Please close your eyes for a few moments. Now take your mind to the kitchen and mentally open every drawer. Can you count every item in every drawer as you proceed from one drawer to the next, to the next and to the next...now (keeping your eyes closed) count everything in every cabinet, then the refrigerator... then off to your bedroom....let's do one closet, then another... then each and every drawer...the linen closet...how about the books and magazines... ?
Who's Counting?
Now lets go to the basement or garage or workshop or cottage...Can you list everything there? Assume you aren't available...can you Partner count any of it, some of it... all of it ?
"...been there...done that...". I couldn't...we couldn't... and after a house fire it took weeks and weeks to come close, after 11 years we are still recalling things we hadn't claimed.
Who wins in these circumstances? Not you ! Not me !
...and just what are pictures and family heirlooms worth?
Fire, flood (and oh yuk...sewers), hurricane, heavy snow loads, theft and whatever else... Most of us have seen the blindfolded couple on TV.. waiting for the Home Makeover Crew to 'redecorate' their home...
A friend had her home robbed. After all the claims had been made and the heirloom jewelry (her mother's ring) 'replaced' and the TV, VCR, Stereo etc. replaced with all new...she became suspicious of a van that was 'working' in her neighborhood and a young man that came knocking on her door without a satisfactory reason. She pursued this with the police and the crooks were caught. These fellows knew there was new marketable merchandise in my friend's home and that the 'new' was worth more than the 'originals' they had stolen several weeks earlier.
Who's Counting?
At work it can be shop lifting, employee 'finesse' or 'liberation' and all of the above... and perhaps more.
Every one of us have Assets of value to us. Even if they have no 'market' value they may be our greatest treasures.
It is pro-active to document or inventory our assets...to write it down...have a digital picture library of everything and store it in a very safe place. Perhaps items of extra value will need
extra protection.
Think quick: my original Will, my Powers of Attorney for ... my 'Dad, Mother, Best Friend, Aunt's... my Medical directive, my deeds, my valuables... the documentation of my assets.
- Can I find them at a moments notice?
- Are they in a safe place?
- Is someone able to find them quickly in an emergency?
- Is someone able to find them when I'm not available to help?
- Is there a copy of my inventory in the cabinet by the Computer? (...just so any self respecting 'invader' can take it along... so that their return trip will take them directly to the good stuff...yes this does happen... The story above is absolutely true!)
- Am I properly protected and insured?
Yes, we are all vulnerable.
The less we have ...the less we can afford to lose... the more we have... the more we have to lose.
...and yes there are ways to protect my assets and your assets...no perfect systems mind you...but likely better than what most of us have in place right now...
It is great to close my eyes and know where everything is, the important papers, the things that matter most.
I'll never under rate the memories...but that gets more challenging each year and those family photos do help!
Perhaps I've been able to get you thinking about counting.
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