I think this is a great idea. Another great idea is to go through your house inch-by-inch with a video camera. The video can be used as a reminder of what exactly you had should you ever lose anything in a fire or some other disaster. Just be sure that you keep a copy of the video in your personal safe or safe deposit box.

Finally, one other thing the lady from III suggested was making sure your insurance is updated when you make a large purchase. Yes, it will mean an increase in your premium, but it will also mean that you’re covered.

I spent some time over the weekend deleting and organizing my emails. My inbox contained over 1,200 emails before I started cleaning.

I spent some time setting up folders for the emails that I wanted/needed to keep. Then I simply moved those emails to their proper folder and deleted the rest. I’m now down to 9 emails in my inbox and I’m committed to cleaning it out daily.

I told my wife about my inbox feat and she told me that she has over 4,000 emails in her inbox. It’ll take her a long time to get that organized!

How about you? Are you an email hoarder or purger or just plain lazy?

Today’s giveaway is CrossItOff.list, which is a little book for making to-do lists. Sure, you can accomplish the same thing with a notebook. This just does it with some style.

To be entered into the giveaway, simply leave a comment below. I just have two rules:

1. You must be a resident of the U.S. or Canada, and…

2. You can only enter ONE TIME!

I’ll announce the randomly-selected winners tomorrow morning.

GOOD LUCK!

Since I’m ALWAYS thinking about AllFinancialMatters, I decided to pick up two of the binders (one for me to try out and one to giveaway to one of my lucky readers!).

I haven’t had time to fully investigate Life.doc yet but I have at least looked through it. The binder contains tabs and information sheets for the following areas:

• Emergency Plan
• Family Basics
• Healthcare
• Insurance
• Dollars & Sense
• Legal Information
• Caregiver Information (for both kids and older parents)
• Household Information

The cool thing is that the binder comes with a CD Rom that contains all the documents as Word files that you can fill out on the computer. Once you have the document filled out, you can save it to your hard drive and also print it on the corresponding form that comes in the binder. This will give your binder a nice, clean look. It’s also great if you have sloppy handwriting.

Now, this is by no means a complete organization system. This is essentially a place to store all the information about your accounts, important phone numbers, contact information, account locations, etc. I don’t know about you but one of the frustrating things to me is when I need an account number or something like that and I have to spend time looking for the information. If you use the Life.doc binder correctly, you’ll have that information at your fingertips.

Here’s the really cool part: I’m giving away a Life.doc binder to ONE lucky reader. To enter the drawing, simply leave a comment. The drawing is open to residents of the United States and Canada. I’ll randomly select a winner on Wednesday. GOOD LUCK.

Oh, and if you don’t win, you can purchase a Life.doc binder for yourself either through the Buttoned Up website for $29.99 or at Target for $19.99.

A friend of mine asked for my advice on how to approach a friend of hers who needs some help getting her finances organized. My friend also has a couple names of professionals who might be able to provide help. What do you think is the best way for her to broach the subject?

Wow! I don’t know. Advice given without first being asked for advice, doesn’t work and can easily alienate the receiver. If this person has a close relationship with her friend, the best thing to do would be to just start a dialogue about finances in general and hope that the other person opens up. It may take a while because people tend to keep their finances in a lockbox and don’t discuss them with their friends. However, if this person is feeling overwhelmed with their situation, they may secretly want some help but just don’t know who or how to ask.

To start the dialogue (listen to me try to sound like a communications expert), here are a conversation-starters that might work:

1. “My 401(k) grew x% last year.”

2. “I just read a really good personal finance book…”

3. “My favorite blog is AllFinancialMatters.com.” (hey, it couldn’t hurt!)

4. “My life has been so much easier since I started banking online.”

5. “You need to get your act together!” (don’t really use this one.)

6. “Have you ever thought about what you want to do when you retire?”

7. “Man am I glad I have an emergency fund.”

8. “Well, I finally paid off my last credit card…”

There’s a few that I can think of. I’m sure there’s lots more that might help get things started. The main thing is to take it easy. If the friend doesn’t take the bait, don’t push it.

Now I would like to know what you guys think. What are your thoughts on this topic?

Here are some suggestions that I found in The Ernst & Young Tax Guide 2007 of records that you should keep on hand in addition to your income tax return.

I recommend that you…

1. Get yourself a hanging folder and label it for the tax year
2. Get three manila folders labeled with the following three categories: Income, Expense, and Credits
3. File all of your records according to which manila folder they belong in
4. Your accountant will LOVE you

INCOME

• Wages & Salaries – Form W-2
• Interest Income – 1099-INT, 1099-OID or Substitute 1099, such as a broker statement or year-end account summary
• Dividend Income – 1099-DIV or Substitute 1099, such as a broker statement or year-end account summary
• State Tax Refunds – Form 1099-G, state income tax return
• Self-Employment Income – Sales slips, invoices, receipts, sales tax reports, business books and records, 1099-MISC
• Captial Gains and Losses – 1099-B or Substitute 1099, such as broker statement or year-end account summary showing proceeds from assets of securities or other capital assets (see the book for more important details).
• IRA Distributions – 1099-R, year-end account summary, Form 8606
• Pension and Annuities – 1099-R, records of contributions
• Rents – Checkbook, receipts and canceled checks, and other books and records, 1099-MISC
• Partnerships, S Corporations – Schedule K-1, record of unused passive activity losses
• Estates, Trusts – Schedule K-1, copies of last will and testament including codicils, Form 56-Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship, Form 1310-Statement of Person Claiming Refund due a Deceased Taxpayer. Again, see the book for more important details.
• Social Security Benefits – Form SSA-1099
• Royalties – 1099-MISC
• Unemployment Compensation – 1099-G
• Alimony – Divorce settlement papers
• Miscellaneous Income – 1099-MISC and other records of amounts received

EXPENSE

• Domestic Employee Expense – Canceled checks, state unemployement tax payments; see Chapter 40 – What to Do If You Employ Domestic Help in the book.
• Self-Employment Expense – Bills, canceled checks, receipts, bank statements, all business books and records
• IRA Contribution – Year-end account summary, deposit receipt
• Keogh Contribution – Year-end account summary, deposit receipt
• Alimony – Divorce settlement papers, canceled alimony checks
• Medical and Dental Expense – Bills, canceled checks, receipts, pay stubs if employer withholds medical insurance from wages
• Taxes – Canceled checks, mortgage statements, receipts, Form W-2
• Interest Expense – Bank statements, mortgage statements (Form 1098), canceled checks
• Charitable Contributions – Canceled checks, receipts, detailed description of noncash property contributed
• Miscellaneous Deductions – Receipts, canceled checks, or other documentary evidence (see Chapters 27 – 29 in the book
• Casualty and Theft Losses – Description of property, photograph of damaged property, receipts, canceled checks, policy and insurance reports
• Exemptions – Birth certificates, Social Security numbers

CREDITS

• Child and Dependent Care – Receipts, canceled checks and name, address, and identification number of care provider
• Estimated Taxes – Canceled checks
• Foreign Taxes – Form 1099 DIV
• Withheld Taxes – Forms W-2 and 1099

There is!

Here’s a method for reading magazines that I learned from an audio that I heard by Brian Tracy. It’s fairly simple to implement and can help you save time and get organized. His method:

1. Set aside an hour or two per month and sit down with all the magazines.

2. Flip through the magazines one-by-one, looking for articles that you want to read later. If you think there is something worth reading, tear it out and put in a file folder.

3. When you are done, you have created your own magazine. Then, you can take the folder with you and read it whenever you have spare time or have to wait in line somewhere.

4. Once you have read the pieces you saved, you can either file them for later reference if necessary, or you could bookmark them in your del.icio.us account or other similiar account, tagging it with topic tags so you can easily find it later should you need it.

I have been using this method for a couple of months now and I like it. It saves me time because I no longer waste time flipping through the same magazine more than once. If you read a lot of magazines, give it a try and see if it works for you.

Wow, and double-wow. I thought I knew how to network, but Jeffrey Meshel does it on a mega-level, and teaches some of us old dogs some pretty amazing new tricks. I am impressed, and would urge everybody, young, old, and somewhere in the middle to read this, and employ his brilliant tactics and tips. You can’t miss with ONE PHONE CALL AWAY!

-Harvey Mackay, #1 bestselling author of Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Fired Up

One Phone Call Away is a perfect book for someone wanting to either get started in networking or just brush up on their skills. I have to admit that I had a hard time putting the book down once I started reading it. With the exception of the two chapters on selling, I enjoyed the entire book. That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate the power of networking in sales, it’s just that the chapters didn’t really seem to fit in with the rest of the book.

I like the fact that Meshel operates from the “what-can-I-do-for-you” mentality rather than the “what’s-in-it-for-me” way of thinking that seems to be so prevalent these days. I agree with Meshel in that if a person really wants to “get ahead” they HAVE to put other’s interests first. Meshel gets a lot of satisfaction out of helping people. He talks about using his network of 5,000 contacts to help with charity events and other causes. He also talks about how he uses Goldmine to organize his contacts (he believes that the old Rolodexes belong in the attic!). Finally, at the end of the book, he talks about professional networking groups like the Young Presidents’ Organization and World President’s Organization (the organization a YPOer graduates to at age 49), which are organizations that most people aren’t qualified to join. Still, the discussion of these networking groups is interesting.

Bottom line: If you are looking for a book to help you get started in or become more proficient in networking, One Phone Call Away is a great place to start.

Now, here are some interesting links related to this post:

OnePhoneCallAway.com – the official website of the book

Jeffrey Meshel’s Blog

Paradigm V – the ultimate networking resource

HarveyMackay.com

“If you keep your inbox full rather than empty, it may mean you keep your life cluttered in other ways,” says psychologist Dave Greenfield, who founded the Center for Internet Behavior in West Hartford, Conn. “Do you cling to the past? Do you have a lot of unfinished business in your life?”

Okay, I have to confess: at this time I have 1,074 messages in my inbox. I’m not “holding on to them.” Rather, I’m just lazy! I’m usually pretty good at responding to important emails. I’m just bad at deleting the stuff I don’t need.

What about you? How emails are in your inbox?

UPDATE: I added a copy of your will to the list (thanks to reader Stacey for the reminder!)

PERSONAL DOCUMENTATION

ϑ Marriage certificate

ϑ Copy of will

ϑ Birth certificate

ϑ *Copy of passport

ϑ *Copy of college degree

ϑ *Copy of professional license

ϑ *Copy of separation/divorce papers

ϑ Social Security Card

ϑ *Copy of health information (vaccinations, hospitalizations)

ϑ *Military records

REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY

ϑ *Deeds, titles, title insurance for home

ϑ *Deeds, titles, title insurance for any other property you own

ϑ *Deeds, title, title insurance for auto(s)

ϑ *Videotape/DVD inventory of house

ϑ *Copy of receipts for big-ticket items like furnishings

ϑ *Copy of homeowner’s insurance

ϑ *Copy of receipts for home improvements

ϑ *Coins, jewelry, etc.

FINANCIAL/BUSINESS

ϑ *Copy of employment contract

ϑ *Original stock certificates (if not held in street name, which is the recommended form of ownership)

ϑ *Original prospectuses and sales materials for any limited partnerships

ϑ *Bonds and Treasury securities (if not held in street name)

ϑ *U.S. savings bonds