Every account, every debt, every bill that charges itself, and every card in your wallet, written down in one place. These pages don’t ask you to be good with money. They ask you to write down what’s already true.
Why it matters
Day to day, your financial pages answer questions you’d otherwise chase through six portals. Which bank holds the CD? Did the 403(b) from two jobs ago ever get rolled over? Which card has the rate you keep meaning to do something about? What did that charge in March renew?
When someone takes over your finances, even for a few weeks, the hard problem is almost never getting into an account. The hard problem is not knowing the account exists. States hold billions of dollars in unclaimed property, much of it from accounts that nobody knew to look for.
Debts are the urgent half. Assets can usually wait a week, but payments keep coming due. And recurring charges are where money quietly leaks: a renewal on a card you barely look at can run for years before anyone asks about it.
There’s no scoring here, no budget to build, and nothing that tells you you’re behind.
What to gather
- Every card and ID in your wallet, with the number to call if it’s lost or stolen
- Your checking, savings, and CD accounts, personal, joint, and business
- Investment and retirement accounts, including old workplace plans you never rolled over
- Education savings plans, and any cryptocurrency, noting whether it sits on an exchange or in a wallet you control
- Every debt: mortgage, vehicle loans, credit cards, student loans, medical debt, personal loans, and money you owe people
- Every charge that bills itself, monthly, quarterly, or yearly, and which card or account pays it
- The tax documents you expect each year, and where last year’s return is
Where to find it
You can’t do this from memory, and you shouldn’t try. Start with your bank’s transaction list for the last three months. Transfers point to accounts you forgot about, and payments point to lenders and subscriptions.
Then work through:
- One recent statement for each loan, which has the balance, rate, payment, due date, and account number
- Your credit report, for every open account and debt in your name
- Old W-2s and tax returns, for retirement plans at past employers
- Last year’s tax return, which names most of the payers and institutions you’ll hear from this year
One rule throughout: record where an account number is kept, not the number itself. Your Facts of Life Book holds the map, not the treasure.
A free resource
Unclaimed.org (National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators): the official starting point for searching every state’s unclaimed property program for free. Check your own name, and your parents’.
What the course adds
The Financial Information module covers ten workbook pages across six lessons: My Wallet, the Financial Inventory, Debts, the five pillars of earning, saving, investing, giving, and spending, the Recurring Expenses Tracker, and the Tax Document Organizer.
As an educator and YNAB Certified Coach, I’m happy to explain how any of these accounts work. What the course won’t do is tell you what to invest in or what to give to. These pages record your decisions, and the right professional helps you make them.
Facts of Life Book Course · $29 · Self-paced · Included in Off The Clock, On Purpose
Keep reading
- The Facts of Life Book: what it is and how the course works
- Keep a Conversation Log
- End of Life Decisions
Disclaimer: For educational and informational purposes only. This is not medical, financial, tax, or legal advice. Consult appropriate professionals in each area.