Documents and access: if something happens

A money map is one page that lets someone find everything the family would need if you couldn't explain it. It answers what exists, where, and when:

• each account and card, and what it's for;
• debts, with payment dates;
• insurance policies, with numbers and the claims phone;
• savings;
• regular bills and their dates;
• where the documents are, and whom to call.

The hard rule is what it never holds: PINs, passwords, one-time codes or full card numbers. The map says what exists and where — it must never open anything. That is what makes it safe to leave in a folder, carry in a grab bag or hand to a trusted person. Secrets stay only with their owner; access to the money comes from each adult's own account and card, not from the map.

Sharing a banking password feels simple but is the wrong tool. Bank rules usually forbid letting someone log in as you, and a shared password makes it hard to prove a transfer wasn't yours — the same fraud rules apply inside the family.

Build access a safer way:

• Each adult has their own account and card, with some everyday money of their own.
• Essentials don't ride on one phone: set up regular payments or a family-member card through the bank.
• Each partner keeps a buffer in their own name, because money in one person's accounts usually can't simply be used by the family after a death — it goes through a legal process that takes time.

When someone genuinely can't act, legal tools such as a power of attorney exist, but how they're made and what they cover is a question for a notary or lawyer, and the rules change — check them for your own situation before you need them.

Paper matters as much as the map. Give each thing a home so the family isn't searching in a crisis:

• Originals — IDs, the rental contract, the child's documents, loan contracts, policies — in one folder at home everyone knows about.
• Scans of all of them in a protected online folder with a strong password and login confirmation.
• A second paper set with a trusted person in another city, so one fire or flood can't destroy everything.
• A grab bag by the door: copies, the money map, a charged power bank and cash for a few days of food, transport and a room, in case cards or networks stop.

Two lines never move: the whole cushion stays in accounts, not in the bag, and secrets (PINs, passwords, codes) stay only with their owner. Spreading copies protects against loss; keeping secrets off them protects against theft.

A money map earns its keep only if it's current and someone knows where it is.

Current. Review it once a year and after every change: a new card, a closed account, a new policy or loan. A map that misses the newest account is wrong exactly where the family knows the least.

Findable. Tell your partner and one trusted person outside your home where it lives — not just that it exists — in case you're both affected at once. The map is written for the moment its author can't explain anything, so "somewhere safe that only I know" defeats the point.

One detail belongs on the map and must stay alive in the world: the phone number linked to the bank. Keep it active; an abandoned number can be reissued to a stranger, who would then receive the bank's codes.

Setting up the map and access fits in one evening if you keep the order. Each step depends on the one before:

1. List everything — open the banking apps and papers and write down every account, card, debt, policy and regular payment. Don't fix anything yet; you can't fix what you haven't seen.
2. Fix the gaps the list shows — the biggest is usually that everything runs through one phone or one card: give the other adult their own card and buffer.
3. Gather the paper — originals in one folder, then the copies.
4. Tell the people who need to know — your partner and one trusted person, now that there's something to point to.
5. Put a yearly review date in the calendar, so the map stays true.

Starting with the inventory keeps the evening calm: you're describing what you have before changing anything.