What to Pack in a Financial Go Bag
Friday, January 10, 2025
The scenes of the wildfires in Los Angeles, California are scary. I can’t imagine experiencing them first hand.
But this is a good reminder, for those of us not directly impacted, that sometimes you may need to evacuate your home in a moment’s notice.
In those times, it’s important for you to have a Go Bag. A bag you can just grab out the door when it’s time to GO.
Right now, when you aren’t facing that dilemma, now’s the time to prepare the Go Bag (or Bug Out Bag).
For your general Go Bag, Ready.gov has a useful list for what to include. This list from 5.11 Tactical is comprehensive too.
But, what “financial” items should you take with you?
Cash is king.
I assume you’ll have your wallet or purse, which includes your identification, credit cards, and some spending money. But your Go Bag should have additional cash in it. There may be power outages and so credit cards may not be accepted. Cash is always useful.
How much? That depends on your finances. If you have an emergency fund, it’s not unreasonable to keep some of it in cash in your Go Bag. I’d have at least $250, preferably closer to $1,000. You want small bills too, it’s fine if it’s all $20s but you don’t want $50s and $100s. Ideally a bunch of $10s, $5s, and $1s.
For extra preparation, you could always add in some silver or gold. Ounce bars are fine, smaller coins are better. Again, you want it easy to spend and smaller is easier.
All of our important documents are in a red accordion file folder that we can grab and take with us.
They fit into two main categories:
My general rule for what’s important is:
If a digital version is generally accepted, it’s not “important” for this purpose. That said, this folder doubles as our “safe folder” so we include documents that aren’t technically “important” by the two above rules but are important to us.
Ultimately, it’s a folder, so you can add whatever you think is important.
Here’s what’s in our Go accordion folder:
I have a portable hard drive that contains all of our digital documents, years and years of scanned documents that I will 99.99999% never need. These are tax forms from 10+ years ago but they take up no space and sit on a portable drive.
It also includes the foundations of our financial system:
I periodically back this data up to a thumb drive and put it in the folder.
You likely have a lot of emergency contact information stored in your phone, but what if you lose it or lose access to it? It’s nice to have that information printed out and included in the Go Bag.
Include:
Include anyone you even think you might want to reach, it never hurts to have more information.
I’ve talked about having a financial emergency plan, in addition to an emergency fund, make sure you keep a copy of this plan in your Go Bag too. This may include some duplicate information, such as emergency contact information, but that’s OK. More is better than less.
We never know when disaster could strike and being prepared is the only thing we can do. By preparing a proper Go Bag, including your financial information, you will be better prepared to handle life’s emergencies.
What are you packing in your go bag?
The scenes of the wildfires in Los Angeles, California are scary. I can’t imagine experiencing them first hand. But this...
From Alaska to Arkansas, communities across the United States face a growing challenge: declining access to physical bank branches. As...
Houston Statistics: Houston is the fourth largest city in the country and growing fast. In 2023, the city grew by...
