Section 1 — Your Personal Information

When I ask clients where they keep important personal documents, they usually tell me, "Oh, that's in my underwear drawer," and "Those papers are in a brown paper bag in the back of my closet." Hiding important documents helps us feel we are keeping them safe from intruders. The problem occurs when something happens to you, and someone else needs to find these items. And, if important documents are lost, beneficiaries have to go through the process of replacing them. This section will help you get these documents in order, and will explain how long you need to keep different documents, as well as how to avoid identity theft.