I can smell the smoke as the North Bay fires continue to burn. In this disaster the stories of loss, coming by word of mouth, are racking up. Friends of friends were awoken in the middle of the night with only time to flee. A business associate is grateful to be alive and to have friends with whom to stay. News images of familiar places, reduced to cinders, leave me agape.
And it is was a summer of natural disasters too; hurricanes in Houston, Florida, and Puerto Rico; massive earthquakes in Mexico. They remind us that calamity can strike with little or no warning. The time to prepare is now. Here is a brief checklist you can knock off (before Thanksgiving). It is not an exhaustive list, so you can definitely accomplish it in the very near term.
Update Your Home Insurance
All insurance agents send annual premium renewals, but most of us fail to review the adequacy of the coverage we are renewing. Call your agent. Building costs are up sharply in recent years. While you are at it, ask for a quote on earthquake insurance. Equity is building up in your home. Ask your advisor how losing that equity in an earthquake would impact your financial plan and weigh the cost. Remember, insurance is for unlikely events.
Create a ‘Go Box’
I keep birth certificates, social security cards, life insurance policies and other critical documents in a small plastic filing box. If you depend on medication, include that as well. My ‘go box’ sits on a bookshelf in my home office. If I have to flee, I am putting on shoes, grabbing the family, the dogs, my ‘go box’ and my phone (possibly my laptop). Put a set of keys in the ‘go box’. You don’t want to waste time when you are in a panic. While you are at it, put a couple of mobile phone chargers in there.
Stock Up on Food and Water
The standard advice is to have three days worth of food and water on hand for emergencies. Plan on one gallon of water per person, per day. I store five days worth, plus extra to help out neighbors. The food items should not require cooking or a can opener. I buy items that I will use anyway so that I can rotate the stock into my pantry and not waste food. Set reminders on your calendar so that you are aware of expiration dates.
Basic Emergency Equipment
Get a first aid kit. Make sure you have fresh batteries and flashlights. Include an external battery from which you can recharge your mobile phone. I also have a hand crank charger so that I would continue to be able to make calls after my batteries are exhausted.
There are plenty of other smart steps that you can take. You can research them at www.ready.gov, but these four items are the bare minimum. And you can get them done before the holidays.
