Getting All Your Insurance Policies In Order Is A Hack To Wellbeing

Being organized in general is always a good practice. Having an organized home, for example, will always make you feel better and more refreshed than a cluttered one. Having your tasks perfectly laid out for the week at your work keeps you focused and motivated to finish each and single one of them.

The same concept should be applied to your insurance policies. It can be stressful organizing all these papers, numbers, and claims. But if you organize them now, when the time comes that you need them the most, you will save yourself from unnecessary stress and panic. Especially during emergencies and you are in a time crunch, doing this will prove to be helpful.

But how do you organize all these files and policies and how can you ensure that they will be accessible once you need them? Here are a few tricks that you can do to make things easier for you.

What to keep and how to keep them properly

Gather all of your policies and group them for each type of insurance you have. This may be easier if most, if not all, types of insurance are all under the same company but that’s not technically necessary. Also, there are some types of insurance that are provided by employers, you can always ask them for a copy of your policy so you can refer to it whenever you need to.

From there, organize with a filing system that works best for you - whether it’s color-coding or alphabetizing. Be sure to file them per date so you know which document is the most up to date. You can keep the most updated ones at the top so that you won’t have to rummage further when needed. You can also organize them depending on each type of insurance and how you use them. It’s all about making these documents easier for you to pull out when you need them.

Now at this point, it would be advisable to keep your original copies in a safe place at your home, perhaps along with other important legal documents. And another set of copies “off-site”, you can have a trusted person keep them for you, or rent out a safety deposit box or your local bank. Just make sure that aside from you, your trusted loved ones know where to locate these copies too in case of emergency situations.

What information needs to be accessible all the time

Always keep a record of the following information readily accessible to you, you can get this for each type of insurance that you have:

• The full name of the life insurance company that issued the policy

• The city and state of the home office of the company that issued the policy

• The name and U.S. headquarters of the group, if the issuing company belongs to a group of companies

• The policy number

• The date the policy was issued

• The name and address of the agent/broker who sold you the policy

• The type of policy (e.g., term, whole life, etc.)

Your insurance is your protection and your right to reimbursements. So it is important to get them for yourself, your loved ones, as well as your assets. And keeping them in order and organized is another way of taking care of yourself and your wellbeing.