A friend and colleague died recently. It was a shock to me to hear about someone that I'd sat down with, shared a drink and good conversation last year had passed. Another went into the hospital recently for emergency surgery. As I get older, these events have more impact and meaning for me than they ever have in the past. I've often said this at the end of one of my presentations:

We work to live, we don't live to work.

Life can be short, and we ought to make the most of it that we can. We also need to balance our work, our contributions to society, our family life, our personal desires, our faith, and more to find a path through life. I've had too many friends die in their 40s or 50s to not think about my own mortality often. I'm over 50 and I'm more than half way through my life.

Losing family and friends is hard, but it's also something we go through. There's a lot of work when someone dies, and as the world gets more complex and digital, that are no considerations and concerns.

We have online accounts, credentials, and other digital assets to worry about these days, and we need to have a plan in place. While it can be hard to get access to a bank account or transfer the ownership or a house or car to yourself, you might not have any good way to get into someone's email, phone, or other account.

I'm reminded of the need to not only have a will filed and accessible for my wife and children, but I also need to ensure they know where to go for credentials. There are lots of options, but this is something that requires a bit of preparation and planning, both for sharing information and keeping your digital assets secure.

I don't have a great plan to share, but it is something I'm working on for myself. If you have family that you want to leave any digital assets to, you might do so as well.