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Monday, December 15, 2003
 

Tom Mighell advises:  Don't take your passwords to the grave

I talk quite a bit here on the issue of security, and keeping your PC and its contents safe from invasion. Strong passwords are a big part of that security picture. But what if something happens to you, and your loved ones need access to your computer files? (registration required)

If you have information on your PC that others will need to find when you are gone, make arrangements to have those passwords available. One (albeit archaic) way is to keep a list of all your passwords in a safe-deposit box. Another is an interesting Internet service mentioned in the article, My Last E-Mail, which will deliver stored e-mails to the people of your choice after you have gone. Creepy, I know -- but there might be a value to this service.

I will add another practical piece of non-technology-related advice of my own - just in case.  Sometime after the first of the year, after all of the parties are done and the holidays have wound down, sit down and make a list containing a complete listing of the following items, with all account numbers, contact names, addresses, phone numbers and other information, and current balances:

  • bank accounts
  • stock portfolios
  • life insurance policies
  • disability insurance policies
  • IRAs, 401(k) accounts, other retirement vehicles
  • real estate ownership
  • any other assets or holdings
  • all current loans
  • all credit card accounts
  • passwords for online accounts
  • location of wills, trust documents, etc.

Seal the document in an envelope and put it in a safe place at home. Seal another copy in another envelope and put it  in your office desk.  Let your secretary know it's there, if that is appropriate. 

If you are run over by a bus and killed, or suffer an incapacitating heart attack and are seriously and permanently disabled, this is stuff that your husband or wife will have to try to ferret out.  Yet he/she will not have his/her heart in it at the time.  Make his/her job a little easier in a time of need.

This is practical advice from a lawyer who has counseled a number of families where this information was an utter mystery after the catastrophe occurred, and had to be painstakingly reconstructed.  In many cases they were sure that they had only a partial picture. 


11:47:24 PM    


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