It all lives in one person's head — and one person's phone
Think about a normal week of money in your home. The bank you actually log into. The brokerage or 401(k). The mortgage or rent portal. The credit cards on autopay. The utilities. For most couples, one person handles nearly all of it — and the logins, the PINs, and the two-factor codes all sit behind that one person's email and that one person's phone.
Now take that person out of the picture for a month — a hospital stay, a trip, or worse. The money doesn't pause. Bills still draft, or fail to. And the other person is left guessing passwords and getting locked out of the accounts that keep the household running. This isn't morbid planning — it's the most basic kindness you can do for your spouse. And it's mostly a matter of writing down what's already in your head, in a place they can reach.
What your spouse actually needs
Not your whole life — just enough to log in and keep things moving. For each account that matters, capture:
- Where it livesWhich bank, brokerage, or biller it is — and the exact page to log in. A name alone sends them hunting; the link gets them straight there.
- The username and password (or PIN)The actual credentials. This is the part a spouse almost never has, and the part that turns a five-minute task into a frozen month.
- The way through two-factorIf a code goes to your phone, your phone can't be the only key. Note where the backup or recovery codes are kept so a locked device doesn't lock them out.
- Who to callYour financial advisor, the insurer, the attorney — the humans who can help untangle the rest.
- Where the paper livesThe will, the policy, the deed. Don't reproduce them — just record where the signed originals are kept.
Put each account in the Finance category
Squirreld's Finance category (on the paid plans) is built for precisely this moment. Each record is one account — a bank, a brokerage, a 401(k), an IRA, an HSA, a 529 — and it holds the whole picture in one place: the institution and account type, the account number, the login username and password, the portal URL to sign in, and who's named as the beneficiary.
The sensitive parts — the account number and the password — are encrypted with AWS KMS and never shown in plain text; they're revealed only when someone deliberately taps to see them, the same way the Vault handles secrets. So instead of a password on a sticky note and a portal nobody can find, your spouse opens one record and has the door, the key, and the account number together — here's where it is, here's how to get in.
Capture the codes and contacts the accounts depend on
A login is only half the battle if your spouse can't get past the lock screen or the two-factor prompt. Use the Vault for the secrets that sit around your accounts — your phone's passcode, the 2FA backup and recovery codes, a safe combination — all encrypted and masked until needed. Then use Links for the people and pages that aren't a login of their own: your financial advisor, the attorney, the insurer, the mortgage servicer's contact. Together with the Finance records, that's the full set of keys — not just the accounts, but everything they quietly depend on.
A map your spouse can't reach isn't a map
You can capture every login perfectly and still leave your spouse locked out — if it all sits in your account, behind your password. That's what the Household is for. On the Family plan you invite your spouse; they sign in with their own account and see everything shared with the household, with no shared master password to hand over. Anything too sensitive to share, you can keep private to just you. Sharing is the whole point of the exercise — do this one step and the map actually works.
One secure place, shared with the one person who needs it
This is precisely what Squirreld is for: the important, easy-to-lose details, kept in one place your family can reach.
- Accounts in the Finance categoryInstitution, account number, login, portal, and beneficiary in one record — account number and password encrypted with KMS and revealed only when needed.
- The surrounding keys in the VaultPhone passcode, 2FA backup codes, safe combinations — encrypted and masked until the moment they're needed.
- Contacts and portals in LinksThe advisor, the attorney, the insurer — the humans and pages your spouse will want, one tap away.
- Shared through your HouseholdYour spouse reaches it with their own sign-in — everything shared except what you mark private.
- Kept current by a reminderSet one yearly nudge to review the whole thing — the same way every Squirreld reminder works, and a natural fit with your once-a-year money review. A map that's two years stale sends them down the wrong path.
For the bigger picture beyond the money — medical, identity, pets, the people to call — see the companion digital emergency binder guide.
Squirreld is the map, not the lawyer
A clear list of accounts is not a substitute for an estate plan. For a will, a power of attorney, an advance directive, or naming beneficiaries — talk to an attorney. Beneficiary designations on retirement and insurance accounts, in particular, often decide who gets what no matter what a will says, so they're worth getting right with a professional. Squirreld's job is the layer those documents always assume but rarely guarantee: that the accounts can actually be found and reached. Keep the signed originals safe, record where they live, and save the attorney and advisor as Links so the people you trust aren't starting from zero.
Common questions
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What does my spouse actually need to get into our accounts?Three things per account: where it lives (the bank or brokerage and its login page), the username, and the password — plus a way through two-factor authentication. Squirreld’s Finance category keeps the first three together in one record per account; for 2FA, keep the backup/recovery codes in the Vault so a text to your phone isn’t the only way in.
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Isn’t it risky to store passwords digitally?A sticky note in a drawer or a shared “passwords” spreadsheet is the real risk. In Squirreld, Vault entries are encrypted with AWS KMS and stay masked until you tap to reveal them, and nothing sensitive is cached on your device. The most important thing you can do is protect the account it all sits behind: a strong password and two-factor authentication on both your email and your Squirreld login.
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How does my spouse get access without me handing over my password?Through your Household. On the Family plan you invite your spouse; they sign in with their own account and see everything shared with the household — no shared master password, no password on a note. You can still keep specific items private (visible only to you) while sharing the rest.
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What about our will, beneficiaries, and life insurance?Those are the legal backbone and they belong with an attorney — Squirreld isn’t a law firm and this isn’t legal advice. What Squirreld does is make sure the people who need those documents can find them: record where the signed originals live and save the insurer, advisor, and attorney as Links so nobody’s searching during the worst week of their life.
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Where do I even start?Start with the accounts that keep money moving: your primary bank, the brokerage or retirement accounts, and the bills on autopay. Add each one to the Finance category (institution, login, portal, beneficiary), keep your 2FA backup codes in the Vault, add your spouse to your Household, and set one yearly reminder to review it. Twenty minutes now is the difference between a five-minute login and a frozen month.
Put your bank, brokerage, and bill logins in one secure place — shared with your spouse, so the answer to "could they get in?" is finally yes.
Start your account map