1Password founders Sara and Dave Teare share their digital estate planning tips

1Password founders Sara and Dave Teare joined 1Password Chief Experience Officer Matt Davey on the Random but Memorable podcast to discuss how they approached all aspects of estate planning. The pair share how they’ve made it as simple as possible for their family to carry on with life’s logistics and access their frequently-changing digital assets.

Is it a simple process? Predictably, no. But Sara and Dave talk frankly about their experiences with the goal of helping others understand what they should consider with their own estate planning. (Does everyone know where the router is located? Would they be able to unlock each other’s smartphone? Do they know who to call when there’s a plumbing problem?)

To learn more, read the interview below or listen to the full podcast episode.

Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity. The views and opinions expressed by the interviewee don’t represent the opinions of 1Password.

Matt Davey: Estate planning can be a sensitive topic. What was your approach to discussing this as a couple?

Dave Teare: We’re still very young but we got together when we were even younger and back then I think we ignored estate planning for quite some time.

Sara Teare: I don’t think we looked at it until we had our first kid. For me, estate planning was more about what happens to our daughter if something happens to us. How do we make sure she’s taken care of and what does that look like?

DT: Everything changed once our daughter was on the way. We sold our cars. We downsized. We moved closer to our parents. Lots of life changes happened at the time but I don’t think we bit the bullet and actually did anything until our son was born?

ST: We started before we knew our second child was coming, really. My dad had passed away and unfortunately, on my side of the family, folks don’t seem to have a long life expectancy. The idea that “I don’t know how much time I’ve got” was weighing on my brain.

Also, I thought you had to have the same person – the person in your will – do all of it. We were thinking, who’s going to look after the kids? Maybe we pick this person and they’re super loving and they’re going to be wonderful… but they’re crap at managing a bank book. How will they handle having a house and trying to set up a college tuition fund? They’re not going to be able to do that!

The realization you could have more than one person in charge of stuff really helped. We could then put it on paper and say, “Okay, now we have a real plan”, as opposed to just trying to figure out one piece of it.

MD: Do you have any advice for folks who might be overwhelmed or uncomfortable starting these conversations?

DT: You have to find ways to make things comfortable for everybody. Sara and I are a little bullheaded at times and you can’t force the other person to do anything. You both need to go along for the ride and find ways to make the other person feel comfortable.

A lot of people, including myself and my parents, don’t talk much about our health. But Sara has some really creative ways to slowly but surely work her way into the conversation and be part of my parents’ daily lives. She’s able to know how they’re doing and normalize conversations around medicine so that when the time comes, she’ll know everything that they need.

So my advice is to try to normalize things and make people feel comfortable. It just makes everything so much easier.

ST: When people are thinking about estate planning and wills, the first thought is often: “I’m going to die.” You have to get over that hurdle and process that mentally before you can talk about it and be comfortable with it in a way that’s not nonchalant or cavalier.

It can be hard to bring up what you’re thinking about. But what you can do is say: “There was a story in the news about how nobody our age has a will, and I realized we don’t have a will. We should probably think about that because what happens to Fluffy the cat if something happens to us?” Use world events as a kick starter for your conversation.

You don’t have to sit down and decide everything all at once. Matt, I know it took you two years to go from having your will done to having it signed and witnessed. That’s okay. It’s okay for things to take time. It’s okay for you to be like, “I’m not going to think about this today, but I’m going to think about that today and we’re going to talk about this little piece.”

“It’s okay for things to take time."

Because when the time comes to put all of the paperwork together, you’ve already talked through and shared that “I don’t want to have a big service, I don’t want to be buried, I want to be cremated.”

Use all of the opportunities in your life to shape the conversation along the way. It’s just another journey in the life path of things you have to talk about. I think that would be my main advice.

MD: What do couples need to consider when creating an estate plan?

DT: In every relationship there’s almost always someone who will be the driving force on estate planning. Sara is the driving force for us on this one. So, for a lot of this stuff, I’ve sat back and said: “Well, I’m going to let Sara drive.” I’ve always thought: “That’s probably fine. I’m the male. Statistically, I’ll be gone first, so that’s all good and fine.”

I sat in the back seat for quite some time but after a while I realized that Sara could be the first one to go! I don’t want to say I panicked, but that’s when I thought: “Oh man, I’ve got to really start paying attention here. I don’t know all the ins and outs but I suspect Sara’s got some things written out for me so that I would know what to do.”

ST: When you’re planning your wills you should think about:

• Who’s going to handle your utility bills? account
• Who’s going to handle the car insurance payments?
• Who’s going to handle all of that?

Really think about it from a practical and executable point of view. How are important tasks going to get done? Someone will have to go to the bank, show your death certificate, and do all the associated work. Who’s going to be that person? You need to put together a practical list and identify who’s going to be the person that’s going to get all of that done and remove emotion from things.

“Think about it from a practical and executable point of view."

I remember when we did the power of attorney for care and finances for my dad, he picked me. He wanted me to do that role because he knew my mom would be too emotionally invested to make the choices that he wanted.

So think about: “Who’s going to think about things the way I do and who’s going to make sure that they honor my wishes? Who’s going to be organized enough to do it?” It will be a very emotional time but part of estate planning is paperwork. It’s all of that boring stuff and deciding who’s going to have the patience and fortitude to deal with it.

MD: Were there any digital assets that made you think: “OK, let’s definitely cover this”?

DT: I’m in charge of all of our email domains. And email domains are quite important! If I were to kick the bucket and then the domain expired and someone signed up using the same domain, they could impersonate Sara pretty darn quick and reset accounts and all this type of stuff.

I just set up solar panels and they’re really, really cool. But I haven’t left enough breadcrumb trails for Sara to piece all of these projects together. Now, I put the logins in a shared 1Password vault, so that’s a start.

But I need to identify for Sara who she needs to call and talk to for certain things. I need to share the purpose of things, and what my thought process was behind those things. Right now that’s just in my head.

Take the different contractors we work with. It’s really important to let people know: “Hey, if there’s something wrong with the electricity, call Stu. It doesn’t matter what it is, call Stu because he’ll know what to do.”

ST: Sometimes you forget to look at the beneficiaries of things, like when you set up a retirement savings plan. Just make sure all of those things are set up and you’ve listed out what you have. If I were to pass away suddenly, what insurance policies do I have at work? Are there any other benefits at work that would apply?

A lot of those things are tied to you. You need to categorize it all and put a list together. Like Dave said: Who’s the electrician? Who’s the plumber? What’s the front door alarm code? Which bank do I deal with? Who’s the benefits provider?

Planning this out so the person who’s trying to connect the dots and pick up the pieces doesn’t go off the rails. How can you make their life easier so that they can just do the process stuff? Because they’re going to be trying to deal with the emotional side of it, but they just have to get the practical stuff done.

DT: Sara touched on it briefly, but insurance is a really nice thing. Many of us think: “Well, I have enough equity in my house that it should pay for my funeral.” Or similar thoughts. But the reality is that all these expenses come at you right off the bat and you need to pay them fairly quickly. Getting the equity out of your home takes a lot of time and even if you do want to sell the house, it can be emotional.

I never thought too much about insurance but now that I have it, I seem to sleep better at night.

MD: People update their wills on average every three to four years. But logins and other digital assets change all the time. How can couples use 1Password to manage digital assets and incorporate that into their estate planning?

DT: Sara and I have a series of shared vaults in 1Password. There’s one between us, another one between us and the kids, and another between us and our parents. It helps a lot because, as you say, you update your will so infrequently, whereas every single day you’re signing up to a new account or something.

“Sara and I have a series of shared vaults in 1Password."

Wen I sign up for a new account, I think: “Where should I save this login?” If it’s something that only I’m going to use and it doesn’t matter, I put it in my personal vault and that’s it. Or I decide: “Oh, this is something Sara’s going to need.”

For me, 1Password is really nice in that way. You have access to everything you need. But you have to go one level up and also write some notes so that people know what it is that they need.

ST: People often think: “I’m going to write a will and it’s going to take care of everything.” And then the next day, something changes and you go: “Well, now I’ve got to do a will again. I might as well not make a will because things keep changing.”

Think of your will as your baseline. You’re assigning people who are going to be in charge of stuff and all that. And then I use 1Password for digital housekeeping. These are good behaviors to get into. I use 1Password as a way to store everything.

“Think of your will as your baseline."

For example, when we got a new car, I took a picture of the ownership, I took a picture of the VIN number, I took a picture of the bill of sale, all of that kind of stuff. It only takes five to 10 minutes if you do it straight away. If you leave everything for later and make a big project out of it, you’ll never get it done. Instead, use 1Password in the moment and go: “OK, before I put away the bill of sale, before I put the ownership somewhere, let me just upload it into 1Password.”

And if you have a minute to add a quick note, make sure the title is descriptive. Then when you’re using the search feature in 1Password later, you can find all of that information. I think that’s a big part of just being a planner.

MD: Can you share some other examples of digital information? What different types of account logins and digital records should people be saving for estate planning?

ST: How does Dave open my computer? I’m assuming we’re not severing a finger, so he isn’t going to be able to use Touch ID. What’s the main password to unlock my computer? What’s the PIN code on my cell phone? Trying to find some way to leave instructions for that kind of stuff. That’s the immediate stuff you’re going to need access to.

There’s also the little stuff. What’s the Wi-Fi password? What system are we using for mesh network? It’s little stuff around hardware, like: “Oh, I need to reset the modem.” Well, where is that now? Where do I find that?

MD: How can you maintain your privacy while still sharing relevant information with your partner?

DT: This one’s actually really tricky, so I do want to take one giant step back first. There are different types of couples, as you can imagine. There’re a lot of couples out there that don’t share their bank accounts. Sara and I share ours.

I can imagine a scenario where you really want privacy. I think that’s when you need to get a third party involved. Work with your lawyer and say: “Here’s some information that I need to share with my spouse given my untimely demise or incapacitation.”

MD: There are many different will services out there. Even if you don’t know your lawyer, you can work with these services and say: “Okay, here’s my device pin code and even my account password to 1Password.” That’s the point where you can transfer this stuff. You don’t have to share it constantly throughout your life while you’re around.

ST: That’s actually something really nice within 1Password for the folks that don’t want to share everything. You’ve got your private vault, it’s yours.

We’re both administrators on our 1Password Families account so if something ever happened to me, Dave could go through account recovery. He would have control over my email address anyways. He could complete the account recovery and then log in as me and be able to get into that private vault then.

Print out your Secret Key and put it in your will. You don’t have to share it beforehand; but if you pass, it’s there. It’s secure, and you have that person as your backup for when things happen.

“Print out your Secret Key and put it in your will."

MD: How can couples gently bring up estate planning with their elderly parents or children? What tips do you have for teaching children so they know what to do when needed?

DT: Start small, I would say. My son has known since he was seven or eight years old that he needs to go to 1Password to find his Roblox password. He just became accustomed to the idea that, when there’s something important, he needs to go to 1Password to find it. We talk about it from time to time as well.

Parents, I think, are the more difficult ones. For the longest time, I basically did nothing. Somehow Sara worked her magic. Now my parents save all their important information in shared vaults in 1Password.

It’s funny because my mom loves Pokémon Go. She’s absolutely outstanding at this game. When she needs her password, she knows she has to go to 1Password because that’s where Sara put it. She’s slowly but surely learned that she has to put stuff in there so she can find it later.

ST: Not everything has to be like: “All right, sit down children, let’s go through the plans and why digital estate planning is important.” It doesn’t need to be a big discussion. It can just be: “Oh, congratulations, I’m glad you got your driver’s license. Let’s save it in 1Password before you stick it in your wallet.”

Little things like that make it a habit and part of the conversation. It’s taking all of these things and creating good, healthy habits that make your life easier in the long run.

MD: Were there any life experiences that influenced 1Password’s design or features? Or do you have a wish list of 1Password features?

ST: Document storage was huge for me. So being able to say: “I want to upload the driver’s license. And I want to have a note that covers my mother-in-law’s medication list.” The ability to upload all of that stuff and create a catalog of digital information was really important to me.

DT: There’s a feature I’ve wanted for quite some time, it’s like Shamir Secret Sharing. The idea is, you can take a key, like an encryption key, and you can break it up into multiple parts so you can share it with individual people. I could give a piece of the key to Sara, a piece to Matt, and a piece to my lawyer. So if Sara wanted to get into my account, she couldn’t with just with her key alone. She would have to go and reach out to Matt or the lawyer and say: “Hey, I need your keys.”

There’s a lot of dragons in there. There’s a lot of tough nuts to crack. But that’s a feature I would love to have in 1Password at some point in time. I think one day we’re going to make it a reality.

MD: I think what you just described was a Horcrux!

ST: I was thinking of Power Rangers.

MD: I think what we’ve all learned today is that the thing that we should really put on our will is where your Horcruxes are located and just see how that works itself out.

ST: Yeah, don’t make everything a riddle, just make a map!

Jenn Marshall

Contributing Writer