“At every disaster, I always hear, “I never thought it could happen here or to me.’”
--FEMA liaison
September is Disaster Preparedness Month. Don’t get caught thinking a disaster can’t happen to you, your family or your business. Make sure your household or small business financial information is in order.
When we held focus groups with disaster survivors, we found that many households and small businesses did not have their financial information arranged in an orderly or useful manner. The Kansas City Fed developed Plan.Prepare.Prevail (P3) due to the lack of easy to use and easy to understand tools for financial preparedness.
A disaster does not have to be a community-wide tornado, flood or wildfire; it can also refer to your home or your business. P3 is a suite of free online resources to help you and your customers organize financial information so when a disaster strikes you have the necessary information to prevail.
- Be prepared for when disaster strikes. The Federal Reserve developed this quick checklist to help you gather your important financial information:
- Complete the Federal Reserve Financial Form for households and/or small businesses--a form-fillable PDF (also available in Spanish).
- Understand current insurance policies and reassess annually.
- Complete an inventory of your property and contents.
- Have a relationship with your bank.
- Develop an emergency financial fund for insurance deductibles and short-term costs.
Visit External Linkwww.kansascityfed.org/planprepareprevail to learn more and find resources to help you be financially prepared for a disaster.
“Don’t think it won’t happen to me. Think it will happen to me, and then you will plan correctly.”
--A disaster survivor and focus group participant