What's in Your Go-Kit?

"What's in Your Wallet?" -Capital One® Credit Card

I'll cover Go-Kit contents in more detail in a later post. For now I'd like to focus on the less obvious contents based on yesterday's post about fire drills.

Most people overlook financial preparedness when packing a Go-Kit. As a Red Cross disaster team volunteer, the most common event I respond to is house and apartment fires late at night. In the worst case the clients I help have just lost their home and in their pajamas. No wallet, no debit card, no check book, nothing to help them get through the night. If your house burns down, do you know how to contact your insurance agent?

A well packed Go-Kit will include:

• some emergency cash
• some old checks
• photocopies of important cards you carry - driver license, credit cards, medical card - front and back. The back sides include contact information.
• photocopies of important documents - house deed, car titles, etc.
• phone numbers of family, friends and others you need to reach

WARNING, WARNING

In this age of identity theft, if you pack the above in a Go-Kit and the kit is stolen, you could be in a heap of trouble. The thief will have your account numbers, deeds, everything. You need to balance the risks and take what precautions you can. Tomorrow I'll share some ideas for protecting your Go-Kit contents.