Organizing Your Finances

The process of moving out of the country requires a lot of steps, and making sure that your finances are in order is a big part of the pre-travel planning. This is a list of all the "to-do" items we had on the financial planning tab of our spreadsheet. 
  1. Decide which credit cards are best for travel - i.e. no international transaction fees and offer rewards miles (we have two - one for daily use and one for back up).
  2. Contact your back to let them know when and where you're traveling.
  3. Cancel any credit cards you won't be using.
  4. Set up online bill pay for any recurring bills.
  5. Cancel all services you're not using (I kept Spotify, but canceled Hulu and Netflix).
  6. Give power of attorney to some one (my dad in our case) for writing checks, making financial decision if needed.
  7. Write out our 5 Wishes (just in case - it's good to have this in place).
  8. Consolidate all bank accounts into two shared accounts; checking and savings.
  9. Set up a mail forwarding address (my parents).
  10. Put all valuables in a safe deposit box.