My hope for this book is that anyone who picks it up and reads it will be entertained, enlightened and will see the important reality of planning ahead for the love of their family. Further, that it really is much easier than one might think and it really isn’t a downer to be thoughtfully prepared for our own, ultimate mortality. Heck, we all know we aren’t going to live, forever right?  We also don’t know when our last day will be, right?  So, if we all agree on those two things, then isn’t being prepared the responsible thing to do?  Why?  For love, that’s why!

Let’s face it, death isn’t hard on the one who has died, it is hard on those that are still here! We love them and we certainly don’t want to add to their pain. Sadness, grief and loneliness are very hard yet, normal emotions and are part of the healing process. The confusion, stress and frankly anger associated with trying to track down all the departed persons “stuff” from insurance policies, financial records and then close their entire digital life, are not (normal emotions)!

So many families are left to struggle with trying to piece things together following the loss of a loved one, only because the departed never planned and told someone what to do! The consequences of this lack of planning delays the normal grieving and healing process, can be exhaustively time consuming and all too often can divide families. Certainly, not what I want my own passing to do to my family.  So, I have planned because I love them and I want things to be as easy as possible when I am no longer here.  And, you can too!  As I said earlier, it really isn’t difficult to do.  So, for the love of family, please do it!

Want a copy of my new book?  Click here!

How many times have you stumbled across the Facebook page of a friend who passed away months, even years ago? Social media has transformed our lives – and added a whole new challenge to our deaths.

Not only do simple things like Facebook pose a challenge, but today our lives are increasingly digital. Everything from where we receive our news to how we shop involves a username and password or an account. . .. all only known by you. How are your loved ones supposed to sort this out after you are gone?

Without giving away any secured information, we have the solution.

My Life & Wishes is set up to securely store as little or as much information as you want on the site so in one click, your family members can access your social media sites, find your auto payments, your online passwords and every account you have online.

Sound scary? It is not. You bank online now. You buy things online now. You post online now. These are all secure sites that are equal to the security of My Life & Wishes. By getting your digital house in order on your totally private and personalized account, your family will thank you each and every day for leaving this valuable gift behind. Instead of months of work, they will have instant access to all of your accounts. One can rarely even do that with a paper file box of records.

Think about it: The number of your social media and other online accounts is always growing. Your online account inventory may include some of the following. Be sure to list user names, passwords, and PIN numbers for each of your accounts.

• Email: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL
• Social: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat
• Career: LinkedIn, Monster, About, Tumblr, WordPress
• Communication: Verizon, AT&T, Viber, Skype
• Media: Pandora, Spotify, iTunes, Dropbox, Google Drive, Netflix, Hulu
• Necessities: Amazon, Walgreens, eBay, Target, Online Grocers
• Bills and Auto payments: Utilities, Mortgage, Auto, Mint, PayPal
• Travel: Airline miles, Hotel bonus points, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Orbitz, Uber
• Dating Life: eHarmony, Plenty of Fish, Match.com
• Entertainment: Groupon, Grubhub, Stubhub, Ticketmaster

You can determine how all of this is handled. That’s the beauty of opening an account at My Life & Wishes. Don’t leave your loved ones with a mess to untangle. Hunting and digging for information is no fun. Get your digital house in order today. Your family will thank you.

I think like most people, my wife, Michelle, and I really hadn’t given much, if any, thought to what would happen if one of us, or another family member passed away. On Labor Day 2013 that all changed for us when Michelle’s father suddenly passed away.

During the days following his passing, we did what we could do just to “get through it.” Things like notifying immediate and extended family and close friends, piecing together an obituary, selecting a funeral home, working with the florist, making arrangements with the church for the service, quickly trying to put together memory boards, and planning the reception following the service.

All these tasks were daunting at best. We hoped the arrangements and decisions that we were making would have been pleasing to Michelle’s father. Completing these tasks on little rest was not easy; after all we were still dealing with the shock of the loss. Little did we know; however, that the challenges were just beginning!

Like many families, one person is usually the keeper of the finances. In our case, Michelle’s father was that person. He paid all the bills, did the banking, and handled all of the household finances. In fact, Michelle’s mother had not paid a bill in nearly 60 years!

Unfortunately, Michelle’s father hadn’t shared all of the important details with anyone in the family. So, none of us knew where all the accounts were located or even what life insurance policies may be in force. We did find a safe deposit key, but had no idea at what financial institution it was held. How were we to track down his pension and retirement assets, much less be able to access the bills he paid online? And the list of questions went on and on.

Sadly, this process of “cleaning things up” took nearly 10 months of digging through desk drawers and old files, making exhaustive phone calls, and searching for documents and information. We found that others we spoke with about our situation were anxious to share their stories with us, and everyone one of them was sadly similar.

Time for a Change
We thought there must be a better way! Isn’t the sadness of the loss enough? Why should those who are left behind have to endure all of this additional hardship in an already stressful time? Michelle and I agreed that we had to come up with a solution to make things easier; a way for people to get organized and to share important information with those they love. So that when they pass, their loved ones will have access to important information and final wishes. In this complex and ever changing world, we can no longer simply hope our families or loved ones can figure things out. We call it “End of Life Etiquette.”