Family Documents & Policies Index (Excel)

Preview

Real view of the file with its sample data (yellow cells are where you type).

What's inside

• Members sheet: each family member with relation, date of birth, blood group and phone
• Documents sheet: member, document type from a list (identity cards, passport, driving licence, birth and marriage certificates, property papers, vehicle papers, bank and deposit records, will, medical and education records, tax papers, warranties), last 4 digits of the number, issued by, issue and expiry dates, where the original is kept, where the digital copy is, nominee and notes
• Status for every document: Valid, Renew soon (within your warning period), Expired or No expiry
• Policies sheet: health, life, vehicle, home, travel and accident policies with insurer, sum insured, premium and frequency, renewal date, nominee, agent or helpline and where the policy is kept; yearly premium and renewal status calculated
• Contacts sheet for the people to call in an emergency: family doctor, hospital, insurance helplines, bank, tax adviser, lawyer, society office
• Summary sheet: expired and due-soon counts, total yearly premium, sum insured by policy type, and the next 10 document expiries and policy renewals in date order

How to use it

1. On the Settings sheet set how many days before expiry you want a warning (60 to start with) and type your currency symbol.
2. List the family on the Members sheet.
3. Go through your files and add one row per document on the Documents sheet: whose it is, what it is, where the original is kept (for example "Steel almirah, top shelf, blue folder" or "Bank locker 214") and where the scanned copy is saved.
4. Add every insurance policy on the Policies sheet with its renewal date and premium.
5. Fill in the Contacts sheet with the numbers your family would need in a hurry.
6. Look at the Summary sheet once a month and renew anything marked Renew soon or Expired. Tell at least one other family member where this file is.

Tips

• Never type passwords, PINs, CVV numbers, OTPs or full account and card numbers in this file. The last 4 digits are enough to recognise a document.
• If you store the file in the cloud, protect the account with two-step verification. You can also add a password to the file itself in Excel (File › Info › Protect Workbook › Encrypt with Password); keep that password somewhere safe outside the file.
• Print the Contacts sheet and keep it with the originals so the family can use it even without a computer.
• Review nominees whenever there is a marriage, birth or death in the family.

Questions and answers