More than 85,000 seniors displaced by Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi and Louisiana lost Social Security checks because they no longer had mail service.

Many older people don't trust direct deposit. They like to see that check in the mailbox. They like to personally endorse it, and they like to take it to the bank themselves. They don't want to give anyone their account information, and they don't trust invisible transactions.

But if your elder is away from home when the check arrives, it's begging to be stolen. Thieves know when those checks arrive, and they grab them right out of the mailbox. If there is another natural disaster of some kind...and there will be, we just don't know where or when...those checks won't follow your elder and the money won't be available. If he's in luck the Post Office will return them to Social Security. If he isn't, and they are lost or stolen, it can take months to get them replaced. In the meantime, there's no money.

Along with extra flashlight batteries and drinking water, making sure that pension and retirement checks go into the bank by direct deposit should be part of everyone's disaster planning.