A few months ago, I saw a very large transaction on my credit card, which I had not made. I had to file a fraud report with the credit card issuer immediately to avoid charges. Unfortunately, all the information regarding that card were littered in different files and sometimes were not available at all. It was then I decided to create a repository of all important information. As I thought through this, I asked if this had more benefits than I realized.

Interacting with third-parties

We often need to have account information about our transactions when we deal with banks, insurance companies,  credit card companies etc. It is helpful to have all the information at one place, so that you don’t have to flip through dusty files to find that small piece of information.

Family members in case of an unforeseen incident

Tragic incidents can strike anytime. Imagine you being in hospital and your loved ones dealing with insurance companies to get that critical funds for your hospital care. We definitely don’t want to add that trauma to our distraught family. Such a document provides them a single reference for all that vital information

All your assets and liabilities in one place

If and when you start thinking about your “net worth”, it would be good to see all your life’s important aspects at one place. It can help you de-clutter all that information that gets mixed up in the brain. There is a satisfactory feeling to see so much information in one place!

How to create the Master Information document?

Once I understood the power of this inventory list, my next thought was on the implementation – how do I set up this Master Information document? It had to be in a format that was easy to setup, use and update regularly. A spreadsheet was the obvious answer. I opened a fresh MS Excel document and paused,”what information do I need in each of the situations I have thought about?”

Back to pen and paper it was (this is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse). Once I had the structure clear, I transferred it to the Excel.

Information you might want to have in this document:

  • Bank accounts – Bank Name, Account No., Branch, Customer Id, your Date of birth, mailing address, ATM/Debit Card No, ATM PIN, Internet Banking Id, Internet Banking PIN, Telephone Banking PIN, your email id, 24×7 Helpdesk Phone Nos.
  • Credit Cards – Bank Name, Account No., Branch, Customer Id, your Date of birth, mailing address, 16-digit Credit Card Card No, Card PIN, Internet Banking Id, Internet Banking PIN, Telephone Banking PIN, Billing Cycle, your email id, 24×7 Helpdesk Phone Nos.
  • Insurance – Name of Insurance Provider, Insurance Plan, Folio/Policy No, Customer ID, Address, Date of birth, Premium Amount, Frequency of Premium, Due dates for Premium (if not monthly), Contact No., Nominees/Beneficiaries. If it is a market-linked plan (ULIP), then you may have a choice of investment models (aggressive or secure investments).
  • Home – Address, Registration details, Builder Name and contact no, Home loan provider, Loan Amount, % interest, Fixed/floating, EMI, post-dated cheque nos (drawn on bank).
  • Car – Car Registration details, Number plate, Company Service centre contact No, emergency contact no, Car Insurance provider, Car insurance Amount, Insurance payment due date, Servicing details (Cumulative).

Based on your situation, you may want to add more information. Remember, it costs nothing to put in the information, but can save you much worry if you do it.

It took about 4 hours for me to find the information from all my files and papers and consolidate in the Excel. Once I was done, though, I was very happy with the output. my wife, who often complains that I am very disorganized in such things, was very happy to see this.

If you want to quickstart your consolidation exercise, you can download the template that I use from here

Some Notes:

1. Store this document very carefully, preferably using a encryption software such as TrueCrypt or AxCrypt. In the wrong hands, this document can be very dangerous.

2. Update this document frequently or there is the greater danger of this becoming obsolete. Greater because people will trust the information to be reliable when its not.

3. Due to reason 1 above, I am also not in favor of putting this document on the web. Say what you will, I am paranoid.

4. Create a backup every year and store the latest version in a fireproof safe. If the document has changed a lot, do this several times a year.