Take 15 minutes and find the following:

• passport
• birth certificate
• Social Security card
• credit cards
• driver’s license

It’s important to know where these are in case you need to use them suddenly. Students fill out paperwork requiring their license number or Social Security number quite frequently. You never know when you’ll next need your Social Security number handy for paperwork at a new doctor’s office or while filling out forms for a new job.

You may need to get your hands on these documents fast, and they should always be kept in a secure place. With the exception of your credit cards and driver’s license, these documents should be under lock and key. By keeping these forms of official government identification secure and separate from your credit cards and driver’s license, you can prove your identity to replace documents and catch a flight if your wallet is lost or stolen.

Take this one step further: put them in a gallon-sized freezer bag first, so that in the event of a hurricane evacuation, you can grab them and go.

 

Valrie Chambers, Ph.D., associate professor of taxation and accounting, and Betty Thorne, Ph.D., professor of statistics and the Christian R. Lindback Chair of Business Administration, write Financial Fridays to bolster students’ financial wellness including preventing financial mistakes, safeguarding their assets and identity, and thinking critically about financial decisions. For questions, contact Valrie Chambers at [email protected].