"But everyone makes fun of that person with the password on a sticky note taped to their monitor, or hidden under the keyboard!"

You are right. That’s not smart. Don’t do that!!

🧩 I’m going to give you my strategy for securely writing down your passwords, and making them complex, hard to crack, but easy to remember.

I get asked a lot about using a password manager. A password manager is a tool that securely stores all your logins in one place. It helps you create strong, unique passwords for every site. Instead of having to remember dozens of different logins, or pick unique passwords, you only need one password to unlock the password manager.

Many password managers also let you safely share access with family members, which can be helpful for streaming accounts or shopping sites (collect all your Yankee Candle rewards in one place!).

🚨Remember: NEVER share critical account logins like banking or investment sites. Each family member should have their own unique ID and password for those sites.

Apple Passwords (built-in) – If you use iPhone, iPad, or Mac, Apple already includes a password manager. It securely saves your logins in iCloud Keychain and auto-fills them when you sign in to apps and websites. You can even share passwords with trusted family members using iCloud. The catch? It only works inside the Apple ecosystem, so if you use Windows or Android, you’ll run into limitations.

1Password – Widely trusted for its strong security and easy-to-use design. Great for families or small businesses, since you can securely share logins (like Netflix or shopping sites) without giving away the actual password. Bonus: it alerts you if a password shows up in a data breach

Bitwarden – An open-source password manager that’s affordable and transparent about its security. It has a free option, and the paid version is one of the most budget-friendly on the market. You can also share logins securely with family members.

💡 Pro Tip: No matter which manager you choose, always protect it with a strong master password and double lock your digital door (see Protecting Your Digital Identity for a refresher on that).

If you are not quite ready to commit to a password manager, or you just want an alternative method, here’s a great way to create complex, unique passwords.

💎 Pick a Special Character - choose your favorite ($%&?>)

🦎Pick a Number - just a one-digit number, 0 - 9

🐤Pick 4 letters that do not make a word - for example “rgTz”

You will use all of the above in every single password for every account.

Then, for each website, select a password

For example,

✅ Put them all together.

💎+ 🦎+ «password»+ 🐤 + 🦎+ 💎

For example, my special character is %, number is 9 and 4-letter not a word is rgTz

🧩Write down ONLY the password, NEVER the rest!

You will soon remember the combination and only have to write down the unique part of each password. That list gets into a hacker’s hands? Useless to them!

🎙️Apple Podcast - Link to the Episode

🎙️Spotify - Link to the Episode

🕊️ The Good News

Those who put their strength in You are truly happy; pilgrimage is in their hearts. Psalms 84:5

Be safe,

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