Estate planning and digital assets: what's happening with your online accounts?
Estate planning is all the steps to take to organize the transmission of your assets to your heirs. It is an essential step to ensure the protection of your assets in the long term.
However, estate planning is not limited to physical and financial assets. With the advent of technology and the digital age, it is increasingly important to consider digital assets. These assets are often overlooked during estate planning, but they are just as important as physical and financial assets.
What are digital goods?
Digital assets are information and data stored on computer servers or digital devices. They may include online accounts such as bank accounts, social media accounts, video game accounts, streaming service accounts, email accounts and online storage accounts.
How to organize your digital assets?
It's important to take the time to think about how you organize and manage your digital assets. The first step is to take inventory of all your online accounts and document them. You should record the following information for each account:
- Account name
- Username
- Password
- Email address linked to the account
- Account-related contact information
Once you have documented your online accounts, you need to decide how you want to manage them long term. You can choose to keep them in your name and pass them on to your heirs upon your death. You can also choose to transfer certain accounts to your heirs before your death.
How to protect your digital assets?
It's important to take steps to protect your online accounts and digital assets. You should always use strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts. You should also enable two-step verification for all your accounts. This will add an extra layer of security and prevent unauthorized people from accessing your accounts.
You should also consider using a password manager to help you manage your passwords. You may also consider using a digital safe to store your passwords and sensitive information.
How to integrate digital assets into your estate planning?
When planning your estate, you need to consider your digital assets and incorporate them into your planning. You must decide how you want to manage your digital assets in the long term and designate one or more heirs to manage your online accounts.
When you designate one or more heirs to manage your online accounts, you must take the time to explain to them how to manage your accounts and provide them with the necessary information. You should provide them with a copy of your online account inventory and explain to them how to manage your accounts and how to access your information.
Conclusion
Estate planning is an essential step in ensuring the protection of your assets over the long term. It is important to consider your digital assets during estate planning and incorporate them into your plan. To learn more about estate planning and digital assets, visit our blog.
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