In the wake of the hurricanes that decimated the Gulf States, it is worth considering for a moment how you would react if all of your most important financial documents were destroyed. Although you may not live in an area prone to natural disasters, you may one day be faced with the prospect of having to clear out of your house within minutes.

If you had to, could you get hold of vital financial documents, like property titles, wills, or insurance records without hesitation? Would you know just where to look without wasting precious minutes?

Gay IT consultant Paul E. Eisman says with very little planning you can have everything set in advance and remain calm when you need to be most clear-headed.

"Most people panic because they haven't thought through what they would do in a worst-case scenario event," said the Los Angeles resident.

Since many people keep vital financial information on their computers, having a backup system is vital, says Eisman.

"At one time, I would have suggested using a separate hard drive for backup purposes – but if your house burns down or is flooded, this kind of backup becomes useless," he says.

Eisman recommends uploading all vital documents to a remote server.

"You can buy server space for a few dollars a month, and with a high-speed connection you can upload copies of everything that's important to you in minutes – and never have to worry about the status of your computer," Eisman says. If a disaster strikes and you can't get into your home, you won't have to worry, notes Eisman.

"When you save scanned documents on a remote server, you can access them from any computer; replacing software might be expensive, but replacing documents is even worse," Eisman says.

Moving from high-tech to low-tech, organizational expert Barbara Hemphill, president of Hemphill & Associates in Raleigh, N.C., suggests keeping a single location in your home to file all crucial papers, preferably in a fireproof box.

Long before disaster strikes, Hemphill suggests:

1. Take pictures of the inside and outside of your home for insurance purposes. In the absence of receipts, pictures will help prove lost property.

2. Create copies now of crucial documents in case you need them to provide to government disaster agencies like FEMA.

3. Place important original documents in plastic covers to protect them and to prevent you from accidentally giving away the original.

4. Inform at least one good friend or family member where important information is located, in case you're not available or incapacitated.

5. For documents you want to preserve, but don't need regular access to, like birth certificates or copies of a will, keep them in a safety deposit box.

However, advises Catherine Williams, president of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Chicago, don't carry the key with you." "Keep one key in the house and one with another person," Williams says.

©1998-2005 GFN.com. All Rights Reserved.