If you have elderly relatives or clients, chances are that you've been called in to a password-related crisis: 

• "I know this is my password.  What the hell is CAPS LOCK?!!"
• "I've been locked out of my account!  I swear I only tried once or twice."
• "I write down all my passwords in a notebook.  But I'm not sure I wrote down the last one."
• "Why do they make these things so damned hard?"
• "You used to be able to call up a real live human being."

Not only is this frustrating for everyone involved, but not having a system for keeping track of passwords can result in security issues.  So, what are good (and easily adoptable) methods for maintaining security and sanity?  The discussion below is relevant for all of us, but I'm focusing on techniques that may be particularly helpful for elders.

First off, why passwords?  I worked for technology companies for years and I can tell you that security is a very thorny issue, particularly when dealing with identity, payments and financial platforms.  For obvious reasons, only authorized users should be given access to these platforms.  There are some alternatives to passwords, most notably biometric sensors such as Apple's facial recognition or Clear's retina scanner and fingerprint pads.  I love these when they work.  But most laptops aren't equipped with these sensors and they can also be frustrating (watch people try to pay with Apple Pay while wearing a mask).

So, username/password combinations are the most common way to access restricted sites and apps.  In recent years, most banks and financial services companies have also added two-factor authentication (2FA).  This sends a text or email to the authorized address with an additional code that the user must enter to access the site.  The logic is that a hacker who may have gotten access to the username/password combination through a data breach would be unlikely to also have access to the mobile phone or email mailbox of the user.  I understand why 2FA is needed but I can tell you from experience that it adds very high level of frustration to older users who have to toggle back and forth between devices.

Password Management Options

Pen and Paper

It might be a little counterintuitive, but pen and paper is actually not a horrible way to manage passwords for elders.  First, it uses a mechanism with which they are familiar and may be more likely to actually use.  Second, it is shielded from online scammers.  The downside is, of course, that it may be discovered by someone in the house (possibly an intruder but, more likely, a relative, "friend" or somebody working in the home).  But that risk can be mitigated by storing the notebook in a safe, inaccessible place.

Digital repository

This could be something as simple as a spreadsheet or a Word document (preferably password protected).  One advantage to this approach is that it could be saved on a USB drive and not accessible from the Internet.  Another is that a copy of that USB drive could be shared with a trusted friend, relative, attorney or fiduciary.

Both of the methods above do require manual updating of new passwords as needed.  This happens more frequently than you might think.  Users create new accounts on new sites fairly often.  And existing sites sometimes require users to change their passwords periodically for security reasons.  If your elder is not diligent about updating their password information it will quickly become out of date.  I have seen client notebooks with more than a dozen previous passwords scratched out, until they finally gave up tracking.

Browser

All major browsers now offer the option to save passwords.  I've found that these can be hit-or-miss.  They also require the user to be logged into the browser, so it requires remembering (or sharing) at least one username/password combination.  They also do not work across mobile apps, only within the selected web browser.

Password Manager

I'll tip my hand and say that password managers are my preferred method of managing passwords for my relatives and clients.  They work across browsers (with plug-ins) and mobile apps.  They allow storing additional notes.  They automatically update when the user changes passwords on a site (when, for example, a site forces the user to change passwords after a certain amount of time or because there was a data breach).  They allow multiple accounts per platform (for example, I have multiple accounts with Fidelity and each is accessed with a different username and password).  The user only has to remember one username/password combination and can share that information with a trusted relative or professional advisor.

There are a number of well-established password managers in the market.  I tend to use LastPass because I like its interface and because the free level of subscription works well (although I've found that the paid versions do add some useful functionality).  However, I know that 1Password, Enpass and Dashlane also have their advocates.  

Which of the above methods is best for you will depend on what you find important and, perhaps most importantly, which your elder relative or client will actually use.

Sooner or later, professional trustees and probate referees will come across an estate with cryptocurrency assets.  These assets pose some challenges, not least of which is understanding the mechanics of how to buy, sell and value them.  The infrastructure around cryptocurrencies is not as developed as that for other assets (such as bank and investment accounts).  That means that documenting and accounting for cryptocurrencies involves some research.  

In the beginning of the cryptocurrency boom, investors needed some technological sophistication.  For example, with Bitcoin, one of the earliest cryptocurrencies, an investor would hold their private key in a Bitcoin "wallet."  That digital wallet would then need to be stored in a very safe place.  The news was rife at the time with stories about Bitcoin investors who lost their wallets and, consequently, all of their wildly-inflated Bitcoin fortunes.

These days, most investors go onto an exchange to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.  There are a lot of different models for these exchanges but, for the most part, individual investors create an account and the exchange manages the digital security and holds the digital wallet. The account is linkable to an individual and is typically accessed like any other account (username, password, two-factor authentication, etc.).  These exchanges are helpful to trustees and probate referees, since they operate similarly to other types of brokerage accounts (that is, they are a third party managing the funds and can be worked with just as any other financial institution).  They should work with the trustee given the appropriate documentation or court order.  The largest of these centralized exchanges are Binax and Coinbase Exchange.

There are more sophisticated trading models for hedge funds, institutional investors and very sophisticated individual investors.  If you come across one of these, your best approach is to find a financial professional with experience in these types of exchanges.  The same is true if the estate contains cryptocurrency assets that were purchased directly or held since the early days.  There are more than 1,500 cryptocurrencies and many of them are not traded on the exchanges.  These assets require special expertise and careful research to manage properly.

In terms of historical valuation of cryptocurrencies (necessary to establish value at the beginning of the accounting period), there are a lot of data sources.  For this purpose, I find that CoinMarketCap is a useful resource.  For example, here is the daily price information for Bitcoin.  There are other sources of data that are designed for investors, with hourly data and attached metadata.  These are usually accessed through APIs for modeling - for the purposes of trustees, they are confusing and overkill.

Th cryptocurrency market is evolving rapidly and the good news (for trustees and probate referees) is that as it becomes more widely established and accessed by non-technical investors, institutions and infrastructure are developing that will make it simpler to manage within an estate.

Additional Articles

I am beginning to see more and more requests from fellow fiduciaries, estate attorneys and accountants for help with trusts and estates that hold cryptocurrencies as part of their portfolio.  There are very real questions about valuation, liquidity, transaction costs and risk.  Some of those questions are not yet fully worked out in the courts, but a basic understanding of cryptocurrencies and how they work may help.

There is a lot of ground to cover, so I'm going to break this into three posts:

• A basic primer on cryptocurrencies and how they work (this post)
• The mechanics of how to buy, sell and store cryptocurrencies
  
• The role of cryptocurrencies in a trust portfolio
  

Most of us have heard of Bitcoin and Ethereum, but they are just the largest of cryptocurrencies.  There are anywhere between 6,000 and 15,000 different cryptocurrencies (depending on how you count them), which is an indication of both how easy it is to create a cryptocurrency and how little most of them are used.  As of December 2021, all cryptocurrencies combined are worth an estimated $2.3 trillion.  That's a lot of money and it is beginning to show up in trusts and estates where you might not expect.  That presents a challenge for trust administrators who need to professionally manage these assets.