4 Types of Financial Documents You Should Keep Together at All Times
4 Types of Financial Documents You Should Keep Together at All Times in Case of Emergency — Here’s Why
Adam Palasciano Tue, March 11, 2025 GOBankingRates
Life is full of the unexpected. You never know when you may find yourself in dire straits or faced with an emergency that’s totally out of your control. Sadly, Americans are affected by weather-related disasters now more than ever before.
According to the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), 2024 alone was full of “billion-dollar” weather-related natural disasters: There were 27 individual weather and climate disasters with at least $1 billion in damages, which is only one less than the record of 28 events in 2023. Last year’s natural disasters took nearly 600 lives and cost approximately $182.7 billion in total.
With natural disasters on the rise, you’ll absolutely need to be prepared for whatever comes your way. This includes having a “financial go bag” at the ready.
A financial go bag is basically what it sounds like: It’s a bag with everything related to your finances, identity, emergency contacts and medical information that you need to keep on your person.
Here are four specific categories of items you’ll want to be sure you have in your financial go bag.
Financial and Legal Documents
Having copies of any applicable financial and legal documents printed and at the ready is critical, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). For example, if your home is destroyed in a fire, maintaining copies of these documents in your go bag may be the only physical proof you have of account ownership.
These include but are not limited to the following types of documents:
Credit and debit card statements
Checking account statements
Savings account statements
Retirement and investment account statements
Utility bills
Student loan statements
Alimony and child support documents
Elder care information.
Identification
When faced with a catastrophe, you’ll need to have at least a few forms of identification in your bag, according to FEMA.
TO READ MORE: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/4-types-financial-documents-keep-150101110.html
