4489 - Digital for old people

Straight from AARP.

Dos and don'ts for crafting your digital plan

• Prepare (or revise) your estate planning documents to address digital assets and information. Ensure that all your documents (wills, powers of attorney and trusts) authorize somebody to be your “agent” for your digital life and your executor for your digital estate. For example, your documents may include language giving your chosen person authority to “access, control, use, cancel, deactivate, or delete Digital Accounts and Digital Assets, and to access, control, use, deactivate or dispose of Digital Devices.” This makes sure your caregiver would not be essentially hacking into your accounts by using your password and login information, but truly has legal consent to do so.
• Back up your data, frequently. Have an automatic backup on your files scheduled regularly. Keep a storage account with an online custodian. Store important items on external devices as another layer of preservation.
• Inventory your accounts and maintain an updated list of login information and passwords.
• Don't keep that list in a document on your computer titled “passwords.doc” or in your email account. Consider creating an online vault for such sensitive information. If it's too much to manage an updated list on your own, use one of the excellent password management tools that create, remember and fill in passwords automatically.
• Identify legacy contacts and inventory agents where allowed for your social media and professional accounts.
• Revisit your business shareholder or operating agreements. If you have a corporation or an entity like an LLC, write a succession plan that addresses business digital assets.
• Write a letter of instruction for your future caregivers and executors and say how you want your digital life handled. Should assets be transferred to a colleague, friend or family member? Are there accounts you'd prefer to be deleted or memorialized? Don't leave room for doubt; write it out and remove the guesswork.
• Be like my mom. Organization helps caregivers tremendously, and she was nothing if not organized. To this day, I am exceedingly grateful for that.
• But also, don't be like my mom. She used one password — “Ginbabe” (what can I say, she enjoyed a good martini!) — for 85 percent of her accounts and probably didn't know she was creating a major identity theft risk. Be sure to keep your passwords fresh and varied or use a password manager.