Financial Fitness Challenge, August�Name Your Stuff

Introduction

Watch the national news for even a few days and you're likely to see some households in peril. It might be from a wildfire, flood, hurricane, tornado�even a runaway car. Before your eyes, someone's home suffers devastation. You think about the poor disaster victims and maybe even send a check to the relief agency.

Maybe you're able to tell yourself, "I hope that never happens to me, but I'm prepared if it does."

This month's Financial Fitness Challenge presents a personal dilemma�I have to step up and confess that I need to perform a complete home inventory. The key word is complete, because I have pieces of an inventory. But even that's not kept in a safe place, and would be lost if my house were destroyed.

I have no excuse�and neither do you. Today's technology makes conducting a home inventory fairly fast and efficient. It doesn't have to be perfect�just do it. We have several articles that can get you started.

You need a home inventory for several reasons: It helps you get your insurance claim settled faster. It confirms losses you can claim on your income tax return. It helps you buy the right amount of insurance. It helps establish a fair division of property if you and your partner split up, or after a death in the family.

Once your inventory is complete, keep a copy at home and store another at a remote location. That way, if your community suffers some catastrophe, you still have an intact inventory.

Living through a natural disaster is rough even if you have all your ducks in a row beforehand. It will help your family heal emotionally from such an event if you can at least pull together key information about your belongings and important documents.

Make it a date

Switching gears, another Challenge for August is to get together with your Sweet Babboo and talk about your shared financial goals. This isn't the same as paying the bills night�this is a time to get away from daily responsibilities and look at the big picture. That can be hard to do when the dog is recovering from a sneak foray into the dog food, the toddler is locking himself in the bathroom, and your mother is chastising you for failing to call Uncle Morty on his birthday. Life is full.

So take a break, together, away from the hubbub, and spend the evening examining your goals. It might turn into a time to congratulate each other on progress you've made, or a time to redirect resources to new goals, or it might be a coming to terms with your inaction on goals.

Keep conversation focused on the goals; try to identify what is keeping you from making progress toward them. Figure out, together, how to overcome those setbacks. No blaming or shaming, just sharing.

August basic maintenance

Keep in your active files: tax receipts, unpaid bills, paid bill receipts, current credit union and bank statements, current cancelled checks, income tax working papers, employment records, health benefit information, credit card information, insurance policies, wills, family health records, appliance manuals and warranties, receipts for items under warranty, education records, safe deposit box inventory (and key), loan statements, loan payment books, receipts for expensive items not yet paid for.

Financial columnist Liz Pulliam Weston recommends you check on your box a few times a year, and make sure during those visits that you're current on box rental fees. She writes, "Many times, after a merger, banks begin to charge customers who used to have free box rental. Longtime customers may assume the charges don't apply to them, because they've had free rental for so long, and fail to pay the bill. The bank could then decide the box has been abandoned and drill it open."

I've been writing about money management for a long time, and I still learn�and relearn�new things all the time. You've heard the expression, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." When it comes to making the most of your money, that goes double.

The people at your credit union are dedicated to helping you become and stay financially fit.

ST
Susan Tiffany, CCUFC
[email protected]

Published August 1, 2007, Reviewed January 14, 2008