Make copies of important documents now

An important part of any emergency plan is to have copies of important documents kept in at least one safe place, such as a safety deposit box in a bank or savings institution.

In many cases, so called "hard copies" of documents are being replaced with digital copies or "scans". The scans can be simple pictures taken with a cell phone of the actual document or a scan from a printer-scanner into a PDF or other document format.

Here are some types of documents you should copy:

• Birth/death/marriage certificates
• Divorce decrees/custody documents
• Financial statements and bank records
• Immigration documents
• Insurance policies
• Medical records
• Military records
• Paper bills
• Property deeds
• Receipts
• Savings bonds/notes
• Social security cards
• Wills
• Stock certificates/bonds
• Any other important paperwork/documents

Once you've made those copies, it's important to store them in a safe place away from your home or office. A bank safe deposit box is a good place to put paper copies of documents. Your electronic copies should be stored on a flash drive or card that is kept with you at all times.

Also consider keeping a electronic copy of documents "in the cloud" so that you can access them anytime with any computer. Look at the types of security offered by the provider. If you already use cloud storage for documents, consider creating a separate account just for these important papers and make sure you have a long, secure password on the account.

More on document safety and storage from Adjusters International