From ordering a pizza to paying bills, there aren't too many things you can't do through the internet anymore. Consequently, a lot of people collect an assortment of IDs and passwords for various accounts online; this includes logins for bank accounts and credit cards along with social networking sites and forums. That's a lot of information once you get to thinking about it! While secrecy is the key to security, what happens when you pass away and no one else knows how to log into your account? Or what if you simply forget your password and need a reminder?

While the latter of these two is hopefully the more likely to happen to you, it should make you think about keeping documentation of your logins. You may say that you have your browser set to remember your passwords or that you use software to keep track of all of them. Well, what happens if you have to reset your computer or it suddenly decides to crash and not come back to life? If you have tech support reset your system and you can't remember email passwords or other vital accounts needed to finish the setup, then you may end up spending more as your tech person gets things figured out the long way.

Your family could call the credit card companies or the bank and get your information if you should suddenly kick the bucket, you say? Well, this may be true, but it can take months and a lot of paper work to get a hold of this information. Meanwhile, bills are going unpaid and debt and late fees are accumulating. What about access to email accounts? Some websites will automatically close an email account upon the news of someone's death, without giving out the user name and password!

As you can see, keeping documentation of your accounts and passwords can not only be beneficial to you, but to your loved ones as well. If you select one trustworthy person to give this information to, and keep a copy of in your home's fireproof safe or a safety deposit box at your bank (making sure someone knows how to get into them!), you may save yourself and others a lot of time in the future.

Possible usernames and passwords to include: