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Write an account map, not a password list
Why it matters: Families lose weeks and sometimes money finding accounts after a death or illness. A map without passwords is safe to store with your will.
Do it
- List each account by institution and type, with no passwords or full account numbers.
- Note which email address and phone number each one uses.
- Note where the password manager's recovery kit lives.
- Store the map with your important papers and tell one trusted person where it is.
- Review it once a year.
Check it worked: A trusted person could find your important accounts from a one-page map: bank, retirement, insurance, email, phone carrier, photos, password manager and subscriptions, with no passwords on it.
Simply put
It's like a map of where the keys are kept, not the keys themselves. Your family can find every important account from one page, and a burglar who finds it gets no passwords.
In detail
The map is also your own disaster-recovery plan: after a house fire or a stolen phone, it's the list you'll work through. Leaving passwords off keeps it from being a burglar's shortcut.
If this is new to you: This isn't about passwords, so it's safe to write down. Start with the accounts you'd call first in an emergency: bank, email and phone. Add the rest over time.
Points toward the Long View: a family that can find what matters, even when you can't tell them.