Aaron Barstow is a financial contributor with a background in technology and engineering. He writes about the best way to protect yourself from identity theft and financial mishaps.
You may think that having your financial documents in either paper form or stored on your computer hard drive means you’re all set. Well, I hate to burst your bubble – you’re not. You are, in fact, just one disaster away from losing everything – from something as catastrophic as a fire in the house to something as innocent as a drink spilled on a laptop. For a handful of smart ways to ensure that your financial history is safe no matter what the future holds for you, read on.
1. Choose Your Platform
You have several options at your disposal for backing up your financial history, but two of the most convenient are an external drive or a cloud-based storage system. The cloud has certain convenient advantages, but it’s also vulnerable to cyber attacks. If you don’t have too many documents to store you could get yourself a small zip drive instead of a full external hard drive – some are the size of a key chain. Even an external drive that stores 1TB of information, however, isn’t unwieldy. It may not be as light as a cloud, but it is still easily transportable – just disconnect and take it with you wherever you need to go. Plus, many cloud-based services charge an annual fee, but with a zip drive or external hard drive, you pay one price and that’s it.
2. Make Sure It’s Complete
If you’re going to back up your financial history, make sure it’s complete. Include all of the following items:
- Tax returns
- Social Security card
- Passport
- Health records
- Investment documents
- Marriage certificate
- Birth certificates for all family members
- Insurance policies
Backing up your financial history is going to take time no matter what – but if you choose to invest in a product to do it, you might as well get it right.
3. List Your Personal Items
You’re probably going to need a list of your personal items along with photos and receipts (if available) in order to submit a homeowners insurance claim, should you ever need to. Scan all your receipts into your computer. Then, take pictures of all furniture, flat screen TVs, laptop computers, and anything else worth more than $50, and store them with your other digital files. If a disaster should ever strike and you need to submit a claim, you should be covered.
4. Password-Protect Your Files
If your external drive is ever lost or stolen, a criminal is only a USB port away from a treasure trove of your sensitive financial information. That’s why it’s necessary to protect everything with a password. Be sure to create out-of-the-ordinary passwords that cannot be easily deciphered – such as your date of birth. Use the name of a childhood pet along with a string of numbers that’s significant to you but no one else, like the street number of a house you grew up in.
If you decide to go the external drive route, you’ve got plenty of options. Seagate offers a wide variety of portable hard drives at affordable prices, including options for Mac users, which makes it one of the best brands out there. Backing up your financial history gives you peace of mind knowing that your important documents are safe and secure no matter what calamity may befall you. Get yours squared away today.
What tips do you have for backing up your financial history?
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