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I keep most of my important documents in Google Drive now. It’s convenient, it’s accessible from anywhere, and I don’t have to worry about losing physical paperwork.

But here’s the thing: Google Drive is protected by my Google password, which is stored in my password manager, which is protected by my master password that only I know.

See the problem?

If something happens to me, my family will need access to those documents. But they can’t get to Google Drive without my Google account. And they can’t get to my Google account without my password manager. And they can’t get to my password manager without the master password.

This is what security experts call “good security” and what family members call “impossible to access when we need it most.”

Most cloud storage services have some kind of legacy or family access features, but you have to set them up in advance. Google has an “inactive account manager” that can give trusted contacts access to your accounts if you don’t log in for a specified period. Apple has “digital legacy” features for iCloud accounts.

But these features don’t activate automatically. You have to think about them, set them up, and make sure your trusted contacts know they exist.

It’s like having a safety deposit box but forgetting to tell anyone where you hid the key.

If you have cryptocurrency, congratulations: you’ve created a unique estate planning challenge that didn’t exist twenty years ago.

Unlike traditional bank accounts, there’s no customer service number your family can call to recover access to your crypto wallet. If you lose the keys, the money is just gone. Forever stuck in a digital crypt. No appeals process, no recovery options, no “I forgot my password” link.

This has led to some spectacular losses. There’s an estimated $140 billion in cryptocurrency that’s permanently inaccessible because people died or lost access to their wallets.

But crypto is just the most extreme example of the digital asset problem. You might have money in PayPay, Line Pay, or other digital payment systems. You might have points or rewards in various loyalty programs. You might have digital gift cards or credits in online stores.

None of these things exist in physical form. They’re merely entries in databases, protected by passwords and two-factor authentication and security questions that make sense to you but might not make sense to anyone else.

The solution is documentation. Where are your wallets? What are the seed phrases? How do you access each account? What’s the two-factor authentication method?

And please, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t store this information in the same place as your cryptocurrency. If your computer crashes and takes both your wallet and your backup information, you’ve solved your own problem in the most expensive way possible.

Here’s a morbid question: what happens to your Facebook account when you die?

Facebook has policies for this. They can memorialize your account, which means it becomes a kind of digital gravestone where people can leave memories but no one can post new content. Or they can delete it entirely if that’s what you prefer.

But someone has to tell them you died. And they have to prove it. And they need to know what you wanted to happen to your account.

Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn – they all have different policies and different requirements. Some will transfer control to family members. Some will just freeze the account forever. Some will delete everything.

This might not seem important until you realize that your social media accounts contain years of photos, messages, and memories. They’re digital scrapbooks that your family might want to preserve or at least access temporarily.

Plus, there are practical considerations. If your accounts stay active but unmonitored, they can be targets for hackers or scammers. But if they get deleted immediately, your family might lose access to information they want.

The solution isn’t to avoid social media (though that’s never a bad option). The solution is to think about what you want to happen and document those preferences in the Ending Note where your family can find them. And were systems allow, set that up now.

Because “Figure it out when the time comes” isn’t really a plan.

I know someone whose father died suddenly, and the family needed to access his computer to find important financial documents. The computer was password protected. His phone was locked. His email accounts were inaccessible.

They knew he did most of his banking online, but they didn’t know which banks or what the account numbers were. They knew he had photos and documents saved digitally, but everything was locked behind passwords he’d never shared.

It took them six months and a lawyer to get access to some of his accounts. They never did recover his photos or personal files.

Another story: A friend’s mother had all her photos stored in iCloud, but she’d never told anyone her Apple ID password. When she developed dementia and needed to move into care, the family wanted to print some of her favorite photos for her room. Simple request, right? Except they couldn’t access the account, and Apple’s security features (designed to protect her privacy) made it nearly impossible to prove they had legitimate need for access.

These aren’t unusual situations. Digital assets have all the same access problems as physical assets, plus additional layers of security that are designed to keep other people out.

The technology exists to solve these problems – password managers, emergency contacts, family sharing features. But you have to set them up before you need them.

After you need them, it’s too late.

I’m going to share the single best piece of technology advice I can give: get a password manager.

Not just for security, though that’s important, but for sanity. Both yours and your family’s.

Here’s how it works: instead of trying to remember 80 different passwords or using the same password for everything, you remember one really good password that unlocks a digital vault containing all your other passwords.

Most password managers generate strong, unique passwords for every account, auto-fill them when you need to log in, and sync across all your devices. It’s like having a really good memory that never forgets and never gets confused about which password goes with which account.

But here’s the estate planning part: you can give someone else access to your password manager without giving them your individual passwords. Most services have emergency contact features or family sharing options.

This means your trusted person can get into your accounts when necessary, and they’re not reading your passwords off sticky notes or trying to guess what combination of your pet’s name and birth year you used for your bank account.

Popular options include Bitwarden, 1Password, and LastPass. They cost about as much as a fancy coffee per month, and they’re worth every yen.

Your future self will thank you. Your family will thank you. And you’ll never again have that moment of panic when you can’t remember if your password has one exclamation point or two.

Quick reality check: how many online accounts do you have?

Don’t guess. Actually think about it. Email accounts, banking apps, social media, streaming services, shopping sites, work platforms, cloud storage, photo services, subscription services, gaming accounts, dating apps you forgot to delete, that meditation app you tried once…

The average person has over 80 online accounts. Most of us reuse passwords (which we shouldn’t) or have passwords saved in our browser (which is convenient until someone else needs to access our accounts).

Now here’s the fun question: if something happened to you, how would your family access any of this?

Your phone is probably locked with Face ID or a fingerprint. Your computer might auto-login to everything, but good luck getting past the initial password screen. Your email accounts hold the keys to everything else, but if no one knows how to get into your email…

This isn’t a theoretical problem. Digital assets are real assets. You might have money in PayPay or cryptocurrency or online-only bank accounts. Your photos are probably in the cloud. Your work files, your personal documents, your entire digital life.

And unlike physical documents that you can find by searching through drawers, digital information just disappears if you can’t log in.

Welcome to the modern version of “I can’t find the key to the safety deposit box.”

September’s articles have focussed on laying the foundation to understand why foreign residents need different estate planning solutions and what those solutions might look like.

Here’s what we’ve covered:

• Why scattered information creates problems for international families
• How language and cultural barriers complicate everything
• What it means to organize your life vs. planning for death
• The peace of mind that comes from being prepared for whatever happens

October is going to be all about digital assets, because let’s be real – most of our important stuff lives on our phones and computers now, and that creates whole new categories of problems when we’re not around to unlock them.

If you’ve been following along and thinking “I should really get organized,” you’re not wrong. But don’t feel like you have to do everything at once. Pick one area – maybe your passwords, maybe your emergency contacts – and start there.

The goal isn’t to become perfectly organized overnight. The goal is to be more organized than you were last month, and then keep building from there.

Baby steps still get you where you need to go.

Learn more about the International Resident’s Ending Note at: endingnote.mediatinker.com It’s available as a PDF download or you can buy it on Amazon in Kindle or paperback form

Here’s something I didn’t expect: going through the process of cataloging all my financial accounts helped me find money I’d forgotten about.

Turns out I had a small investment account from my previous job that I’d opened during some enthusiastic phase of retirement planning in my thirties and then completely ignored for almost three decades. It wasn’t life-changing money, but it was enough to cover a vacation.

I also discovered I was paying for a subscription to a meditation app I’d downloaded as inspiration with my yoga class, but haven’t used much. And a cloud storage service that I’d signed up for temporarily for a client project and forgotten to cancel. Oops. And I realised that my phone plan was costing me more money than it should.

The process of documenting everything forces you to actually look at all your accounts, all your subscriptions, and all your recurring payments. Most of us set these things up and then never think about them again, which means we’re often paying for things we don’t use or missing opportunities to optimize things we do use.

It’s like doing a financial audit, except the goal isn’t to impress an accountant. The goal is to figure out what you actually have so you can make adjust ments and ensure someone else knows about it, too.

I’m not saying everyone will find forgotten treasure in their financial accounts. But I bet most people will find at least a few things they can clean up or optimize.

And if nothing else, you’ll have a complete picture of your financial life, which is useful information to have while you’re still alive to use it.

In June I spent a week traveling back home, while I was still in the middle of editing the Ending Note. It was the first time I’ve travelled since the pandemic and I have to admit I was a bit nervous. Delayed flights. Detention for being on the wrong side of the political fence. It crossed my mind that I might get stuck in the US. And what would happen then? What could I do?

I didn’t try to fill in the half-finished Ending Note, but I considered it!

Not because I’m fatalistic about travel risks but because if I’d gotten stuck, my friends in Japan would have needed to handle whatever came up. But without the Emergency Access Guide, they wouldn’t know where to find my spare keys or reach my family. That one-pager really does give clear instructions about what to do in different scenarios.

Sometimes the Ending Note isn’t about preparing for a major disaster. It’s about being able to travel without the nagging worry that something important will slip through the cracks while you’re away.

Next time I travel overseas, my trusted contact will have the Emergency Access Guide and I can let go of that worry because I’ll know the bases are covered.

International travel is complicated enough without adding the stress of wondering whether you’ve left your affairs in good enough order. Getting organized beforehand means you can focus on enjoying your trip instead of worrying about everything you might have forgotten.

Plus, my friend gets to play with my cats while I’m gone, so everyone wins.

A shout-out to Ben Tanaka and Retire Japan readers who took and interest in my Ending Note guest post at Retire Japan this week. Thanks for your support of the Ending Note!

If you’re not familiar with Retire Japan, I heartily recommend that you check it out. Ben shares his insights and perspectives on retirement planning and is deeply knowledgable about all the Japan investment platforms.

In addition to the blog, Ben’s got a YouTube channel, a podcast, and there’s a lively member forum, too, where you can ask questions and get polite and informative answers on topics ranging from NISA to inheritance. Ben offers online courses and private coaching, as well.

Whether you’re in the initial stages of retirement planning, hoping for a fast exit with FIRE, or already collecting your pension, Retire Japan has topics of interest. It’s definitely an excellent resource for all of us international residents.