My DW is a smart lawyer but doesn't have much interest in managing finances. I prepared an "if I kick" document that she and the kids can use to deal with the finances. I have two much detail in it to share but here is an outline of major topics:
Guaranteed Income Streams: covers pensions, SS and anticipated changes, and auto pay, and describes how this stacks up against essential expenses.
Source and location of funds: Describes our various accounts, pension management sites, social security, et all and where to find account numbers and passwords (located in an encrypted password safe on a local HD and in the cloud).
Allocations and where we keep various asset classes: this and the next section are the closest thing to a financial strategy. Explains division among taxable, tax-deferred, cash as I do it now.
Withdrawal and rebalance strategy: explains how and where I pull funds from accounts depending on market performance.
Taxes: explains how I use my pension withholding to cover all taxes avoiding quarterlies on DW's income stream, use of Turbo Tax, expected impact of RMDs.
Tracking in my spreadsheet and using Vanguard tools: describes how a spreadsheet I keep in Google Docs (DW has access) works and how I update it. Same for Vanguards portfolio tool. (I do not give such online tools access to accounts.)
Changes on death: explains what happens to guaranteed income stream on either or both of our deaths, beneficiaries, trust, etc.
Simplified process in the event of Don's death: Here is what I say in this section verbatim:
" Given our guaranteed income streams and the size of our portfolio, it is not critical to do all the BS I outline above. There are several possibilities to make things simpler. One would be to roll all of the TDs into Barb’s Vanguard account. That would be easy to manage but I like having at least two managing institutions to get funds from in case some glitch causes temporary problems accessing funds. If periodic re-balancing is burdensome just skip it for years at a time. The accounts will either begin to shift toward a heavier equity or bond tilt depending on market changes but neither will make a huge difference. Following the rules I set for withdrawal amounts is also not critical. It is primarily intended to help insure a large estate. If things get tight, Barb can increase the withdrawal % to 4% or even higher as she ages.
For taxes, I recommend going back to the accountant rather than trying to deal with Turbo Tax unless Toby or Jenn want to do it. Barb will need to set up an OPM online services account to manage withholding – I recommend continuing to use the OPM annuity for all Fed and DC withholding – it is simple."
Accounts to deal with: Lists accounts with phone numbers, URLs, account numbers but refers to the password safe for user IDs and passwords for online access.
This thing is a how to document not a financial plan with philosophy, objectives, etc. I prepared one of those when I retired (which also included some anticipated how to stuff like AA and SWR) and shared it with a fee only advisor to get a second opinion. But DW and the kids don't need that foo fooey stuff - too much like mission, vision, values junk at work. They need numbers and methods.
