Write A Love Letter

The holidays are approaching fast and what better gift to give than a “love letter” to your loved ones. When I say love letter I’m not meaning the sappy kind that you are probably thinking about. No, I am talking about a letter from you to your family that outlines all the very personal important things they need to know in the event of your untimely death.

This is something much more personal than a legal contract such as a Last Will but would still be highly important to your family. I have seen a few examples of this letter but it’s easy enough that you do not need a template.

What I did was include three primary sections. The first a few paragraphs telling them what they mean to you, how much you love them, etc. The middle would have important private information about yourself. For me and I assume all my readers almost everything is in the computer so having the login and the password for 1password would be essential. These are the only two passwords they would need and from here could get access to pretty much anything. Then the final section describing how you want your funeral. Your favorite songs, favorite Bible verses, basically anything that would be important to you for your funeral.

For those that handle all/most of the finances it will be important to also have contact information on any of your advisors and any investment accounts. I have heard stories of families where one primarily handles all finances and the other not knowing or caring. This means if the one handles everything passes then the other will be in for a crazy life change. Anything you can do to make this easier would continue to show your love.

Finally, I would also start a journal if you haven’t. Three out of four of my grandparents have passed away and none of them kept a journal. Of course in my younger years this wouldn’t have meant anything to me but now as I’m getting older I would love to read all the stories they had. I’ve personally been using DayOne for the past year and it works well. It’s nice to have a place to keep your private thoughts, images of important events, and memories that would be forever lost otherwise.