Your Battle Plan

By Jean Chatzky

More than 150,000 U.S. reserve troops have been deployed to the Persian Gulf and elsewhere, and before they left, most had only a few days to get their wills, insurance, bank and investment accounts and other financial affairs in order. You may not be worried about being shipped overseas at a moment's notice, but the sort of prep work that smart reservists and other military personnel do is just as valuable for anyone who might spend time away from home. And unless you never take a vacation or business trip, that means you. I live less than 10 miles from a nuclear-power plant. In today's world, that's enough to make me keep the following:

--A master list. This is an inventory of the people and institutions with whom you do business: your credit-card companies (with their phone numbers and your card numbers), mortgage servicer, broker, insurance companies, accountant and attorney. One quick, low-stress way to compile a serviceable list is to put into a folder all the bills and financial statements that you receive within a month or two. Then you will have to dig up only a few missing elements, like the life-insurance statements that come sporadically. You can transcribe the names and numbers later; in the meantime, keep the folder at home and take copies of its contents when you travel.

--A human backup. You need a trusted friend, business associate or relative to agree to manage your finances if you (and possibly your spouse) are unable. This should not be an informal arrangement; give this person power of attorney so that he or she may legally act on your behalf. Send notarized copies of the document to all your financial institutions and insist on acknowledgment. Jim Moon, who heads the deployment-services program at USAA, the big financial-services provider to military personnel, says he has heard "horror stories" about institutions that would not honor powers of attorney during crises because they were not properly worded. "Also, some powers of attorney are good only if you become incapacitated," he says. "You need one that functions if you're out of reach."

--Other key documents. You need a will and a health-care proxy (also called a durable power of attorney for health care) that lets another person make medical decisions for you. No one's finances can simply stand still, so such medical documents are really financial documents. Make two sets of originals--one to leave and one to take.

If you have children, you should also ready a form consenting to emergency medical care for them that can be left with a responsible party if you and your spouse are out of reach. You can get one of these at laweasy.com the website of Martin Shenkman, a Teaneck, N.J., estate-planning attorney and author of the upcoming book 6 Hour Guide to Protecting Your Assets (John Wiley & Sons). New research shows that most parents of minors do not have a will naming legal guardians for their children. This is not only a huge financial mistake but could put a family's fate into the hands of government agencies or courts. Don't be in this group.