Happy New Year to you! This week tips are aimed at helping you better organize your financial life, and today I’m focusing on single best thing you can do that will give you a quick win on getting your financial life organized.

And that is...creating a financial inventory list. It doesn't have to be fancy. It can be handwritten or typed up on a spreadsheet. Your personal financial inventory should list all of your financial assets. You’ll want to include:

• Investment accounts
• 401k or other retirement plan accounts
• Insurance policies & annuities
• Bank accounts
• College savings accounts
• Physical or special assets (like gold or real estate)
• And if applicable, pension information too

This simple list should include the account type, account owners, the name of the financial institution where the assets are held, & the last few digits of the account numbers.

Put a copy in a safe place, make sure your spouse knows where this inventory list is stored, and give a copy to a trusted advisor, like your financial advisor or attorney. Then just set a reminder on your calendar to review it and update it as needed, when new accounts are created and old ones are closed.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to a spouse who didn’t know about an insurance policy death benefit and then found some paperwork in a box several years after the spouse died.

Trust me, the insurance company is not going to come knocking on your door to write you a check for the death benefit, so you’ll want to make sure your spouse and at least one other trusted contact knows where to find all of your assets and accounts.

That’s it for today, Welcome to 2019! I can’t wait to hang out with you again tomorrow, where I’m going to share with you what you should do next after completing your personal financial inventory.

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip.

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, personal financial inventory, financial inventory list, financial inventory spreadsheet, organizing financial documents, financial management, document management, financial organizer