What “Keys” Will Cindie, Matt, and Beth Need?

I recently read a  two-page article in the current issue of the AAII Journal. The title of the article was “Key Financial and Estate Planning Steps for Aging Parents and Children.” It was written by Charles Rotblut, the AAII Journal editor. Three sections were things I wanted to tackle sooner  rather than later. The first section covers passwords. Passwords are needed because there is evil around us, within us, and the wicked of this world like to steal.

When my dad passed away, mom had quite a struggle finding the right keys for various locked cabinets and containers in her home. Dad even hid the keys, making the task even more complicated. Thankfully he had very little in the way of online accounts. That is not the case for us in 2025. Our life is full of accounts and passwords. I don’t want Cindie to struggle to find the “keys.”

An Uncertain Mystery: The Date I Will Die

“None of us … are guaranteed to know the date of our death. But we know something just as certain: unless Christ returns first, that day will come. Until then, Scripture says, we will inhabit a creation that is subject to futility, with evil around us, sin within us, and chaos seeming to prevail more often than not. We will see the wicked prosper and the godly struggle. These truths are poignantly expressed in the words of the Preacher of Ecclesiastes: ‘There is a vanity that takes place on earth.’” – Alistair Begg

With this in mind, I have four posts planned, but I want to handle the most important one first: PASSWORDS. I have two password managers. They came with subscriptions to Dropbox and to the NordVPN that I use to connect my laptop to the internet. Both of them are locked, so you need a master password to get at the passwords in either password manager.

Master Password for DropBox and NordPass Passwords

There is a “master” password that provides access to both password programs. The master password will be shared separately from this blog post. The master password is something I use every time I start my laptop if I plan to sign onto any of our accounts.

When I change a password it gets recorded automatically. However, I have found that sometimes the passwords in one are more current than in the other. Thankfully, most of the time the two are in sync.

I tend to use very complicated passwords. For example, one of my passwords is “kNzn^5a6wc3sb{[h.” I could never remember this on my own, and I did not even create it on my own. The password manager suggested it for me. The reason for complicated passwords is very simple. There are evil people who want to try to guess my passwords. They will have a tough time, but I don’t want Cindie to have the same difficulties.

My master password is a secret. But I will give it to Cindie.