The Foreign Service Journal, June 2012

J U N E 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 15 censes, passports, immigration papers, marriage and divorce documents, and military and Veterans Administration records. Medical records. Even though the Department of State and other foreign affairs agencies maintain a medical file, you may want to keep your own data- base of records and documents. Ex- amples of important documents are lists of current medications, vaccination records and past surgeries or treat- ments. Miscellaneous. Other items you may wish to keep include appraisals of valuables, Social Security numbers, Tax Identification Numbers, security sys- tem codes, pet records, combinations, contact information (for your tax pre- parer, financial planner, attorney, etc.), and social networking site information. Tax returns. Keep records of fed- eral, state, and municipal returns for at least three years. Refer to IRS Publi- cation 552 for guidance. Where to Store Records The next decision is where and how to keep records. First and foremost, store them well away from your resi- dence. Popular storage choices for physical documents include safe de- posit boxes and fireproof safes. How- ever, these have some drawbacks and may not make sense for Foreign Serv- ice employees over the long or even medium term. For instance, some states may re- strict or limit access to a safe deposit box upon the death of an owner. Fur- thermore, in the event of death or in- capacity, your executor and others will want, and should have, convenient ac- cess to documents. Electronic storage provides a good solution for those in the Foreign Serv- ice, offering security and access from anywhere at any time. There are many options, some better than others in terms of security and access; so review your choices carefully and calculate what the costs are, if any. But no mat- ter which alternative you go with, please advise your spouse, trusted friend or colleague where you have stored these documents. It is wise to ask your financial plan- ning firmwhat storage services it offers. Our firm, for example, has a secure on- line vault for client investment reports, estate planning documents, etc. Several private firms offer secure digital storage for individuals. Docu- bank  charges a monthly fee for digital storage of one’s advance medical direc- tives and other estate planning docu- ments and makes them available on demand anywhere in the world. Indi- viduals and some states utilize the U.S. Living Will Registry, an online site. Other digital storage options include Dropbox.com, Windows Live SkyDrive and AppleiCloud. Some states offer repositories for their residents’ advance medical direc- tives either for free, or at a nominal charge. Neither the District of Colum- bia nor Maryland maintains a registry of those directives, but Virginia recently launched an Advance Health Care Di- rectives Registry (www.virginiaregistry. org). A relatively new company, Manilla. com, might make sense for Foreign Service personnel who have to deal with bills while overseas. Firms de- liver statements directly online to Manilla.com, where they can be paid and managed. There is no cost and apps make it easy to manage bill-pay- ing on smartphones. Hearst owns Manilla.com, which is highly touted by the New York Times , CNN and Forbes , among others. The Password Is… Passwords present another concern, due to their proliferation and increas- ing complexity. We all recognize the challenge of remembering passwords, but few of us have considered how to make them available to others in the event of incapacity or death. One simple solution is to assemble a list of passwords and logon IDs and hold it in a secure place. Alternatively, many financial planners maintain on- line ID and password lists in a secure file for their clients. For a nominal price, several special- ized firms offer storage of passwords and other information so they can be easily obtained from anywhere if for- gotten or required by others to manage one’s financial affairs in the event of death or incapacity. Before making in- formation available to beneficiaries, such firms generally use “verifiers” to determine if the client is incapacitated or has died. These companies include Legacy Locker, DataInherit and Plann- ed Departure. Protect Your Property Another challenge for many in the Foreign Service is how to protect F S K N O W - H O W Electronic storage is a good solution for FS members, offering security and access from anywhere at any time.