Product Description: Get your life organized with the best workbook available!
Paperwork and personal information isn't always easy to find, and organizing your records can seem like an intimidating task. But, whether you need to organize records for yourself, your family or your executor, Get It Together will show you how to keep track of:
instructions for survivors
secured places and passwords
final arrangements
estate planning documents
employment records
insurance policies
tax records
retirement accounts
government benefits, and
real estate records
This workbook provides a complete system for structuring a records binder and easily organizing it for your loved ones. And, if you'd like to work on your computer, use the CD-ROM and print your work and put it into a binder.
List of Forms The book contains 28 blank tables where you can organize information about the following topics:
Letter to Loved Ones Instructions for Loved Ones Biographical Information Children Others Who Depend on Me Pets and Livestock Employment Business Interests Memberships Service Providers Health Care Directives Durable Power of Attorney for Finances Organ or Body Donation Burial or Cremation Funeral and Memorial Services Obituary Will and Trust Insurance Bank and Brokerage Accounts Retirement Plans and Pensions Government Benefits Credit Cards and Debts Secured Places and Passwords Taxes Real Estate Vehicles Other Income and Personal Property Other Information
A family survival guide "Get It Together" is a great resource, filled with worksheets, checklists, and step-by-step instructions. It also includes a Windows-based CD-ROM for printing out selected documents and resources. It probably contains more information than most people will need, but it is a good preparation guide for family and loved ones. It's like a family survival guide for when you're no longer here.
It discusses burial and cremation options, organs and body donation, funeral and memorial services, healthcare directives, small business ownership, and durable power of attorney finances, and the like. Nearly all the material your family will need can be stored in a paper folder and on your computer. Upon your passing away, your family and loved ones will have the necessary documents and information they need about you, your business, employment, and personal life. It's also a useful guide for personal and family planning in general.
The Other "Life" Insurance Sometime ago, my grandmother passed away unexpectantly and at an early age. She left an incomplete estate without a will or trust to her name. I remember the horror of watching her 12 children argue and push each other over what little she had left them and I remember how the pain only got compounded when probate and estate taxes came into the picture. Add to this the fact that not all of her assets and liabilities were easy to track down and not all of them were named in beneficiaries that were useful or had lawful capacity to serve as beneficiaries. I remember the nights that my mother spent awake, crying and trying to sort through all of the mess as she dug through all of the tedious paperwork, all the while having to figure out how to come up with money for a decent funeral at time when we were barely above the poverty line.
This memories I took with me as a child and vowed to myself that this would never happen to me or my siblings, so I got my parents and myself copies of this book. This book is a virtual godsend to anyone who wants to have a comprehensive view on planning their estate and keeping their records clear and organized so that one's heirs will have no trouble knowing exactly where to go and what to do to ensure a smooth, painless transition. Surely, it's no substitute for a well-trained attorney on these subjects, but it will definitely save you much money in billable hours and consultation fees that would have otherwise been better spent on preparing your legal documents and tailoring your estate to your specific needs.
This book is indeed comprehensive. It has everything in it from your organ donation wishes to auto title records. Everything. It's as if Nolo took several of their best books and put them into one. I think they're doing the consumer a real service by putting out such a book, and they are in turn definitely saving a lot of families from potential heartbreak and stress in the future.
Not sure if this is needed. I've been trying to write a decent review of this software. Most of this can be done through a will or just some minor record keeping. I'm really not sure if a whole software package is really needed.
My dad passed away and while we had some scrambling going on, I'm not certain much of this is really needed that a good will wouldn't cover. I guess if you have a lot of assets or if you have a lot of unclosed items, it's useful, but overall it seems redundant to simple record keeping.
I didn't really find anything of use for personal record keeping.
Great all in one Advice about important matters While it wouldn't make a good wedding present or baby gift, its ideal for people who are just married or having children and are in the time of their lives in which they should have their papers in order and plans for the future. It provides an overview of everything that should be in your "planner" and then covers each in more detail in the book. It includes tips on letter and instructions to loved ones following your demise, how to plan for children, dependents and pets, dealing with employers or business interests, health care directives, and other legal and financial issues.
I thought I had things pretty well in order but with this book I discovered there was more to be done.
Leave Your Family Prepared My battle with a very treatable form of breast cancer earlier this year already feels like a memory as I continue on my road to recovery. But a few of the lasting effects of viewing your own mortality have stuck with me, and one of them is the concern that I get my "act together" in the event that something might suddenly happen to me. Since I am the primary "finance person" in our home, I am concerned with getting things in better order both for my own peace of mind and for my family's sake.
To this end, I am happy that I recently had the opportunity to review Get It Together: Organize Your Records So Your Family Won't Have To (book with CD-Rom) from Nolo by Melanie Cullen.
If you're an organized person, you may already have much of this information pulled together. But if you are not, or like me you haven't anticipated the need to have it all in one place, this book is a great tool for helping you work through the process. The book contains 28 chapters and a seven step process for creating and compiling your own planner. It's a huge resource, filled with all sorts of helpful information. At first glance, it may feel a bit daunting to take on such a large task, but I'm hoping that by working through the book at a one chapter per week pace, I will have my family files organized within the next six months.
Please consider joining me in the process and don't wait until tragedy strikes or it's too late to put your affairs in order. This is a lasting legacy of personal productivity we can leave for those who love us most!
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
