Jul 2 2002

When you sign up for life insurance, you're asked to appoint a primary beneficiary, who gets the money when you die, and a contingent beneficiary, who gets the money if the primary is no longer around, either.

Smart people update this often, lest your ex-spouse get a $100,000 check to the dismay of your current spouse.

This creates little lifestyle trails in your life insurance records. Here's an approximation of one I've seen recently, from oldest entry to newest:

prim: john-father,

cont: mary-mother

prim: john,mary-parents,

cont: rod-fiancee

prim: rodney-husband,

cont: john,mary-parents

Finally, the one I added today was:

prim: rodney-husband,

cont: david-son

As life progresses, so do the files and databases which you're a part of.