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Chapter 1: The Emergency Kit


I was reading Dr. Beard’s post on Beards and Money and this thought dawned upon me - What will happen to my young fam, Mrs. El Jefe, if I accidentally get hit by a bus while wandering around downtown HTX, especially when these damn bus drivers think they can cross the complete intersection not when the light is yellow, but red, perhaps maroon?

I am no longer the guy who procrastinates and lives life like there’s no tomorrow. I am a planner, and I have to secure a future for Mrs. El Jefe, so that should anything happen to me prematurely, she can continue the journey of life as normally as possible. I am smart. Be like El Jefe.

Dr. Beard excellently lays out a plan for the “I love you money”, and I highly recommend reading that post. The thought that dawned upon me is that – If I am gone or become a vegetable, how will Mrs. El Jefe know where our “financial stuff” is? How is she going to extract it out of my brain, and how to use that information? She is the creative one in the fam, but I can get very creative with passwords and security answers. And she has absolutely no interest in “financial stuff”.

So, I have subtly explained the why I needed an Emergency Kit; Here is what I have done –

Download LockNote. It’s an Open Source software and very easy to use. It’s just a notepad with a lock – a really BIG lock with 256-bit AES encryption. The idea here is to make it as easy as possible for Mrs. El Jefe to access this information, and all she should need is a computer. No internet, no MS Office, no nothing, nada!

In this notepad, write down the following for each account –
                                                            i.      Name and location
                                                            ii.      What is it for?
                                                            iii.      What is the current balance?
                                                            iv.      Account and Routing numbers
                                                            v.      Online User ID and PW

 ------**Financials**------

**Banks**

1      
Name:
 Bank of America, Houston
Account Number:
 123456789
Online ID:
 ElJefe123
Online PW:
 *********
Notes:
This is the main bank account.
Salary comes here on a bi-weekly basis.
All bills are paid from here.
Linked to savings account with Emergency funds.
Currently has $20,000.

2       
Name:
 JP Morgan Chase, Austin
Account Number:
 987654321
Online ID:
 ElJefe321
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
Chase Premier account.
Savings account.
Currently has $35,000.

**Credit cards**

1      
Name:
 American Express
Account Number:
 Account number is same as credit card number
Online ID:
 LastNameFirstName
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
 Phone identification password is “*****”

2      
Name:
 Chase Sapphire Reserve
Account Number:
 Account number is same as credit card number
Online ID:
 LastNameFirstName
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
Phone identification password is “*****”
Linked to main Chase account.
3      
Name:
 Discover It
Account Number:
 Account number is same as credit card number
Online ID:
 MyDiscoverAccount
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
Phone identification password is “*****”
Linked to main Chase account.

**401k and Stocks**

1        
Name:
 Fidelity
Account Number:
 123654789
Online ID:
 ElJefeSavesMoney123
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
Company’s 401k account
Currently has $150,000

2        
Name:
UBS
Account Number:
987987987 
Online ID:
ElJefe_RSU
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
RSU’s are issued here.
25% vests every year.
Currently has $40,000

3        
Name:
eTrade
Account Number:
123123123 
Online ID:
ElJefe_Stocks
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
Stock trading account.
  

 **Life Insurance**

1       
Name:
Reliance Standard
Account Number:
123123123 
Online ID:
ElJefe_WorkInsurance
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
Insured through work.
ElJefe: 2x salary + $250,000
Mrs. ElJefe: $220,000

2      
Name:
New York Life
Account Number:
111222333 
Online ID:
ElJefe_PersonalInsurance
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
Term Life for 10 years.
ElJefe: $500,000
Mrs. ElJefe: $500,000

------**Other Money Related**------

1   
Name:
ADP
Account Number:
55555555
Online ID:
ElJefe_Pay
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
IRS tax information and pay slips

2     
Name:
Renter Insurance
Account Number:
InsureMyHome
Online ID:
ElJefe_HomeIns
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
Renter’s insurance details.

3        
Name:
GEICO Automobile Insurance
Account Number:
CarAndMotorcyle
Online ID:
GEICOGEICO
Online PW:
 ********
Notes:
Automobile Insurance

------**Emails**------


Gmail:
  • Account
  • PW

Yahoo:
  • Account
  • PW

School:
  • Account
  • PW

So after having written all of this information for Mrs. Jefe, I set a password on this LockNote with a password that we do not use for any transactions online or otherwise. It’s something only she and I know and have committed to memory. Think Two Factor Authentication or 2FA. I will cover 2FA in my subsequent posts.


Any who, I then bought a flash drive and dumped this LockNote in there.

To seal the deal, I went to PowerofAttorney.com and downloaded a free copy of a durable power of attorney for great state of Texas. I filled it out and chose this alternative among the two –


(B) This power of attorney becomes effective upon disability or incapacity.

This is pretty straight forward, if I get hit by that bus I mentioned earlier and become a vegetable if a physician certifies in writing at a date later than the date this power of attorney is executed that I have in fact become a broccoli.

I also went ahead and filled out another durable power of attorney and chose this alternative among the two –

(A) This power of attorney is not affected by my subsequent disability or incapacity.

The reason being, I want to give her the full authority to make decisions on my behalf if say, I am travelling up the country on my motorcycle and decide to camp out there with no phone or internet access.

I don’t want her to get “stuck” somewhere in the system where she cannot make decisions on my behalf.

Since we have a Chase Premier account, we walked into the Chase bank location I frequently bank with and had both the power of attorneys notarized for free.

I then kept the flash drive along with the power of attorneys in a safety deposit box with a note to self to update that Locknote every 6 months.

It’s worth mentioning that it is the same safety deposit box that I rent for 20% off since I have a Chase Premier account.


There! You just saved 20% on renting a safety deposit box along with a peaceful night’s sleep!


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