Just imagine for a moment that you died, sorry to be so blunt but this is important, really important. I'm talking here of a sudden unexpected demise, the hit by bus scenario. Can you see the devastated folk that you leave behind, the chaos, the problems? do keep reading I'm not selling life insurance or encouraging you to write a will, I'm assuming that you're sensible enough to have done that, what I am flagging up is something that lots of folk completely forget.
This was starkly brought to my attention a few weeks back when filming the most amazing collection of punk memorabilia, our online music archive. The collection contained many extremely rare items including extraordinary demos, magazines, posters and albums, all of which would have gone straight to the dump, if the proud owner should unfortunately be called to that great punk store in the sky. Apparently his wife had no interest in the collection other than the fact that it took up vast amounts of the house that could be used for other more 'valuable' activities.
What my friend had failed to do was appreciate that what was of value to him and countless others was not necessarily of value to his partner, the consequence could be that the resource could be abandoned because he had never thought to specify how his pride and joy should be dealt with. Of course I offered to be the repository of the items should the worst happen, very fine of me I thought, but I then began to think about all of those things in our life that have a hidden value, that could be lost forever should we die suddenly with or without a will. I'm not really talking about physical goods now, (but if no one realises all those tatty paperbacks are rare first editions they will end up in the bin) no it's all that data tucked away on computers.
Consider for a moment, the importance and indeed value of clients contact details password protected on your laptop or the codes to get into various online accounts, not just at the bank, but investments, clubs, PayPal and the like, indeed even some Facebook accounts can have a substantial value, or something as simple as the password to your computer. These items could be completely frozen or even lost to your heirs or remaining business partners should you die or loose your senses. Scary eh?
There is good news however, as long as we act on it, there are loads of website that provide just the service that is required, whereby you can register all your primary codes, passwords and documents that can be accessed by nominated beneficiaries should something unfortunate happen to you. The idea is that you list all the secret or relevant data and attach the access information to get to that data to your will so that it can be retrieved as necessary. The additional benefit is that you can give instructions for the disposal of precious items, that may not be relevant to record in a will, or indeed have been acquired since the will was made. There are all sorts of clever ways that these websites check that you are actually deceased so that the 'wrong' person can't get to the goodies, so we shouldn't fret about potential loss in that respect.
Of course one could specify that any rock or pop memorabilia be passed straight to Rokpool who will give it a good home, we're kind like that, however if you don't do something (even if it's only telling your nearest and dearest) the recycling centre may be getting that collection you spent years acquiring, whilst your family tear their hair out trying to guess your iTunes password and how sad would that be?
If you love music you just must visit Rokpool, it is an online rock music archive where you can enjoy rare music,see unique photos, read exclusive articles, watch rare videos and footage for free, and find memorabilia from the last sixty years of music history. There are literally thousands of pages to explore, hundreds of artists to enjoy, and many thousands of free videos. http://www.rokpool.com
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