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Dovetail Organizer featured in Business Monday
Software program provides digital safety deposit box
You remember the phone call as if it were yesterday.
What a shock. Your mother had had a stroke, was in the hospital and was unable to speak. You were at a loss to know what to do.
You did not know where her power of attorney was, you did not even know if she had one. You did not have her health insurance documents, you did not know what prescriptions she was taking. Then you found out that everything was kept in her safety deposit box and you couldn't get at it.
When you finally got into her apartment, you didn't know where to find anything. You spent days sifting through drawers and files and closets trying to put together the puzzle of your mom's documents: driver's licence, citizenship, birth certificate, marriage certificate, information about her pet and how the pet needs to be treated, her social insurance cards and her passport.
You were fortunate enough to locate her tax returns and notices of assessment, but it took a lot of digging.
It took you a while to find her medical history because you did not have permission to investigate a lot of this information under privacy laws.
As you tried to dig down into her financial life to find out how much money it would take to provide for her long-term care, you kept hitting roadblocks.
We are famous for procrastination and it usually takes a crisis like a loved one becoming incapacitated to force us to exert ourselves and figure out what must be done.
You were not sure who the beneficiaries were on her life insurance and RRSPs and what the registration was on her investments. You didn't know how to deal with her car or how to deal with her veterinarian. You couldn't find any of her latest investment statements, you didn't know if her insurance policies were up to date and you didn't know how to reach her insurance agent.
Lastly and most unthinkably, you had no idea what she would want you to do when planning her funeral. You wish you knew whom she would like to deliver her eulogy and how she would like to see her funeral plans put together.
Ultimately, you were able to figure out everything, but it took an enormous amount, of time that you could have spent on more important things, like being with mom.
If there is ever a time you do not want to be caught unprepared, it is in the midst of a crisis. It is usually a crisis that shows how ready we are. We are famous for procrastination and it usually takes a crisis like a loved one becoming incapacitated to force us to exert ourselves and figure out what must be done.
What if you had everything organized in a way that would consolidate all your data, a highly secure, affordable software program to consolidate and safeguard a person's critical information and documents so that they could be accessed easily when needed.
The Dovetail Organizer program allows you to organize and update all of your important information. The result is a long-term planning tool and road map for family in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
There are six overall areas that individuals need to look at: Personal, medical, financial, estate, property, and business.
Each of these sections is carefully broken down. Financial information, for example, will include your bank accounts, investments, line of credit, loans and pensions, Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security.
All these important documents can be scanned into software created by Dovetail. It is secure and easy to use, affordable and expandable.
It can be formatted onto a CD-ROM and given to family members with a commonly known password - say, the name of the family pet - so that it can be printed out in a moment by a son, daughter, caretaker, executor or person acting as your power of attorney.
It allows you to store all your vital documents and information in one place where family members can get to it easily, so you'll be prepared for the unexpected and feel a great sense of peace as a result.
The Dovetail organizer is a great gift for those interested in creating their life's digital safety deposit box. For more information, visit www.dovetailorganizer.com.
Chris Cahill, Financial Planner, is founder of Financial Strategies Group and representative of FundEX Investments Inc. David Fischer is a lawyer with Lerner & Associates. Doug Greenhow is a chartered accountant with Collins Barrow/Kime, Mills, Dunlop. They can be contacted by e-mail.
CHRIS CAHILL, DAVID FISCHER, DOUG GREENHOW
RETIREMENT, ESTATE AND TAX PLANNING.
