Electronic accounts have become an integral part of our financial record keeping. While electronic records can be beneficial, if poorly handled they can cause unnecessary headaches for your heirs. It is therefore critical to maintain passwords and Internet addresses securely and to ensure that your loved ones or executor knows exactly where to find this information. Since many institutions require you to periodically change your password, you are better off showing the appropriate individuals how to access the information necessary to log into your accounts, rather than providing them with the password itself. 

Even with traditional account management, family members often don’t know that accounts exist until a statement arrives in the mail. This problem is compounded if you’ve elected to receive electronic statements since it could be years before anyone else discovers the account in the event you die or are incapacitated. Yet, immediately following a death, access to financial assets may be critical for those handling your affairs. During a time of bereavement, the last thing anyone wants to deal with is going through an institution’s difficult process of gaining access to a family member’s account. 

Like the savings account passbook, rapidly disappearing are the days of the physical stock certificate. Many institutions no longer issue them and some brokers and fiduciaries will no longer accept them. It is better to have a simple statement reporting your holdings and tracking interest and dividends, than a stack of certificates stuck in that safety deposit box or at the bottom of your desk drawer. Do your executor a favor by converting paper certificates to electronic form and organizing your other account information.