Keeping important information in one place is an invaluable tool and having it backed up is just as important. While reading the business section a couple of Sundays ago, I came across an article by syndicated columnist Humberto Cruz called "An organized list of Finances is best legacy".
Among his suggestions were a word document titled "Read this if I am dead" which lists all acounts and assets, individuals to be contacted, like the SSA, where the important documents are and how to access them etc...even how to operate the sprinkler system.

He pointed out a tool that he was impressed with- The Family Records Organizer CD Rom by T Rowe Price. I just got it (5 working day turn around- pretty impressive).
I agree with him: It is easy to use, interactive, educational and it beats the competitor price. Its free and you don't have to be a customer to request it at www.troweprice.com/getorganized.
Basically it is the same info I have been asked to compile by most financial planners over the years, but finally in a format that is computer friendly. It also has encription and password protection, even though the data is only stored on my PC.
Do I expect that I will be contacted one day by T Rowe Price? I didn't leave my phone number...if I do get contacted, I can handle it! I was very pleased that they built this without internal advertising for their products... I am pretty pleased with the tool, and no I don't have a vested interest in T Rowe!

When attempting to click on the link to get the CD & other information, you will need to remove the period at the end of capsu78's sentence. Regards, Comanche7

Sorry about that. I didn't realize I was setting up a like when I typed it. I was simply ending my sentence like Sister Dorothy Joseph would have wanted!

No problem, been there and done that myself all too often. It is an interesting site once you get to it.

You want to be careful though, even though its free it might not be in the future or it might not work when your children are running MSWindows 2025.
Keep your files in as open format as you can. Microsoft Word 2007 for example won't open a MS Word 2000 document unless you download the importer so if you used Word 2000 in the future your stuck. Stick with plain text or rich text or html, or something else that can be imported into most anything.

I ordered it. If I can't print it or export it, I might use the wizards and then convert it manually in another application. I want hard copy and I want portability, so I agree with Eugene.

If I am reviewing this correctly, I think it provides "save/print" options in multiple formats. I believe it offers a PDF format which might mean I can't update it as easily if technology changes. I know it is being stored in a DB file on my documents folder so I think the bigger "threat" to this process is losing the CD they provided.

Anyway, the gathering and compilation of the data into one master document is the real benefit of this type of macro. It installs easily, asks the right questions and pulls it together into a comprehensive report. Even a "snap shot in time" printed copy in your critical documents organizes me beyond where I thought I was prior to using this tool.

PDF's look nice,however its much easier to get data into a pdf than out of one. I avoid anything that used a back end database like that because what happenes when in a couple years you want to update your document, you can't esaily edit a pdf, if you copy the text out you loose all the formatting, etc.
With any software the cost is not what you pay for it up front, the total cost of ownership is what it costs to support during its life. Years later you may be forced to hand type data from a printed pdf if you use software like that. if you stick with something more open from the start then you can simply open the file and edit it in afew years.
I'm worked with computers and in IT a lot and have seena lot of poeple get stuck with data in some format and waste a lot of time re-entering data because of using programs like that.
There are a couple somewhat recent threads on this form where there are links to templates you can use which do not require special software or a propritary database format.

Eugene,
I can't disagree with your thoughtful comments. I can easily open useless documents from 1997, but if I need one badly, Mr Murphy often steps in.

You mention some recent earlier threads that may have covered this ground. I ran a search but came up empty.
Any keyword you could recommend?

Thanks

See here, page 3 particularly .