Get Your Shit Together

Get Rich Slowly - Personal Finance That Makes Sense.

Get Your Shit Together

Note: This article is from J.D. Roth, who founded Get Rich Slowly in 2006. After a year off, J.D. is once again writing here at GRS. His non-financial writing can still be found at More Than Money.

As I return to writing at Get Rich Slowly, one of my resolutions is to share interesting apps and websites with you folks promptly instead of sitting on them while I wait for the ideal moment. In the past, I’ve found lots of fun financial tools that I’ve never passed on because I wanted to make a perfect post. No more. Instead, you’re going to get what I gave in the Olden Days: quick descriptions of the things I find.

First up, Amy Jo sent me a link to a site called Get Your Shit Together, which provides info and templates for estate planning.

On the site’s About page, Chanel describes why she started this project. While riding his bike, her husband was hit by a car and killed.

The trauma and grief are enough to completely level you — and yet, the fear about having our wills drafted but not signed, not knowing how much life insurance we had, not knowing the password to his phone so I could call his family, etc. — were often the things that pushed me over the edge. All of that extra stress and pain could have easily been avoided with a few hours of organization and follow through. I don’t want anyone to suffer the same way.

So, Chanel started a website that provides free templates to help others, well, get their shit together before tragedy strikes. To that end, she offers free templates for drafting a will, a living will, power of attorney, and more.

What I like about this site is that it’s not completely business-like (as if you couldn’t tell that by its name). On individual pages, Chanel discusses financial tips, info on insurance, the importance of a will, and — perhaps most important of all — thoughts about relationships and the value of “leaving traces”.

Plus, Chanel has a blog where she shares more info every few weeks.

Four years ago, I shared two similar life-affairs organizers:

• Mark Gavagan’s It’s All Right Here, which is astonishingly comprehensive.
• Erik Dewey’s The Big Book of Everything, which offers similar templates in scaled-down PDF format.

It doesn’t matter which one you use. Just use one.

Nobody likes thinking about death, especially when they’re young. But this sort of planning is essential. One of my best friends is trying to sort through her father’s will right now. Even though he was relatively well-prepared for his death, it’s still a hassle. Don’t leave a similar hassle for your loved ones. Get your shit together.