Scanning important documents

[Mr Downtown]

I guess I'm wondering what documents would qualify as important—but for which a scan would be an adequate replacement. Things like property deeds or securities are recorded in some computer system, not on your piece of paper. And things like an auto title or birth certificate or passport can't be replaced with a scan—though the serial number or info found on those might make replacement easier. For most things, having the list of passwords used to access, for instance, insurance or mortgage accounts seems much more important than any piece of paper.

Sort of reminds me of how my bank account comes with a free safety deposit box—but I've never been able to think of anything to put in it.

[Robert M]

Mr Downtown,

This link has a solid list of items to safeguard:



And, yes, there are definitely times a digital copy of a document including birth certificates/death certificates are acceptable. In many cases, a digital copy might be the only version of a document you have and/or be able to obtain in a pinch.

In this day and age, digital copies of documents are becoming more and more acceptable. They are definitely better than nothing at all.

Robert