Securely providing financial information to family members
- Thread starter surprising
- Start date
gayl
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I have these items in the safe:
1. Auto title
2. Home's deed
3. Paper with insurance info, my SS#, Schwab account #s (they're already linked on checking / savings acct), life insurance policy obtained with pension
4. Trust document signed by 5 witnesses
5. Update to above signed by dtr
6. Instructions on how many death certs to get, order to clear out accounts & personal property (don't care about that as it'll be under 150k). Actually in that they're designated beneficiaries on accounts & home it should be simple
1. Auto title
2. Home's deed
3. Paper with insurance info, my SS#, Schwab account #s (they're already linked on checking / savings acct), life insurance policy obtained with pension
4. Trust document signed by 5 witnesses
5. Update to above signed by dtr
6. Instructions on how many death certs to get, order to clear out accounts & personal property (don't care about that as it'll be under 150k). Actually in that they're designated beneficiaries on accounts & home it should be simple
We use a password manager. It has changed my life. When we die, we have our son set up as the emergency person who can request access. He then has all our password and other information we have stored there.
Just so you know that's not affiliated with Fidelity Brokerage
Separate company from the brokerage, but belongs to Fidelity Investments.
2cheap2eat
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2014
- Messages
- 119
I use an encrypted spreadsheet with important info. I keep on thumb drive and my best friend has password in case something happens.
Global Wizzo
Recycles dryer sheets
We have a notebook with all the basic instructions and account numbers. The passwords are on spreadsheets and stored on a thumb drive along with a printed copy in the safe deposit box.
Daughter is on access for the box. Keys are stored with us.
Healthy Lifestyle
Full time employment: Posting here.
Is anything really that simple when it the time comes?
Just 0.02 sorta the other way around...
When my father passed, he had a printed list of passwords that were outdated. It was clearly from an excel file, but I couldn't find the source of it. He wasn't too with it for his last years, following a stroke, but he tried to do everything himself, aside from some questionable financial advisors. My parents had a wall between them with my father doing all of the finances. He commented that I was smart and could figure everything out. I can't count how many utterly frustrating hours I've spent trying to keep my mother's bills being paid, meeting his financial advisors, straightening out accounts, moving accounts and assets to my mother... And she needed other kinds of support.
His branch of a bank closed so he moved his safe deposit box to a new branch and when he did that, nobody else was on the new account and the whole thing was forgotten about until he passed. Just figuring out what that meant and what options there were and what I had to prove and to who - multiple calls, consulting with a new lawyer I had to find, and visits to the bank.
Having only a list of accounts is pretty crappy to dump on someone who doesn't know what the accounts were for or how they were being used or what your notions about of it is. We don't realize how many personal decisions we've made over the years and what might seem logical to you is completely different than what someone else might do. I never trusted financial advisors and his world revolved around them. Index funds? He never touched one.
Suddenly I'm looking at all these questions that I know nothing about. What medicare plan and why? And is some other company connected to a previous employer somehow paying for some part of their medicare? WHY
Are there receipts for those gold coins somewhere? Why do you have an advisor who picks stocks for you? How do I cut off your FoxNews products that are billed monthly?
My father passed out of the blue, but after 8 days in the hospital and being on a respirator twice. It was horrible and then I immediately had to be his substitute for my mother. I've heard people talk about their passing as if it will be a party and a windfall for their heirs. It isn't, so the more information and narrative they have, the better. If your assets are simple, it would be a short narrative. If they're complicated, then it's even more necessary.
As far as the accounts, passwords, contacts, etc. I'd suggest having at least two sets of everything using different security to ensure that your heirs, executor, personal whatever can get all of the information they're needing. Family often assumes that family with take these roles, but consider having a bank serve as executor and having preparations ready. If you don't have a full estate plan, think about having your desires for what to do with your remains, services, etc. all written somewhere. I was lucky and 2 days before his last trip to the ER, my father indicated that he wanted to be cremated and didn't want any services and some notions of having his remains buried that I still have to look into.
When my father passed, he had a printed list of passwords that were outdated. It was clearly from an excel file, but I couldn't find the source of it. He wasn't too with it for his last years, following a stroke, but he tried to do everything himself, aside from some questionable financial advisors. My parents had a wall between them with my father doing all of the finances. He commented that I was smart and could figure everything out. I can't count how many utterly frustrating hours I've spent trying to keep my mother's bills being paid, meeting his financial advisors, straightening out accounts, moving accounts and assets to my mother... And she needed other kinds of support.
His branch of a bank closed so he moved his safe deposit box to a new branch and when he did that, nobody else was on the new account and the whole thing was forgotten about until he passed. Just figuring out what that meant and what options there were and what I had to prove and to who - multiple calls, consulting with a new lawyer I had to find, and visits to the bank.
Having only a list of accounts is pretty crappy to dump on someone who doesn't know what the accounts were for or how they were being used or what your notions about of it is. We don't realize how many personal decisions we've made over the years and what might seem logical to you is completely different than what someone else might do. I never trusted financial advisors and his world revolved around them. Index funds? He never touched one.
Suddenly I'm looking at all these questions that I know nothing about. What medicare plan and why? And is some other company connected to a previous employer somehow paying for some part of their medicare? WHY
Are there receipts for those gold coins somewhere? Why do you have an advisor who picks stocks for you? How do I cut off your FoxNews products that are billed monthly?My father passed out of the blue, but after 8 days in the hospital and being on a respirator twice. It was horrible and then I immediately had to be his substitute for my mother. I've heard people talk about their passing as if it will be a party and a windfall for their heirs. It isn't, so the more information and narrative they have, the better. If your assets are simple, it would be a short narrative. If they're complicated, then it's even more necessary.
As far as the accounts, passwords, contacts, etc. I'd suggest having at least two sets of everything using different security to ensure that your heirs, executor, personal whatever can get all of the information they're needing. Family often assumes that family with take these roles, but consider having a bank serve as executor and having preparations ready. If you don't have a full estate plan, think about having your desires for what to do with your remains, services, etc. all written somewhere. I was lucky and 2 days before his last trip to the ER, my father indicated that he wanted to be cremated and didn't want any services and some notions of having his remains buried that I still have to look into.
April2021
Dryer sheet wannabe
Hi- I am doing the same exact thing! You can use a password manager like LastPass or Bitwarden (I am sure there are others but I have used both). There are options available with each to be able to share your passwords with who you want. I ma using the free version of Bitwarden, but I do believe you can create a family account with the paid (not expensive at all) version of LastPass. This will also allow you to add more account specific information. Hope this helps:
Family Password Manager - LastPass - currently 30% off
Bitwarden Password Manager Pricing & Plans | Bitwarden
Check out the Bitwarden Password Manager pricing and sign up for a Free Trial to get access to all the great features that will help secure your digital life.
My kids have the login info to my password manager and all the financial account info and logins are in the password manager. In my document, I list every time they need to go look in the password manager.
aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
Exactly right. When my wife died in late 2022, it's a good thing I had her phone active and had her password. As I was closing accounts, they sent text notifications with 6 digit pins.
Just as important allow someone else to make medical decisions (medical POA) and file it with all your doctors and hospital. My parents fortunately did that and one ended up by coincidence in skilled nursing facility at the same time the other had an emergency that required hospitalization. Fortunately, my sister, because of the documents could step in for medical decisions.
Sanstar
Recycles dryer sheets
This thread is helpful as we are in the process of updating everything. Two other resources are: The Executor’s Handbook by Hughes and Klein and the AARP book by Hurme, Checklist for Family Survivors.
Second book has a lot of info to pre-fill for our daughter. We also have hard copies of information and legal docs in a safe at her house out of state. Originals are in our safe. I like the idea of putting passwords on a thumb drive vs paper and / or sending online. We will use a laptop not connected to the internet to do that part.
Second book has a lot of info to pre-fill for our daughter. We also have hard copies of information and legal docs in a safe at her house out of state. Originals are in our safe. I like the idea of putting passwords on a thumb drive vs paper and / or sending online. We will use a laptop not connected to the internet to do that part.
aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
If you are going to leave a password file (which I truly recommend), make sure you provide answers to the "secret questions" if they were required to create when setting up accounts. Some accounts are associated with images to recognize when logging in. Make sure you know the correct image, although some old accounts using this went to 2FA.
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