Though we have made wills and all that, our financial situation changes as assets are added and spent. (the more of the latter, unfortunately…sigh)

I keep track of all these in my laptop and have to find a way to make sure my wife or children can access it easily.

Thank you for pointing this out and making me think.

In the last year alone, I have opened five bank accounts, two retirement accounts, and a dozen credit cards. That’s a lot of information. No, I don’t use the same username and password for every account. And no, I don’t feel like using ink and paper. Yes, my wife and I find our current method much more convenient.

Okay, I admit that I don’t know every state’s details with regard to shared safety deposit boxes. So what? Is it still an option for storing financial information? Sure.

You, obviously, know little about technology. Should I attack you for it? No. I also am willing to bet that due to the open-source nature of my OpenOffice files, in 20 years I’ll be able to find a program that will open my current documents. How can we know for sure? Ask me again in 20 years.

As for the rest of it, this is not the New York Times or TIME magazine. It’s a personal web site, and I can write whatever I want. If you don’t like it, I’m willing to send you a full refund. I just need your bank account details….

I’m not attacking you personally, I’m attacking most of your advice as ill-advised. You don’t even know that in many states, a shared safety deposit box is not opened to the surviving spouse until the state gives its okay.

I guess what I was looking for that when someone writes an article, they have a little bit of knowledge on the subject they’re writing about. While obviously you know a lot about different programs and encryption options for data, I just think you might have stretched yourself a bit thin with your other suggestions.

And while I applaud you for using open standards, I still suspect that if you’re not constantly updating your method for storing this information (along with the programs and document formats, and ensuring your significant other is constantly deleting the outdated files so there’s no confusion), you will find it very difficult 20 years from now to find something that will be able to open or read anything you create today.

For relatively static information that changes rarely and has to last a lifetime, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t use the simplest technology available — you know, that thing that has withstood the test of time — ink and paper. Thousands of years old. No technology updates needed. Ever.

So yes, I apologize… I think I’m eager to question anyone who puts so much effort into something that’s otherwise seems to be very simple to the rest of us.

Also, your argument about file formats is only valid IF I decide to NEVER update my information. This goes against the very point of the entire article – finding an easy way to give loved ones access to the most current financial information. Every time my financial information changes, I update my master list, encrypt it, and send it to my wife. Done. It now waits patiently in Google’s server farm, hopefully never to be used.

As a side note, I prefer to use open-source software programs and file formats. The OpenDocument format that I use is designed to avoid (or at least significantly delay) file obsolescence. I don’t use Microsoft Word, with its ever-changing “standards.”

There’s no over-thinking done here. The method I describe works best for myself and my wife. If it doesn’t work for you, fine. It CAN work for other people.

I fail to see why you’re so eager to attack me and my article. All I have done is provide a few options for a contingency plan, and then invite others to share suggestions and ideas. And yes, Amy, some of us actually have a sense of humor, even when dealing with difficult subjects.

Oh, I’m not sure why you decided to post your first comment again, but I deleted it since it was an exact duplicate.

I dare you to try and show my anything created on a word processor 20 years ago that is easily read today. Much less anything with password protected encryption programs where the author doesn’t support any more.

I agree, thinking about these things is an important topic. But I’m afraid over-thinking things is what is too-often done for something as simple as a few nuggets of information that you need to pass on from one person to another.

While your heart is in the right place, I hate to read simplistic articles like this that actually give out worse advice than doing nothing at all, and then try and cover it up by saying, “Hey, I was only joking…”

In case you didn’t actually read my commentary about the “bury it” option, I also think it’s a terrible idea. Still, you’d be surprised at what people do. Do you think I’m actually serious about an option in which I recommend that people create a nifty pirate treasure map? Aaargh!

By the way, by creating this article, all I’m trying to do is get people to at least THINK about this issue. Most people are naturally uncomfortable thinking about their own mortality, and if by creating this article I get even a few people to create a contingency plan that works FOR THEM, then my time spent has been worthwhile.

If a pencil-and-paper list works best for you, please use it! I don’t like that option at all because of the ease in which it can be lost/destroyed. If, say, your house is destroyed by flood, fire, or is ransacked by a herd of wild boars (that’s another joke Amy), all your information is gone. In my case, my information will only be lost if Google goes down – the likelihood of my house burning is significantly higher than Google going down.

To each his/her own. By the way, I love you too!

The fourth option also stinks. People who are dealing with grief don’t want to have to go looking for a file on their computer somewhere. Or in a webmail box that they stopped using 10 years ago (as people rarely keep the same email address *their entire lives!*), or find the webmail provider had a data loss issue (happens all the time on webmail platforms), or find the webmail provider no longer exists. Nor do people keep the same computer. Nor the same computer technology or platform either. So then everytime you or your significant other makes a computer change, an email change, a software program change, you have to remember to update this information and change it all over.

The upshot is if you’re serious about financial security for your significant other, keep a freakin’ simple paper and pencil list. Paper was made for a reason — it’s simple, it works, and it’s far easier to secure than bytes.

And no, there’s no reason to put it in a safe, the target of a thief. Sorry, but that’s just more horrible advice!

Put it in simple place within your files or in a book on your bookcase, and show your significant other where it is. Thieves don’t go rifling through dozens of files or your books in hopes of finding something good.