Who Has Your Passwords?
He had not thought that this meant the whole house was behind a single phrase that lived in his head.
Picture a couple named Isaac, 71, and Lena, 69. They moved abroad three years ago. Isaac keeps the phone, the laptop and every account that lives on them. Lena keeps the garden and the friendships.
One evening Lena asked a plain question. "If you were in the hospital and the phone locked, how would I pay the electricity?"
Isaac started to answer. Then he said, "It opens with my face."
They both looked at the phone on the table. It held the bank, the email, the photos of the grandchildren and the code for the front gate.
Isaac made a list that night of what was behind the lock.
| What is locked | Who can open it today | A door to consider |
|---|---|---|
| The phone | Isaac, with his face | A second way in that Lena knows |
| The email account | Isaac | A trusted person who knows how to reach it |
| Online banking | Isaac | Ask the bank what a second person may be allowed to do |
| Utility and rent payments | Isaac | A written list of what is paid, to whom, and when |
| Photos and documents stored online | Isaac | One folder Lena has seen |
| The password manager | Isaac | A decision about who holds the master key |
A password manager is a program that stores all your passwords behind one master password. Isaac had been using one for years. He liked that he only had to remember a single phrase. He had not thought that this meant the whole house was behind a single phrase that lived in his head.
He and Lena talked about who would hold it. Lena said she would prefer a sealed envelope in the folder in the kitchen. Isaac said he would prefer to give it to their lawyer. They decided to ask their lawyer what the options were, and also to ask the manager's own help pages whether it offers a way to name a trusted person.
Isaac asked something else too. The woman who helps in the apartment had offered to pay for cleaning supplies from her own pocket and be repaid. Would the bank let a helper make small payments without ever seeing his login? Neither of them knew. They put it on the list of questions for the bank.
Lena said, "It is odd. I trust you with my life, and I have never seen how you log in."
"I trust you with mine," Isaac said. "I never showed you."
You could…
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Make the same table for your own accounts, and see which rows say only your name.
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Ask your bank and your lawyer what a spouse or a helper may be given access to, and what each would need in writing.
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Decide who holds the master key to your password manager, and tell that person where to find it.
Who holds the key to your accounts today? Share how you solved it. Someone reading may find the next step in your answer.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data.
Tell us in the comments