What is YOUR why?

Yesterday we talked about all the reasons people need a personal property inventory of the contents of their home. As a recap, the top three that were of the greatest awareness level were disaster preparedness (95%), knowing you're properly insured (75%) and estate settlement (55%). These were based on the recent survey many of you were kind enough to complete for us.

Another survey topic was "I have an inventory of the contents of my home because ..." and the why for the most people (35%) was because they believe in being proactive/being prepared. This is great to hear (though I wish the number was higher).

The other whys are:

• I knew I would forget a lot if I had to create the list (25%)
• My insurance agents suggested I have an inventory (10%)
• I had to file a claim and learned the hard way that I needed one (5%)
• Don't want my children to have to do it when settling my estate (5%)

The final option was "I do not have an inventory." Unfortunately, 65% of respondents were in this category. Tomorrow begins Preparedness Month. You'll be hearing and reading a lot about this topic, from the President of the United States on down to local disaster preparedness and inventory companies like us. Please take this seriously and consider how much you have to lose - in time and in money.

An inventory plays a major role in the ability to recover financially from a disaster. One why we all would hate to hear is, when a disaster strikes, you wonder why you didn't bother!