Catastrophe Preparedness
June 2024
Re: Catastrophe Preparedness
Dear Friends andClients,
Hurricane Season is every year from June 1st to November 30th.This year, with elevated water temperatures in key areas, prognosticators are calling for an active season. With Advocacy Financial HQ and many clients in risky areas, it follows logically that we maintain a heightened awareness to risk of hurricanes, as well as other catastrophic events, which can occur nearly anytime and in any location.
As advocates for your financial life, it is critically important we remain locatable and communicative. Our objective is to provide seamless service to you in the face of a disaster, both natural and human induced. However, that may not always be possible, such as when power and internet were temporarily disrupted during Hurricane Ida in 2021.
As such, there are things we can all do to prepare. Included below is information that you may find helpful in preparation for a catastrophe. Please take a look and discuss your contingency and evacuation plans with your friends and family.
In terms of financial items, if you have not done so already, we strongly encourage you to establish online logins for custodians of your financial and insurance providers. For Fidelity, please visit here: www.fidelity.com. For your insurance and annuity contracts, please visit the website of your policy providers and register your policy. A password keeper may be utilized to help manage the sundry of login credentials, for example, www.LastPass.com.
In addition, please find updated primary and alternate contact information outlined below. If I cannot be reached for any reason, please reach out to Jennifer Dannels next, whom you may have met at the office.
Thank you for the privilege of continuing to serve you and I wish you and your family a safe year. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to write or call if we can help or if you would like to schedule a time to meet. Aside from a few business trips and long weekends in June and July, we plan to be at the office the rest of the summer.
Best Regards,
Joseph M. Prisco, Jr., JD, CFP®
PREPAREDNESS ITEMS
Electronic Backup of Documents: Please consider all important documents at risk of being lost should your home or business flood, burn, or experience some other catastrophe. We suggest keeping electronic copies of documents for efficient recovery, as well as back-ups of the electronic copies. Please consider the use of the cloud, such as www.dropbox.com. The purchase and use of a scanner is also highly recommended. Please take a look at a reasonably priced double sided scanner available from Amazon: Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1300 Wi-Fi Scanner
Documents to consider scanning: Financial, Legal, Real Estate, Insurance, Tax Returns, Prescriptions, Medical Records, Credit Cards, Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, Drivers Licenses, Passports, Personal Pictures, and pictures of the outside and inside of your house - for potential insurance claim purposes.
In addition, please remember to keep some cash around in the event of banking and communications systems disruptions as may be experienced with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP.) We have also heard of anecdotal evidence for the use of cryptocurrency as a means to facilitate transactions in an emergency as an alternative to cash.
Please also do not forget to stock up on batteries, canned food, water, gasoline, tarps, flashlights, a wind-up radio, candles, among other items. Please test generators and modular air conditioners periodically to ensure smooth running.
Moreover, State and Local Governments provide resources to help us prepare. Please see: http://www.getagameplan.org/ and: https://www.ready.gov/kit
We sincerely hope you find this information useful and informative. If you have any suggestions or recommendations, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Joe Prisco
985-237-0826
jprisco@advocacyfinancial.com
Advocacy Financial
Toll Free: 888-787-4590
Law Firm Office
985-590-4963
joe@equitableadvocacy.com
Fidelity Customer Service
800-343-3548 or 877-208-0098
RIA Innovations
855-419-2755
OFFICE LOCATIONS
Advocacy Financial - Primary Office
212 Park Place, Covington, LA 70433
Local Alternate Office
265 Empress Ct., Madisonville, LA 70447
Evacuation Location
55 Spring House Rd., Lake Toxaway, NC 28747