Death leaves behind more than grief. It also leaves paperwork, passwords, bills, bank accounts, final wishes, and people trying to figure out what comes next while their hearts are breaking. In this deeply personal essay, Randi Turkin explores why money and death need to become normal table topics, and how preparation can become love in practical form.

The invisible labor that follows a death, the administrative aftermath, the financial unraveling, is real, heavy, and still wildly under-discussed. The most loving thing you can ever do for the people you leave behind is to make the business of your life easy for them to manage when you are gone. So in today’s post, I’m sharing five simple ways to prepare for the inevitable, not from fear, but from love.