We just added S2 as a signer on our safe deposit, so keeping that information in there is a possibility. The only problem I see with keeping it in the safe deposit box is not updating it as readily as we would if that info were at home. OTOH, it’s much safer to keep it in the safe deposit box.
Living through it certainly motivated me and DH to clean up our accounts, papers and stuff to deal with. We do everything possible on computer. Scan bills and put them on encrypted files. backups done automagically. Every six months we take the back up disk to the bank for the safe deposit box, PW stored in another encrypted file so only one pw to get and it is taped to the disk… BUT we didn’t tell kids where that safe deposit box was or add them as signers , ack. Always something!!
I keep a list of passwords in a place on my computer, but it is codified with “usual” personal and “usual” business password and notes about capitalization, special characters, and numbers. I update it constantly. Every January I print it & put it in a zippy case where our trust documents are. I also note where they will find the most up to date list, but at least they have a starting place.
I also put in other reminders about personal items and a loving letter to each kid. I figure it will not be used for many many years, but should we die unexpectedly or quickly, it will all be there
What a great idea, @somemom
Quick wrapup for the river cruise: it continued to be great. Whoever recommended the Keukenhof gardens was spot-on; they blew us away with their magnificence, and any visitor to Amsterdam during April and May should not miss them. We stayed for five hours, and we didn’t end up seeing everything. It’s not just some tulips: it’s swathes and fields and rows of tulips, all carefully matched for color. Some groupings were of just one kind of tulip, and some were mixtures of colors and heights of flowers. Beds abutted beds, in rows and curves and curlicues You can’t believe how beautiful it is until you’re there.
We were lucky to be able to get a wheelchair at the Keukenhof-- they have many wheelchairs, and they’re free to use, but it’s recommended to reserve one in advance, which we did not do. I’m afraid that Mom’s Alzheimers is showing in her gait now; she shuffles along slowly. Most of the time when we walked with her, at least one of us gave her an arm for support. If we hadn’t had a wheelchair, we would have barely been able to scratch the surface of seeing the Keukenhof.
The cruise ship was good for someone with limited mobility, because of its relatively small size and its elevator The service was topnotch. The staff got to know who we were; at one point when I returned to my room, the maid said cheerily, “Your mother’s down at lunch with your sister,” showing that she was was noticing what was going on with passengers. All the male staff would leap to help mom if she seemed to need a hand getting on a bus, or going up to the sundeck or anything.
A river cruise can be a good choice for someone whose health is failing a bit, but who is still able to travel.
I cried when I said goodbye to my mother and sister. In the back of my mind, I knew I might never see her again. She’s 90. Who knows?
Hmmm, maybe we’ll do that river cruise for our 30th anniversary. It sounds quite idyllic!
Thanks for the great review, CF. We’ve talked about doing a river cruise next year for our 35th anniversary, but we were thinking about one of the Provence/Burgundy cruises. Now I’m thinking we might expand our possibilities.
CF, thanks. I’ve had brochures sent to my mom and she’s in the process of picking which river cruise line she prefers. AMA is at the top of the list at the moment, so I may have the opportunity to experience all of this for myself about a year from now!
I’m so glad you liked Keukenhof and that you were able to get a wheelchair for your mom. What a bunch of nice memories you have of her and the trip, and you planned it beautifully so she could enjoy what she could while still giving you freedom to enjoy it as well. Pretty awesome to be able to travel at 90!
One of my aunts just turned 80. She has always loved butterflies. Her Ds took her to Vegas for her birthday. While there, my aunt got a TATTOO!!! I guess she won’t have to worry about what it looks like when she gets old…she sent my dad a picture. I thought he’d have a heart attack!
That’s great! I personally am no fan of tattoos, but it’s great that she didn’t allow her age to stop her from getting a body mod that she wanted.
Fang, I’m so so glad you got to do this with your mom. Memories to treasure forever.
I’ve never heard of the Keukenhof gardens, so I did a google image. The pictures are breathtaking, and I can only imagine it’s 1000 times more spectacular in person.
Good suggestion about buying a published aid to put all information together - I purchased Kathleen Fraser’s book (from 2009) - I have good luck with Amazon used booksellers. $3.99 shipping plus cost, so for $6 I think this resource will be useful for me.
I am excited H and I are going to a Dave Ramsey and Chris Hogan evening live event “Smart Money” - Nashville Oct event. Also am seeing if he is in the studio that day, as I want my books signed. Sounds like low level excitement compared to a European river cruise, but I think it will get us both pumped on continuing down the path in preparation for retirement.
H will see his parents in another week - he has to see their incremental decline, so he can continue to think about their needs w/o totally being stressed out thinking about the sadness when they pass. They are both mid-80’s, and have the declining abilities and energy.
Well, took my folks at 89 and 84 to Yellowstone and Mt Rushmore last year and SF opera next month. We feel fortunate to be able to do so. We live lass than a mile from them and visit frequently with them. Our kids will be at the opera with us. 
I’ve heard Chris Hogan is a great speaker, @SOSConcern
Yes @arabrab since H has really not listened to either, I think it will be fun. Both can really be funny and I think they know how to turn on a crowd.
@sosConcern, hubby and I went to Dave ramsey’s entreleadership for small business owners. It was a week long seminar. It was really good and made a huge impact on us. I don’t necessarily agree with every one of his principles, but I certainly believe for most people most of it makes sense. He gave us a great moment when he took us to the parking lot of his first business. …he went bankrupt twice. He gave a great quote from Churchill about never quitting. We also saw his radio booth.
I’d love to find a local Ramsey program for my (now graduated) kids, at least to expose them to his principles. None here, last time I checked.
I like DR’s principles for financial management, but I did not like his radio program at all. Way too extreme talk radio for me. I’d like to go to a small business workshop – Entreleadership (the book) seemed geared towards larger enterprises.
Agree with you both @arabrab and @eyemamom - we had been doing many of his principles before ever hearing of him. I did find Zander Ins to be a great source for term insurance - we had one term policy in place before, but realized that with my stage III cancer I didn’t have enough term ins on H (at that point, the level of insurance on me had to do, but it was pretty good level). Also got term insurance on the two college DDs this spring - they were old enough to obtain. I figured life is going to get hectic for them, and we can have this in place for them. H and I didn’t have a clue about insurance in our 20’s.
Instead of listening to all the ads etc on the radio, I do listen to the Dave Ramsey show off his web site, so I can easily mute - but I do like to hear the questions by callers and also hear the debt free stories. Sometimes Dave doesn’t know enough current, and answers a question a bit off, but it give me a perspective of what is going on in other households across the country. Sometimes his staff will inform him/correct him.
He does some things now due to the way he felt emotionally when the banks called his loans - he was leveraged to where he couldn’t settle with the new bank management. He talked on one recent program where he was paid off down to the last $280,000 but he ran out of time and was forced to go into bankruptcy. I only knew about the big bankruptcy.
When they had a recent special with a bunch of his plan for $10 (book plus CDs etc), I bought it and had it sent to niece/nephew. They need to budget carefully and also see the big picture. Years ago we bought the DVD for preparing kids for college (so some of his principles condensed); younger DD took the semester course through her HS (workbook and they watched DVDs in class) - her school called it personal finance.
Sometimes they run product specials - you can create your own envelope budgeting system, but they have some convenient products too. Recently I saw a lady in Aldi’s with one of his envelope systems and talked to her while we were waiting in checkout - they were able to save money using some of the tools.
@lookingforward sometimes just giving an adult kid the basic book - they will look at it when they want, and will apply the principles when they decide they want to. Many callers say they decide they make too much money to be this broke, so they decide to change their behaviors.
SOS, did you listen to any of the CDs? Do they get to the basics quickly? Because while I would read the book for what I needed, go back and forth between some parts, skip any filler stories, my kids are resistant, need a quick capture. (The days when I could bribe them are gone.) I do occasionally catch the radio show, get what I need from it.
I’ll go back to the site. I know many don’t agree with him or some of his stands. But the principles of paying down debt, trying to reduce credit reliance, etc, are worth considering. And, thanks.