When Disaster Strikes: Protecting Your Documents |
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Among the heartbreaking lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were the devastating consequences of poor planning. Who can forget the sight of survivors weeping at the ruins of their former homes, businesses, and possessions?
While no one can predict when disaster will strike, those catastrophes served as a reminder of how important it is to plan ahead to keep important documents and personal memories safe from loss.
What Should You Save and Where?
While easily replaceable documents, such as passports, wills, or medical directives are safe to keep in a drawer or a fire-retardant safe at home, others should be protected in a safe deposit box in the event of fire, flood or even theft.
What Goes into a Safe Deposit Box?
- Deeds, titles
- Marriage licenses, birth certificates, and divorce decrees
- Social security cards
- Stock certificates
- Originals of important insurance papers with contact info for agent or company
- Lists of bank accounts, brokerage accounts, certificates of deposit, and credit cards with account numbers and bank locations
What is Safe to Keep At Home?
- Copies of insurance policies
- Passports
- Tax returns (past 7 years)
- Wills and trusts
- Powers of attorney
- Medical directives
- Funeral and burial instructions
- Lists of bank accounts, brokerage accounts, certificates of deposit, and credit cards with account numbers and bank locations.
Business Records
Don't keep crucial business records onsite. Organize and store important paper and electronic business documents with a professional record storage company that offers archival quality services, and rapid retrieval when you need them.
Keep Memories Safe
Among the saddest images of any disaster are the scenes of survivors weeping over lost wedding albums, family photos, and other irreplaceable personal items. Making digital copies of photos and paper keepsakes can preserve these precious keepsakes for the next generation.
Film and Video
Transfer home movies and video to digital form with DVD or CD burners. They use laser beams to read information and etch it on a disc, eliminating wear and tear. Make two copies, one for regular use and one to be stored.
Photo Albums and Papers
Photos, tax returns, and term papers can also be stored on CDs, but memory sticks, such as the type that work in digital cameras, allow computers to read and transfer a large amount of information that is stored on small silicon chips. They are currently priced at about $50 to $100 for 256-MB memory sticks, but prices are coming down even as chips are getting smaller and storage capacity grows.
You have many options to preserve your memories and protect important documents. Choose the one that is most convenient to you.
