Resources / Your own affairs
Passwords and digital accounts: what to record
When someone cannot get into an email or a phone, everything else locks behind it. Record the keys to your digital life while it is easy.
The keys
- Main email account and password
- Phone passcode and SIM PIN
- Computer login
- Password manager and its master password
- Two-factor backup codes
Money and bills
- Banking and card logins
- Investment and retirement logins
- Bills and utilities logins
- Subscriptions and memberships
- PayPal, Venmo, and similar
Digital life
- Social media accounts
- Photo and cloud storage
- Domain names or websites
- Cryptocurrency wallets and keys
- Loyalty points and airline miles
Legacy settings
- Apple Digital Legacy contact
- Google Inactive Account Manager
- Facebook legacy contact
- Where the full list is kept
- Who is allowed to access it
The email is the master key. Whoever controls the main email can reset almost every other account. Make sure a trusted person can reach it, and the phone that receives the security codes.
Set up the built-in legacy tools. Apple Digital Legacy and Google Inactive Account Manager let you name someone to reach your accounts. They take five minutes and cost nothing.
Printed and kept where you will see it, this does its job. If you would rather it live somewhere your whole family can reach, that is what MyLifePapers is for.
Common questions
Where should I actually keep the passwords?
Not on a sticky note or a plain spreadsheet, where anyone who finds it can use it. A password manager keeps them encrypted, and a trusted person needs only the one master password. Whatever you choose, record where they live rather than writing them out in the open.
What is Apple Digital Legacy or Google Inactive Account Manager?
They are free, built-in tools that let you name someone to access your account after you are gone, or after a long period of inactivity. Setting them up now saves your family from platform bureaucracy and locked accounts later.