The Insurance Module
The family's insurance policies, scheduled specialty coverage, and cash-value contracts — policy details, beneficiary designations, and where to find documents and file claims.
Where this Module fits
F-06 Module 6 of 6 in the Financial area — step 3 of 4 on the dependency ladder (System → At-Home → Financial → Estate).
Sixth — documents the coverage, and carries you into the Estate area.
Adds to The Secure Guide: Per-policy detail — limits, premiums, beneficiaries with review dates.
Adds to The Family Guide: Policy types by carrier, the primary agent, the claim-filing steps.
Every Module adds one section to each guide — that is how the two guides assemble as you work. See what you're building.
Text file — the flexible one. Use it as-is, paste it into a spreadsheet, open it in any editor, or paste it into an AI tool to reshape the blank form to fit your family: rename a field, add a row, drop one you don't need.
Print / PDF — the ready-to-use one. Print it and fill it in by hand, or choose Save as PDF and complete it in your own offline PDF app. Either way it stays with you — the finished Secure Guide template goes inside your Vault.
One rule: only ever give an AI tool the blank template. Never paste your real information — passwords, account numbers, anything you'd keep secret — into an AI tool, an online service, or anywhere outside your own Vault. Customizing an empty form is fine; filling it in happens privately, offline. That's the same rule this site follows: nothing sensitive ever leaves your hands.
Secure Guide Starter Template — Insurance
This template belongs in The Secure Guide, stored within The Vault. It documents policy details, beneficiary designations, and access to policy documents. Login credentials for insurance portals belong in the password manager.
A life insurance policy that cannot be found is not paid out. Carriers are not required to notify beneficiaries, and billions in benefits go unclaimed every year — not because families were ineligible, but because they did not know to file. This Module is not advice on what to buy; it makes every policy findable and actionable. And the recurring theme from the Financial Accounts Module applies with full force: life insurance and annuities pass OUTSIDE the will — the beneficiary form on file with the carrier controls, regardless of what the will says. The one-line entry “beneficiary confirmed as [name] on [date]” takes thirty seconds and is the cheapest estate correction available.
Three habits turn this documentation into fraud defense. Know each carrier's legitimate change-and-claim procedure while documenting the policy — knowing the real path is what makes a shortcut request recognizable as fraud. Treat the annual beneficiary review as a fraud check as well as a currency check — it is the mechanism that catches a change the family did not make. And give carrier notices the callback treatment: a “policy lapse,” “premium problem,” or “claims requirement” — however accurate its details — is verified by calling the carrier at the number on the policy documents, never the contact the notice supplies.
Policy Inventory
Every policy: life, health, homeowners or renters, auto, disability, long-term care, umbrella, specialty. Not sure what you hold? Recurring premiums on the bank statements will tell you, and the agent can pull a summary.
Complete one entry per policy. Repeat as needed.
| Item or Category | Carrier | Policy or Endorsement Number | Coverage Amount | Appraisal on File? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cash Value Policies and Annuities
Whole life, universal life, annuities — assets as well as coverage. A decades-old policy can hold surrender value nobody thinks of as money; make sure the CFP®, the Financial Accounts map, and the estate plan all know it exists.
Whole life, universal life, and annuity contracts carry cash surrender value and named beneficiaries, making them assets as well as coverage instruments. Ensure they are reflected in your estate planning.
Family Guide Starter Template — Insurance
This template belongs in The Family Guide. It provides enough information for a family member or executor to locate policies, contact carriers, and file claims — without exposing policy numbers or financial details.
In the matching Secure Guide section: per-policy detail — limits, premiums, beneficiaries with review dates.
That detail is what makes recovery possible — and it is protected in the Vault, which opens with The Vault Key. The key is never written here, by design. The people listed on this page know how it is kept, and the steward's job is to keep that path current, so this page never leads to a locked door.
Full policy documents and account details are in The Secure Guide. Contact our insurance agent before canceling, modifying, or filing a claim on any policy.
| Policy Type | Carrier | Agent Name | Agent Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
Primary Insurance Agent
If you need to file a claim: (1) Locate the relevant policy in The Secure Guide for the policy number and carrier contact information. (2) Contact the carrier's claims line directly — your agent can assist if you are unsure of the process. (3) For life insurance claims, you will need a certified copy of the death certificate; the estate attorney can advise. (4) Do not cancel any policy until you have confirmed with the estate attorney that it is appropriate to do so.
Any notice about a lapse, a premium problem, or a claims requirement — by phone, mail, or message, however accurate its details — gets verified by calling the carrier at the number on the policy documents or the agent on this page. Never the contact the notice supplies.
Anything this page's reader should know that the sections above didn't ask for — the exceptions, the house quirks, the thing you would say out loud while handing this page over.
For more information on how to use these templates, see The Recoverable Family book.
Worked example — Frank's family
Frank had life insurance through work, a term policy bought the year Lily was born and never reviewed since, homeowners, two autos, and a small umbrella — all on autopay, none thought about. Sarah knew the agent's name but not which company held what, or where any document was. Gathering it all surfaced the real find: the term policy's coverage no longer matched the mortgage or their income. The review that fixed it happened outside this module — but this module is what prompted it.
All details are fictional and illustrative. The assembled example guides live at the example Secure Guide and the example Family Guide.
Secure Guide — Frank's entry
The Insurance section of the Mercers' Secure Guide — one folder per policy in FrankSecure → Financial → Insurance. Two inventory entries in full, then the rest:
Policy Inventory — term life (personal)
Policy Inventory — group life (employer)
Also in the inventory, one entry each: homeowners (Granite Mutual — the November annual premium in the Budget list), two autos (Granite Mutual), and the umbrella (Granite Mutual, stacked on the home/auto). All through Pete; all documents in the same folder pattern.
| Item or Category | Carrier | Policy or Endorsement Number | Coverage Amount | Appraisal on File? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The coin collection | Granite Mutual | Endorsement pending — quote in hand | Per the 2026-05 appraisal (replacement value) | Yes — Other Assets | Flagged by the Other Assets Module: above the homeowner's cap. Binding this month; appraisal notes both replacement and fair-market figures |
Cash Value Policies and Annuities
Family Guide — Frank's entry
This entry sits in the household reference binder. Enough to locate any policy and start a claim — no numbers.
| Policy Type | Carrier | Agent Name | Agent Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term life (Frank) | Beacon Life | Pete Sandoval | 555-0184 |
| Group life (Frank, via work) | Cornerstone Life | Meridian benefits dept. | 555-0158 |
| Homeowners | Granite Mutual | Pete Sandoval | 555-0184 |
| Auto × 2 | Granite Mutual | Pete Sandoval | 555-0184 |
| Umbrella | Granite Mutual | Pete Sandoval | 555-0184 |
| Coin-collection endorsement | Granite Mutual | Pete Sandoval | 555-0184 |
Primary Insurance Agent
To file a claim: policy numbers and carrier claim lines are in The Secure Guide; Pete can walk you through any of it. Life insurance claims need a certified death certificate — Ruth Alvarez can advise. Do not cancel any policy without checking with Ruth first.
Any notice about a lapse, premium problem, or claim requirement — however much it knows about us — gets verified by calling Pete or the carrier number on the policy documents. Never the contact the notice supplies.