My younger self (pictured) never had to think about a useful way to spend a bank holiday. Everyday that wasn’t a school day felt like a bank holiday. There was acres of time to stare in the mirror and wonder if the monobrow would ever think out and the frizzy hair would ever calm down.
These days, I never seem to have a spare minute, so when a whole spare day comes along, I want to get as much out of it as possible.
So, ironically, I’ve spent the morning sorting out my bank accounts. I have 8 of them. Scarily, I discovered I haven’t had a statement for one ISA account since 2014. It seems like a clever technique to me. If you don’t have any reason to use your account (the whole point of a savings account), they lock it down and stop sending statements. That runs a pretty high risk I think of noone ever knowing that you have said account.
There’s around £15 BILLION of money lying in accounts in the UK. (My little ISA isn’t contributing much to that huge figure). These are pensions, savings and investments that individuals haven’t kept track of, and so when they die, no-one even knows to go looking for the cash.
What can you do this bank holiday?
In 3 easy steps you can make sure your assets don’t get left behind. Do what I’ve just done. (Took me 10 minutes):
- Type up a list of all your bank accounts, their sort code and numbers (not the passwords or PINs).
- Upload the list into your Final Fling Safe Deposit Box – it’s as secure as digital banking.
- Share it with your keyholders.
Not got a Final Fling account? Sign up here. It takes a couple of minutes and then you can start organising your financial affairs.
Check out all the documents you should keep in your Safe Deposit Box.
Find out more about what you can do to check out old accounts and access them, whether the account is yours or an inheritance from someone close who has died. A 10 minute search could brighten up your bank holiday no end. Check out tips on Money Saving Expert.