Back in 2015, we talked about essential family information going mobile. At the time, storing documents on a smartphone felt cutting-edge. Fast forward to today, and the options have exploded — along with our reasons to use them.

If your family’s important records are still sitting in a filing cabinet, a shoebox, or scattered across a dozen email attachments, it’s time for an upgrade. Here’s what smart digital record-keeping looks like now.

Why It Matters More Than Ever

Wildfires, floods, and hurricanes don’t give you time to gather paperwork. Neither does a sudden medical emergency. Having your family’s critical documents digitized and accessible from anywhere isn’t just convenient — it can be the difference between a bad situation and a catastrophic one.

Think about what you’d need in a crisis: insurance policies, medical records, identification documents, financial account information, property records. Now ask yourself: could you access all of that in 10 minutes from your phone?

For most families, the honest answer is no.

Modern Tools That Make It Easy

The good news is that the tools available today make secure digital record-keeping genuinely simple.

Cloud document storage — Services like Google Drive, iCloud, and Dropbox let you scan and store documents directly from your phone. Create a dedicated Family Records folder and keep it organized by category: medical, legal, financial, property, and personal ID.

Password managers — Apps like 1Password or Bitwarden do more than store passwords. They can hold secure notes with account numbers, policy details, and emergency contacts — all encrypted and accessible to trusted family members if needed.

Document scanning apps — Adobe Scan, Microsoft Lens, and Apple’s built-in Notes scanner turn your phone camera into a quality document scanner. No flatbed required. Scan, save, and you’re done.

Shared family vaults — Some services, like Everplans or Clocr, are designed specifically for storing and sharing life documents. They allow you to designate who gets access to what — useful for estate planning and elder care situations.

What to Digitize First

If you’re starting from scratch, don’t let the scope overwhelm you. Begin with the essentials:

• Passports and driver’s licenses
• Birth and marriage certificates
• Health insurance cards and medical records
• Home and auto insurance policies
• Wills, trusts, and power of attorney documents
• Social Security cards
• Recent tax returns

Set aside one afternoon, work through the list, and you’ll have the foundation in place. Then make it a habit to add new documents as they arrive.

Don’t Forget Security

Digital convenience comes with digital responsibility. A few basic rules:

Use strong, unique passwords for any cloud service holding sensitive documents. Enable two-factor authentication wherever possible. And make sure at least one trusted family member knows how to access everything — what good is a digital vault if it’s locked to only you?

The Bottom Line

Mobile technology has matured enormously since we first encouraged families to take their records digital. The tools are better, more secure, and easier to use than ever. There’s no good reason to delay.

Your future self — standing in the middle of some unexpected crisis — will be very grateful you took the time today.

This weekend I was talking to my mom and she commented that there were stories after stories about disasters on Saturday’s 6 o’clock news. The wildfires on the California highway with the collapsed bridge, flooding in another part of California, storms and flooding in the Midwest, and wildfires in Washington state were just the start of the list. Then early this week I heard about an earthquake in Oklahoma! In Oklahoma for goodness sake, whoever heard of such a thing?

It got me thinking about all of those poor victims who never saw these things coming. I would guess that most of them were not prepared. Where were their insurance documents and home content information? It all starts with the ‘paperwork’. And if the documents are lost in the disaster you have to recreate the documents. This equals precious time ticking away. Not being prepared for a disaster is a disaster on top of another disaster! In major natural disasters the first to file is the first to get the attention and time of insurance agents, claims adjusters and service providers like clean-up crews and contractors.

But now there is an easy-to-use and affordable website and mobile app that allows subscribers to organize, upload, secure and share all of the documents that become essential when recovering from a disaster. The average family of four spends more than $12,000 per year on insurance products that are needed or required by law. 2MyPolicies.com makes all of those valuable documents accessible, sharable and understandable.

Visit 2MyPolicies.com to learn more.

This weekend I was talking to my Mom and she commented that watching the 6 o’clock news on Saturday there were stories after stories about disasters. The wildfires on the California highway with the collapsed bridge, flooding in another part of California, storms and flooding in the Midwest, and wildfires in Washington state were just the start of the list. Then early this week I heard about an earthquake in Oklahoma!  OkIahoma for goodness sake, whoever heard of such a thing?

It got me to thinking about all those poor victims who never saw these things coming their way. I would guess that most of them were not prepared. Where were their insurance documents and home content information? It all starts with the ‘paperwork’. And if the documents are lost in the disaster you have to recreate them. This equals precious time ticking away. Not being prepared for a disaster is a disaster on top of disaster.

Do you realize that in major natural disasters the first to file is the first to get the attention and time of insurance agents, claims adjusters and service providers like clean up crews and contractors.

There is now a easy to use and affordable web app that allows the subscriber to organize, upload, secure and share all of the documents that become essential when recovering from a disaster. The average family of four spends more than $12,000 per year on insurance products that are needed or required by law. 2MyPolicies.com makes all of those valuable documents accessible, sharable and understandable.

Visit 2MyPolicies.com to learn more.

Medical advances have allowed us the gift of longer lives. And with that gift comes the dilemma of helping our parents handle their personal business in the electronic and mobile age. Siblings typically live states or continents apart with their 70 or 80 something year old parents in the middle. How do they aide, support and care for the parents in case of illness or injury? Who is the family member that has the essential information that parents need in case of emergency? How do you easily and efficiently communicate to medical providers?

Now the entire family, adult children and grandchildren, can help their seniors manage their essential personal information from anywhere at any time with the new 2MyPolicies.com web app. The monthly subscription includes secure storage, access and sharing of all essential information. Health history, insurance policy information, provider contacts and prescription information can be uploaded, as well as home, auto, life and all other insurance information for easy access and fast communicating. There are multiple levels of security for more sensitive information and separate or different passwords for each family member. With 2MyPolicies.com family members can assist each other during emergencies and disasters quickly and easily by accessing and sharing the ID information, medical history and insurance policies needed urgently. So caring for each other from seniors to grandbabies becomes a winning team’s effort with 2MyPolicies.com.

2mypolicies.com is a secure website and mobile app that manages all of your providers and documents in one place for the entire family’s access and use. You can store essential information about your insurance policies and contact information in one password-protected place, so you can file a claim faster and easier. For more information or to sign up for a subscription, visit www.2mypolicies.com.

 

With hurricane season upon us, it is important for all of us to be prepared in the event of a disaster. Many news stations may recommend creating a “red binder” with all the emergency contact information, insurance policies and medical records you may need, but what happens when your carefully created binder gets destroyed or lost from a hurricane, flood or severe thunderstorm? Even if you’ve created a “waterproof binder,” there’s no such thing as a hurricane-proof binder! 2mypolicies.com gives you access to all of your personal information anytime, anywhere.

Even if you are stuck in an area where you have no power and no Internet, even if you have lost your phone, all of your personal information is stored and backed up in a single secure, password-protected place so you will never be able to lose it. You can also provide a trusted friend or family member with access to your information in case of an emergency.

News stations recommend your “red binder” include copies of identification including driver’s licenses, passports, marriage licenses and social security cards; financial information including checking, savings and retirement account information, stocks and bonds and other investments; health care information including insurance cards and health insurance plans; insurance information including home and auto policies, property photos and jewelry records; wills including your last will and testament, power of attorney and attorney contact information; and important contact information, including family, friend and professional contacts. With all of that information and paperwork, you will definitely have one big binder on your hands! Or, you can upload all of that information on 2mypolicies.com and have access to it with a computer, tablet or smartphone. It’s that simple.

Don’t risk losing a binder full of all of your personal information! 2mypolicies.com’s secure website and mobile app will keep your information in one place and at hand when you need it most.

2mypolicies.com is a secure website and mobile app that manages all of your providers and documents in one place for the entire family’s access and use. You can store essential information about your insurance policies and contact information in one password-protected place, so you can file a claim faster and easier. For more information or to sign up for a subscription, visit www.2mypolicies.com.

It can easily become overwhelming to keep track of the bills, letters, claim forms, and other papers that flow into a household. Keeping accurate records of medical bills, insurance claims, and payments will help families manage their money better and keep their stress levels lower.

Some families may already have a system for handling their finances and records and may only need to expand their system and create new files. Others may have to develop plans for handling the volume of paperwork. Record-keeping is also important for those who wish to take advantage of the deductions available in filing itemized tax returns. The Internal Revenue Service can give you information and free publications regarding tax exemptions for treatment expenses (see www.irs.gov) if they are related to medical care.
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Recently launched web app securely stores essential information with easy access gives a ‘head start’ to recovery from catastrophic weather occurrences or medical emergencies.

Consumers spend thousands of dollars per year for various insurance policies and just keep them in a drawer. Finally a tool that will move the volumes of policies and other important information from obscurity to the place they should be at your fingertips. 2MyPolicies.com provides password protected access via Smartphones, tablets and computers.

Consumers are empowered to access this information 24/7 in case of an emergency. The information needed is retrieved to quickly file a claim.

But that’s not all, now there is peace of mind for travelers who will always have policy information for medical or dental emergencies or auto or boat accidents. Even the pets’ information can be included. Parents can feel secure that their children have up to date information whether they are away at college or vacationing. One data entry updates everyone in the family because for the same low subscription, every family member is included.
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