How to make a list of your accounts for your family

When someone passes away, the people sorting things out spend a surprising amount of time simply finding out what there is. Which bank? Was there a pension from the old job? Who is still taking money from the card every month?

Most of that searching can be saved by one page, written now, in an evening. It is not a list of passwords and it is not a will. It is a list of who to contact. This post walks through what to put on it, how to find everything, and how to keep it safe and current.

What the list is for

Your family will have to contact each place you hold an account, and close it, claim it or move it. They cannot do that for a place they do not know about.

So the list has one job: to tell them where to start. They will still need to prove who they are to each place, and each place has its own process for that. The list does not replace any of it. It saves the weeks spent opening post, reading old statements and guessing.

What to put on each line

Keep each line short. For every account or policy, write:

• The name of the organisation. The bank, the insurer, the pension provider, the company.
• What kind of account it is. Current account, savings, mortgage, credit card, life insurance, workplace pension, and so on.
• The last four digits of the account or policy number. Enough to tell two accounts apart, without the full number sitting on a page.
• Where the paperwork is. "Statements by email", "blue folder in the desk", "letters in the filing box".
• Anyone else named on it. A joint account holder, or a person you have named to receive a policy, if you know.

That is all. Five facts per line is enough to start.

How to find them all

Nobody remembers every account, so walk through the places your money comes from and goes to.

1. A month of bank statements. Read each line. Every regular payment out is something to list: a loan, a policy, a subscription. Every payment in points somewhere too: a pension, rent, interest from another account.
2. Your card statements. These catch the subscriptions that renew quietly, year after year.
3. Your email. Search for words like "statement", "policy", "renewal", "annual summary" and "your account". Old accounts often turn up here.
4. Your phone. Look at the apps. A banking app, a payment app or an investment app is an account worth a line.
5. The post and the filing box. Annual letters from pensions and insurers are easy to forget because they only arrive once a year.

The ones people forget

Some accounts slip through even a careful search. It is worth asking yourself about each of these:

• Pensions from earlier jobs, including short ones.
• Life insurance that came with a job, or with a mortgage.
• Small savings accounts opened years ago and never closed.
• Payment apps and online accounts that hold a balance.
• Store cards, loyalty schemes and gift balances.
• Anything you owe: loans, credit cards, buy-now-pay-later plans, money borrowed from family. Your family needs to know about these as much as what you own.
• Things that pay you: a tenant, a small business, a share of something.

Keeping it safe

A list like this is private, so treat it with care.

• Leave the passwords off. The list says where the accounts are, not how to get into them. If you want to leave passwords, keep them somewhere separate, such as a password manager or a sealed envelope, and write on the list only where that is.
• Keep numbers partial. The last four digits are enough for your family to say which account they mean.
• Tell one or two people it exists. The person you have asked to sort things out is the natural choice, and one more person you trust in case they are not able to.
• Know who holds what. If a solicitor or financial planner already looks after some of this, put their name and number at the top. They are often the first call your family makes.

The rules about what a family can and cannot do with someone's accounts vary from place to place. This post is not legal or financial advice; a solicitor, or the organisation itself, can tell you what applies to you.

Keeping it current

Accounts open and close. Jobs change, mortgages end, an insurer is bought by another. An old list still helps, but a current one helps far more.

An easy habit is to read the list once a year, on a date you already notice, such as a birthday or the start of the tax year. Add anything new, cross out anything closed, and change the date at the bottom.

What to do this week

1. Open last month's bank statement and write one line for every regular payment in or out.
2. Search your email for "statement" and "policy", and add anything new.
3. Go through the forgotten list above, one item at a time.
4. Add where the paperwork is for each line, and the last four digits.
5. Tell one person that the list exists and where to find it.
6. Put a reminder in your calendar to read it again next year.

Where to keep the list

A folder in the desk works, as long as the right person knows it is there. If you would rather the list stayed private until it is needed, you can upload it to Legacy Drawer and seal it for the people you choose: it is locked on your own device, they can see its title and your name so they know it is waiting, and it opens for them on a date you pick or when you stop answering our check-in emails. However you keep it, the aim is the same. When the time comes, your family knows where to start.