The first-week vault setup checklist
Seven twenty-minute sessions, in the order that puts the most useful records in place first. Pin it to the fridge and tick a day at a time.
Day one — people
- Doctor, insurance agent, attorney
- Neighbor with a key
- Two relatives to call first
- One line each on why they matter
Day two — medical
- Medications and doses for everyone in the household
- Allergies and conditions
- Health insurance member numbers
- Healthcare proxy and advance directive scan
Day three — insurance
- Work from bank statements, not memory
- Insurer, policy number, coverage, renewal date, claims number
- Attach declarations pages
Day four — home
- Deed or lease, mortgage or landlord
- Utility accounts and numbers
- Alarm company, code location, passphrase
- Shut-off locations: water, gas, breakers
- Trusted trades
Day five — finance
- Institutions and account nicknames only
- Retirement accounts
- Check beneficiaries while you are there
Day six — vehicles, pets, inventory
- Registration, title location, insurance, service history
- Vet, microchip number, medication, feeding routine
- Film the house, room by room, drawers open, narrated
Day seven — estate and access
- Where the will is, who the executor is
- Power of attorney holders
- Invite one trusted person and grant read access
- Tell them it exists and what it is for
The thinking behind this list is in A first-week setup guide for a new vault.