You are here: Home Day to Day Living Simple Methods ... How To Set Up An ... Active/Inactive Files
Information about all aspects of finances affected by a serious health condition. Includes income sources such as work, investments, and private and government disability programs, and expenses such as medical bills, and how to deal with financial problems.
Information about all aspects of health care from choosing a doctor and treatment, staying safe in a hospital, to end of life care. Includes how to obtain, choose and maximize health insurance policies.
Answers to your practical questions such as how to travel safely despite your health condition, how to avoid getting infected by a pet, and what to say or not say to an insurance company.

How To Set Up An Easy-To-Use Filing System

Active/Inactive Files

Next » « Previous

2/6

One simple filing system is to divide your files between Active and Inactive.

Active Files

Living with a current or history of a health condition means completing forms over and over again. It will save you a lot of time and energy if you pull together the information you'll need for the forms, and to keep your life together, into one "active" file.

Your active files should also include:

Financial Information

  • Income Tax Returns - for at least three years, with the supporting documents used to prepare the return.
  • Banking statements, including Checking, Savings, CD and Money Market Funds for the past year.
  • Stocks, Bonds, and Brokerage Account Statements for the last year.
  • Canceled Checks for the past year.
  • Receipts for the past year.
  • Records of Loans or Other Debts With Schedule of Payments.
  • Employment Record / Resume.
  • Education Record / Diplomas.
  • Passport.
  • Your Social Security Card.
  • Copies of all current Insurance Policies, including Life, Disability, Health,Automobile, Property and Liability.
  • Health Records and Information concerning Your Health.
  • Copy of Your Will, see Storing and Updating Your Will.
  • Copy of Your Living Will, see Living Will.
  • Copy of Durable Power of Attorney, see Durable Power of Attorney.
  • Copy of Health Care Power Of Attorney
  • Cemetery Deed - a copy will do. Store the original in your safe deposit box or a fireproof file.
  • Instruction Books and Guarantees for Appliances and other household items.
  • Employee Benefits Booklets.
  • A Copy of Your Household Inventory.
  • Funeral plans and final requests
  • Your Instruction List.

Inactive Files

Review your files annually. Move documents older than three years into a separate place or box if you're tight on space.

Legal documents such as your Living Will and other Advance Directives should not be moved out of the active file even if they were drafted more than three years ago. Still, even if you're not going to move them, it's a good idea to review your legal documents during your annual clean-up to see if you want to make any changes.


Please share how this information is useful to you. 0 Comments

 

Post a Comment Have something to add to this topic? Contact Us.

Characters remaining:

  • Allowed markup: <a> <i> <b> <em> <u> <s> <strong> <code> <pre> <p>
    All other tags will be stripped.