall Street Journal about how the move to online services has made it difficult for survivors to find account information after one's death. Since my mother has never even used an ATM, this is not an issue for her. But if I were hit by a car tomorrow, someone would have a nightmare trying to figure out my investment accounts. Kaja Whihouse, the author, recommends what needs to be written down (and what shouldn't be). Here's the link to the full article in the free online section of the Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117953111226908170.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_money_and_investing

2 Comments // 3 Members

Posted: May 19, 07 10:55am

Great article in today's Wall Street Journal about how the move to online services has made it difficult for survivors t...

wow, really great tip. thanks robin.

but one thing I'd disagree about is not writing down passwords. perhaps that's true about online banking and financial accounts, but recently, after a relative died, we were trying to access things like the wireless network in their home, and we couldn't figure out what the password was. after many many attempts, we finally and luckily found it in his address book. shwoo! because at a time like this, we really didn't want to have to deal with the internet provider too.

Posted: May 20, 07 2:39pm

Great article in today's Wall Street Journal about how the move to online services has made it difficult for survivors t...

I've been using Yojimbo to keep notes, save web pages, passwords and serial numbers. I love it because I can drag a web page on to the application and it saves the whole web page, not just a link. I also save important information like passwords and serial numbers and I'm able to password protect the files so someone cannot easily view the files.