Updated August 31, 2021

The cheerful binder pictured above is what I lovingly refer to as the “Keep Calm & Carry On” Binder.

In it, I’ve outlined key details, contact information, and other specifics that my husband will need in order to keep maintaining our household when I kick the bucket or am incapable of managing our finances.

Morbid? On the contrary, it provides great peace of mind for me to know that either one of us won’t be completely lost and financially bereft if the other one passes away suddenly.

Why to Make a “Keep Calm & Carry On” Binder

When someone dies, their loved ones are faced with making a barrage of decisions about anything and everything, often involving financial details, account numbers, and lengthy, anal-retentive forms that can result in serious penalties if you get them wrong.

After reading Dough Roller’s post about his Money Binder, and after going through the frustrating, complicated process of being an executor for my parents’ messy estates in which documents were scattered hither and thither, or were entirely nonexistent, I decided to craft my own version.

It’s cheap to make one. I found a distinctive three-ring binder that my husband could easily spot on the bookshelf and to which I could easily add new pages. I also bought some plastic sheet protectors that allow me to quickly swap out pages whenever I update them. The only thing left to do was set aside a couple of hours to compile most of the information in a Word doc, print it out, and make copies of the other docs that I wanted to include in the binder.

What’s in My “Keep Calm & Carry On” Binder

My “Keep Calm & Carry On” Binder includes the following sections:

• Travel Info: The first section includes my itinerary for any upcoming travel, plus a copy of my passport in case I get stuck in a foreign country.
• Family & Friends: This part contains our loved ones’ addresses, phone numbers, and emails so my husband knows who to contact in an emergency. (Let’s face it: The wife is often the one dealing with the emotional management of the household, such as sending all the holiday and birthday cards, in addition to managing the finances.)
• Key Contacts: In this section, I keep an updated list of my boss’ contact info, along with the phone numbers, URLs, and other relevant specifics for our bank, financial advisor, lawyer, doctors, mechanic, and anyone else that helps keep our shiz in biz. Plus the number and address for the nearest emergency clinic, ’cause ya never know when you might have an accident making a midnight sandwich.
• Net Worth: It’s vital to know how much you have and where it’s kept. I lost track of the hours I spent cold-calling banks and credit cards companies in order to figure out where my parents had bills or savings.
• Advance Directive and Medical Power of Attorney: If I’m incapacitated by an accident or illness, my loved ones need to know my wishes for medical care and to be empowered to make legal decisions on my behalf.
• Life Insurance Policy: The biggie. If something happens to me, I want my husband to be able to quickly and easily find the document that could make the biggest difference in his financial life.
• Wills and Trusts: The other biggies. You always want to have updated copies of these vital documents where you can easily find them. I’m grateful that my parents provided my brother and me with copies of their wills and trust so we didn’t have to add that to our list of worries when they died.

About Those Passwords…

Note that I didn’t mention keeping a hard copy list of passwords. Because my husband’s tech savvy too, we keep all of our passwords tucked away in a password management program.

I also have a copy of the “Keep Calm & Carry On” Binder saved in digital format so I can easily update it and print out a new version when I change jobs, my 401(k) company switches, or our friends move to a new address.

Do you keep your own version of a “Keep Calm & Carry On” Binder? I’d love to get your suggestions on other sections or information to include, such as Long-Term Care Insurance policies or other vitals. Please share in the comments below.

Hope and joy,

Rachel