2766. Be prepared
© Bruce Goodman 26 June 2023


Just the other day I forgot my son’s pin number to his bank account. There was a reason for wanting it which I shall go into in a minute. But first, it reminded me of a similar incident that occurred several years ago.

A few years back my wife was dying of terminal cancer. We had always had separate bank accounts. It was one of those things. She was exceedingly rich from family inheritance and it was thought best if we kept such a fortune separate.

Well, she died around one in the afternoon and the first thing I did before reporting her death to anyone was to drive into town and take out as much cash as possible. There was a limit on how much cash could be extracted in a day on an ATM machine in the street, so I had to wait around twelve hours before I could come into town again to get more. In the end I never got it all out but something is better than nothing, and I presume I’ll get the rest (or most of it) once the will is all settled.

I was reminded of this yesterday when the police arrived to inform me that my son had died suddenly in a car accident. He had gone to the movies, and to be honest he was a bit neurotic about pick-pocketers, so he had left his wallet in his bedroom and simply taken a bit of cash.

After the police had left, and before I went to identify the body, the first thing I did was go to town to take out as much money from his account as possible before hungry fortune-seekers got their hands on it. Of course, his pin number had changed. The one I had was outdated. So I’m telling you this as a warning: make sure you have your spouse’s and your kids’ pin numbers up to date, because you never know when you might suddenly want them.

Contact Author
Back to Index
Next Story
Previous Story