I started working on creating a nice looking "table of accounts" to provide a detailed, single-page snapshot of my fiscal situation. This was partly triggered by DW stating that "if you're hit by a bus I won't know what's going on with all your finances". I also want to have a more detailed "snapshot" of my accounts than my overall networth calculation provides. Although initially I'm just creating an excel spreadsheet to display the required information (see below), I'm toying with the idea of writing a .net application (either VB or Java) to display this info. The benefit would be that I could later on add in a webscraper object (eg. WebZinc) to automatically collect the latest figures off the internet (for nearly all the items), which would mean I'd only have to update some figure manually once a month (like my property valuation estimates, and some online data that has overly secure login methods). I don't think I have the time to start on such a hobby project at the moment though - I have some uni assignments due this weekend for the Master of IT and Grad Dip in Seconday Education courses I'm enrolled in.
One thing this chart already shows is that I have overly complicated my life by accumulated lots of surplus accounts in recent times. The three different margin lending accounts were opened as I evolved from starting with just a basic margin loan account to then adding one that also provider online trading access, and then to another from my home loan provider where the interest rate was at a slight discount. Most of the online savings accounts were opened just to get a small opening bonus, or accumulate some referral bonuses. And most of the credit card accounts were opened to make use of 0% balance transfer offers. There are also some cash management accounts that were automatically opened for me when I opened margin loan or brokerage accounts.
An interesting thing I've included which I don't normally consider, are contingent liabilities and contingent assets ie. Capital Gains Tax that would be due if I liquidated my stock investments (I'm still updating my stock transaction log, so I don't even know what this figure is at the moment), the value of my life insurance policy, a guestimate of possible inheritance (although this could easily end up being $0), and the current value of my accumulated annual and long-service leave which would be paid out if I quit my current job.
Enough Wealth
A Table of Accounts
April 4th, 2007 at 02:37 pm
April 4th, 2007 at 06:11 pm 1175710300
On his web site, financial guru Jonathan Pond has a 14-page letter of instructions that you can dowload for free and fill out for your DW.
http://jonathanpond.com/letterofinstructions.html
When my husband & I did our wills last summer, I showed the completed letter of instructions to our attorney. He was so impressed with its thoroughness that he wrote down the web site and said he was going to start referring it to all of his estate planning customers.
Because my husband speaks English as a second language, I handle many of the financial tasks in our household for practical reasons. I used to worry that he would not know where to begin if I were "hit by a bus." Since completing the Letter of Instructions (and since making sure all important financial papers including the LofI are filed in one easy-to-understand, portable file) I have not had one moment of worry about how he would cope if I passed.
April 4th, 2007 at 07:16 pm 1175714193
April 5th, 2007 at 03:19 pm 1175786375
Hopefully, she might get some quiet time during the day when DS1 is at school, I'm at work and DS2 is having a nap, to look at the Table of Accounts in detail.