It starts with relationships – personal and business. Whom do you trust to give the keys to your online presence to? I don’t just mean social media, but banking and all financial records, medical accounts, memberships to professional organizations and more. This doesn’t have to be one person. It can be as many as you want to include, but choose carefully. This is the person or group of people who will have your back if something happens to you. They are the ones who will put in motion closing down accounts, moving money around, resetting passwords, updating profiles, getting sensitive information.
Let me give you an example of how I run things here:
I have a tax analyst, bookkeeper, former bookkeeper, trusted team member, a life insurance agent, husband and very bright teenage children whom I trust with just about everything.
For all of my clients, I have a plan in place of how to distribute the tasks that I do for them and services I provide them. There are back up companies that would be given the access to the accounts. My clients know that this plan exists and that my choices have been vetted based on their needs. They trust me and my judgement. The person who would implement this plan is my right hand team member who is aware of all of the clients I work with and what we do for them.
Personal finances. My husband has access to everything, but he chooses to not go in there. This means he’s actually not the best choice to get the ball rolling. I leave that to my current and past bookkeepers. They both can coordinate with my husband and our tax analyst. My past bookkeeper is a lifelong friend and I know she’ll always do what’s best for my family.
Once you have decided this list, be sure to review it twice a year. If you have your will with these types of directives, review it once a year to make sure it is current with what you are doing NOW.
You need to decide if this list will all know each other at this point and if you want to meet with them via video or in person to make introductions, assign tasks for your “hit by a bus” plan. You need to also decide on a method to share this information, access and account details, archives, etc.
I have a document on Drive with my client information. I use LastPass for all account logins for everyone and create “packages” in there to share with those who need various pieces. My children have access to some items that they can help their dad with. We all feel pretty covered. The lists are living documents. They can be edited daily. Access to them can be reviewed quarterly or so.
The posts on this site will give you ideas of groupings of access you need to know and keep a list of for this group.
