Are You Prepared?

A no-nonsense organizational guide that strives to demystify end-of-life planning.
Life's final chapter doesn’t come with an instruction manual, but Anderson's debut guide certainly comes close. This no-frills book tackles every step of the often-overwhelming and stressful process of end-of-life planning, from advice about where to store extra keys to choosing the executor of a will. The manual provides fill-in-the-blank forms to help keep useful information like bank account numbers and family members' addresses in one place, and the guide's step-by-step format makes writing a will and planning funeral arrangements seem much less daunting (although a lawyer is still recommended). Although the information is nothing new—you don’t need a copy of this book to know that you’ll need to make arrangements to give away your pets, for instance—having these details all in one comprehensive package is an effective way to streamline the information that family members will need to know if the unthinkable happens. As a how-to guide, this is an informative read, but it doesn’t delve into deeper, more personalized instructions, like what to do if you own a large business. “I don’t intend to walk down the yellow brick road with you on that one,” Anderson writes in a passage about publicly held corporations. At times, the manual falls flat when the author delves into personal anecdotes. “My father kept everything in its original envelope in the drawers of his desk,” he recalls in an otherwise instructional passage about how to file paperwork. “He knew what was what but my poor mother had no idea.” But these momentary digressions don't take away from the overall helpfulness of this book, which streamlines overwhelming tasks and attempts to make them slightly easier to swallow. Although death is never an easy topic to broach, the guide serves as a handy tool to make gargantuan tasks feel far more manageable.
This useful how-to guide helps keep personal information organized and in one place—but it’s no substitute for a lawyer.