• Home
  • About
  • Advertising
  • Digital Archives
  • Contact
    • Letter to Editor
  • Find us
Friday, December 6, 2019
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
San Diego Downtown News
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Books
    • Film
    • Music
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
      • Downtown Briefs
    • Featured
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
        • Chris Ward
        • Mara Elliott
        • Summer Stephan
        • Susan Davis
        • Toni G. Atkins
  • Food & Drink
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Food & Drink Blotter
    • Restaurant Reviews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the editor
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Health & Fitness
    • Travel
  • Business
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Best of Downtown
    • Expert Advice
    • Sponsored Links
  • Neighborhoods
    • Balboa Park
    • East Village
    • Gaslamp
    • Horton Plaza
    • Little Italy
  • Calendar
San Diego Downtown News
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Books
    • Film
    • Music
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
      • Downtown Briefs
    • Featured
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
        • Chris Ward
        • Mara Elliott
        • Summer Stephan
        • Susan Davis
        • Toni G. Atkins
  • Food & Drink
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Food & Drink Blotter
    • Restaurant Reviews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the editor
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Health & Fitness
    • Travel
  • Business
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Best of Downtown
    • Expert Advice
    • Sponsored Links
  • Neighborhoods
    • Balboa Park
    • East Village
    • Gaslamp
    • Horton Plaza
    • Little Italy
  • Calendar
No Result
View All Result
San Diego Downtown News
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

These Financial Times: Death and digital data

May 6, 2013
in Business, Columnists, Featured
0
These Financial Times: Death and digital data

Taylor Schulte, Financial Consultant

0
SHARES
11
VIEWS

Taylor Schulte | These Financial Times

“Sixty-three percent of people don’t know what will happen to their digital data after they die.” – Rocket Lawyer, online legal service.

What is digital data? Digital data is all the “stuff” we collect, store, and share online with others. This includes emails, documents, images, social networking accounts, online shopping accounts, and more.

Taylor Schulte, Financial Consultant
Taylor Schulte, Financial Consultant

Although much of it might make living easier, more productive, or simply more fun, it makes estate planning more complex.

Traditionally, upon death or incapacitation, a fiduciary would look through mail, bank statements and paper records to gather the needed information. Now much of this information is collected and stored on the internet, which makes data finding challenging, and at times, impossible. The following are three significant obstacles to accessing information along with some suggested planning strategies:

1) Passwords and Encryption

Microsoft generally recommends using strong passwords that are at least fourteen characters long, using a mix of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. This is great for financial security but challenging for a fiduciary attempting to access critical information.

One way to solve the problem is to utilize a software tool, such as LastPass, 1Password, KeePass, RoboForm, or Keeper. These services allow you to securely save all your passwords and keep them safe using one master password.

2) Terms of Service and Company Policies

Few people actually read the Terms of Service when they sign up for an online account, and companies scrupulously enforce them. For example, Google does not generally grant access to Gmail accounts to an account holder’s heirs or representatives.

Fortunately, Google has recognized the importance of your digital data and recently launched “Google’s Inactive Account Manager.”  It functions much like a digital will, letting users choose settings for what they want to happen to data in their Google accounts if they die or become inactive for a specified period of time.

3) Criminal Law/Stored Communications Act

Both the ECPA and the CFAA protect against unlawful interception of messages that are stored (such as email messages). Under these laws, unauthorized access to computer messages is a federal crime. In addition, the Stored Communications Act creates privacy rights to protect the contents of certain electronic communications and files from disclosure by certain service providers. For fiduciaries, these are are simply more roadblocks to accessing information.

What’s the solution? Plan ahead. Prepare a list of your digital data and how to access it. This list can be indexed and stored on a flash drive, the Cloud, a safe deposit box, home safe, and/or with a data management company such as AssetLock.

Planning for digital assets is a developing area of the law. It is critical you plan for what should happen to your digital property with the understanding that these plans may need to be updated often. For a copy of our Family Information Planner that will help get you started, please contact me at my office and I’ll be happy to help.

Taylor Schulte is a Financial Advisor for Beverly Hills Wealth Management in Downtown San Diego. Taylor specializes in providing independent, objective, financial advice to individuals, families, and businesses.  He can be reached at taylor.schulte@bhwm.com or 619-881-0388. 

Next Post
Drink Shrink: Late spring indulgences

Drink Shrink: Late spring indulgences

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow us on Instagram!

  • Congrats to this years winners  Pick up the Best of Downtown issue at our bins around town
  • Our favorite skyline          Tomorrow is the first Friday of the month  which means a new issue of  sd downtownnews comes out  Be sure to grab a copy to stay up-to-date on all things Downtown           sddowntown  sddowntownnews  downtownsandiego  sandiegoskyline
  • Read about how  cloakandpetal and  theseanyfoundation are teaming up to help children with cancer  from our March 1 issue  Link in bio for more stories  and be on the lookout for our next issue coming out April 5                sddowntownnews  downtownsandiego  localnews  fightingcancer
  • Have you read the latest issue of  sd downtownnews  Don   t miss stories on the Honeymoon Bridge  Valentine   s Day in  littleitalysd and more             downtownsd  sddowntownnews  littleitalysandiego  sandiego  valentinesday
  • Happy rainy Monday Downtowners        last night our editor Albert Fulcher attended An Evening with the Yale Whiffenpoofs in Balboa Park  The event was held to rebuild the Honeymoon Bridge
  • Have you picked up the latest  DowntownNews  Visit our website to view a list of our local drop spots under the    find us    tab on our top menu bar          DowntownNews  DowntownSanDiego  Downtown
  • The first 2019 issue of SD Downtown News is out tomorrow morning  In the meantime  get caught up on stories from last issue including a profile on a Bankers Hill pilot and his upcoming world peace mission  Head on over to our website  link in bio
  • The San Diego Downtown News is now on LinkedIn  Follow us to stay up to date on your local news and watch-out for job opportunities from the San Diego Community News Network  linkedin com company san-diego-downtown-news

San Diego Downtown News

© 2019 San Diego Downtown News. All rights reserved. • San Diego Community News Network (SDCNN)

Navigate our site

  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • A&E
    • Books
    • Film
    • Music
    • Theater
    • Art
  • News & Features
    • News
      • Downtown Briefs
    • Featured
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
  • Food & Drink
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Food & Drink Blotter
    • Restaurant Reviews
  • Opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Health & Fitness
    • Travel
  • Business
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Best of Downtown
    • Sponsored Links
    • Expert Advice
  • Neighborhoods
    • Balboa Park
    • East Village
    • Gaslamp
    • Horton Plaza
    • Little Italy
  • About
  • Contact
  • Calendar
  • Advertising
  • Archives

© 2019 San Diego Downtown News. All rights reserved. • San Diego Community News Network (SDCNN)

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In