[1]This week was odd. In many ways I felt like I was just treading water. My head was above the water without any danger, but I was not making progress.
Though I did get some purging, cleaning, and organizing accomplished, other priorities fell by the wayside. Getting back to the basics and focusing on what is important, I plan to make progress this week.
If you are looking for that one organizational project to complete this week, consider working on your important documents. Need to start at the beginning? Then begin here [2]. If you are following my filing system, then this second file opening holds our head of household’s term life insurance policy [3] and combination whole life and long-term care insurance [4]. The last bundle of paperwork in this file is the accidental death insurance policies.
Accidental Death Insurance
If you are a member of a bank, federal credit union, or credit card holder, then you have probably received an invitation for accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance coverage.
These policies usually give you $2,000 of 24-hour protection provided through your bank, credit union, or credit card provider without cost to you. After you accept this insurance, then you will receive options to increase your coverage for minimal cost per month.
Accepting the Free Coverage
Since these policies are nice backups, I always accept the basic coverage since the policy is free. These policies are not whole life insurance or term, but will disperse payment after death or dismemberment due to an accident.
These policies are very specific and limited, so our family bypasses the options to increase these benefits. However, we do keep the free policies.
Choosing your Beneficiary
At least once a year, I call the insurance providers to verify our beneficiary designations are up-to-date. I choose a primary beneficiary and two contingent beneficiaries.
If my family can receive a claim due to an accident, then I want to offer the insurance company multiple ways to get the payment into my family’s possession.
Documents Kept Safe
These two policies for Paul, provided through our credit union, include the following documents:
- Certificate of Insurance
- Correspondence from Provider
- Beneficiary Designations
Each set of documents is paper clipped together, and then both sets are paper clipped together and housed behind Paul’s combination whole life and long-term care insurance documents. All these items are then placed in the second file opening of Box 2, holding our important insurance documentation.
With another file opening complete, you are on your way to getting those insurance documents organized. Though our files are different, finding a place for each type and labeling the sections allow for quick retrieval. Besides getting organized, filing your important documents will help you in using time wisely for years to come. Happy organizing!