Brian Gongol
Nobody likes to think about the prospect of dying, but sudden illnesses and accidents can take lives unexpectedly, including one's own. And while the only password you may have needed to know 25 years ago was the PIN for your ATM card, today our lives are ruled far more than we probably realize by our usernames and passwords. In case of some dreaded personal disaster, it's worth completing a list of personal account information and storing it someplace secure so that family members can get to it in an emergency.
| Type of account | What site you use | Username | Password |
| Online banking | |||
| Online banking | |||
| Online banking | |||
| Online banking | |||
| Retirement/investments | |||
| Retirement/investments | |||
| Retirement/investments | |||
| Retirement/investments | |||
| Credit cards | |||
| Credit cards | |||
| Credit cards | |||
| Credit cards | |||
| MySpace | |||
| PayPal | |||
| eBay | |||
| Amazon.com |
Store a list like this extremely carefully, in a safe or a safety-deposit box. Obviously, if it were to be lost or stolen, it could do a lot of damage to you. Update the list as you update your usernames and passwords, and destroy old lists carefully (burning may be the only completely reliable way). But keep a list like this around for the "getting hit by a bus" scenario, even if you're young and healthy.