Note: This article and series are also shared on Medium.

I previously shared that one of my goals for this year is plan for how to die a good death at the end of a very long and amazing life. I know this is a topic that some find disconcerting. That said, to paraphrase a friend who recently navigated a really stressful situation because she’d been able to plan ahead — the time to plan for bad times is in good times.

We have about 20 weeks left in 2022 and this is a perfect amount of time to slowly and steadily build out a “Lifebook”. A Lifebook, in my definition, is a place where you store your curated and organized documents that you need for reference.

Lifebook Format

Your lifebook can take whatever format is appropriate for you. I will be using a mixture of tools that include:

• A three ring binder with printed documents. I store this in my fireproof safe when I’m not using it.
• An electronic password management tool — I’ll specifically be using 1Password.
• Some spreadsheets and word documents. As we progress through the weeks, I’ll be providing some templates you can use to curate and organize information. I’ll also be emphasizing secure storage of information as much as I know how to do so.

You may want a different set of tools and that is perfectly okay. That said, I will emphasize secure storage of information.

Store Information Securely

Much of the information we will be curating and organizing as a part of this project is the information that is a identity thief’s dream. For that reason, I am going to emphasize the use of paper stored securely in a fireproof home safe and a secure password management tool. I’ll also talk throughout the series about different ways you can keep documents electronically and keep them safe.

Adapt for the Circumstances of your Life

I am single with no children so the quantity of information I have to keep is different than a family with children. That said, because I am single with no children, my family and friends would have to step into my life if I was incapacitated — and they aren’t here every day and so the level of detail I have to include is higher than what someone living with the other people they are organizing for might need.

Focus on Ease of Updating

The goal of this project is to curate and organize this information. That said, you’ll need to update this information over time so make sure you think about the ease of updating as you curate and organize the information.

Project Overview

Before we dive into what we will organize in Week One, I want to share a draft overview of the plan for the rest of the project. This overview is provided for two purposes:

1. You can see the total scope of information you might want to start capturing and thinking about organizing.
2. You can, if you wish, use this list as a timeline of sorts to motivate you to get some appointments made with lawyers, agents, etc. to get documents created or updated that, perhaps, you’ve been putting off.

Without further ado, here is the project overview. This is a strong draft, but I reserve the right to change the plan as we go along to make all of this information gathering fit together in as streamlined a manner as possible.

Week One: Personal Documents & Information
Week Two: The Life Timeline
Week Three: Passwords and Wallet Contents
Week Four: Education & Training Records
Week Five: Resume & Work Documentation (Optional: Military Records)
Week Six: Banking Information
Week Seven: Insurance Information
Week Eight: Investment Information
Week Nine: Real Estate Information
Week Ten: Vehicle Information
Week Eleven: Credit Card Information
Week Twelve: Other Accounts Information
Week Thirteen: Medical Information
Week Fourteen: Contact Information
Week Fifteen: Will, Estate, & Trust Documents
Week Sixteen: Living Will and End of Life Decisions
Week Seventeen: (Optional) Memory Letters
Week Eighteen: (Optional) Business Information
Week Nineteen: (Optional) Bucket List
Week Twenty: (Optional) Personal Plan/Annual Review Plan
Week One: Personal Information & Documents

For week one, you’re going to gather all those important documents that you don’t need until you need it. I’m also going to share the first template for you to use to capture information.

Step One: Gather Your Documents

For each person in your family, gather whatever you feel are personal documents and information. A few ideas to inspire your search:

• birth certificate
• social security/government identification card
• driver’s license/identification card
• passport and other residency documentation (visa, green card, etc.)
• birthdates and place of birth for each person
• social security or identification number(s) for each person
• current addresses and phone number for each person
• current baby sitter/school/work phone number for each person

Please know that this is in no way an exhaustive list so I hope you’ll add comments with other documents that you include in your book.

Additionally, you may realize that you don’t have certain documents. I’ve found this page to be an excellent reference to find out how to replace missing documents. That link is for US residents. If you are from another country and have an excellent reference from your country or about a specific type of document, please add it as a comment to this article.

Step Two: Organize Your Information

This step will be included in each week of our process — and it will be different for each person/family.

For this week, I recommend two levels of organization

1. The “quick reference” information that you want access to at any time — I’ve got templates to help you with this information
2. The physical documents that you store in your notebook/fire safe.
   Before we jump into the templates, a note on information security.

Be sure that when you use tools like OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox to store documents online, that you ensure that these files are not shared with anyone unintended. One of the reasons I prefer 1Password as my Password tool is that it also includes templated storage for many of these items including “Identity”, “Driver’s License Number”, “Passport”, and “Social Security Number”. There is also a part of 1Password that provides secure document storage for scanned documents.

Step Three: Capture & Store Your Information

Here is a template you can use to capture all of this information. The template is made in Microsoft Excel. Feel free to download it and modify it for your own use.

I’ll be using a combination of this template and adding information into 1Password.

Next week, I’ll be sharing the week two information and a progress update on how I fared with week one. I hope you’ll help keep me accountable on this project.