Do you know what happens to your email accounts, social media profiles, photos, videos, online bank accounts, documents and more when you pass away? A recent segment on CBS This morning sat down with Army National Guard Veteran Jennifer Sardam to talk about GoodTrust, an online digital-legacy service.
Sardam, who served with the 29th Mobile Public Affairs Department and who joined the Army National Guard in 2006, once lost all of her childhood photo memories during a devastating house fire. This heart-breaking loss, coupled with her parental instinct to plan ahead, got her thinking about better protecting her digital legacy.
That’s when Sardam turned to GoodTrust, an online digital-legacy service that gives you control over what happens to your digital accounts and memories when you pass. Think of it as a virtual safety-deposit box or a will for your digital accounts, photos, financial accounts, documents, last goodbyes and more. For her and countless others, it represents a peace of mind in today’s connected world.
“I have at least 13,000 photos on my phone and probably a few hundred videos,” Sardam told CBS. “It just feels really good and I want to be able to share that and keep it alive even long after I’m gone.”
Just as we arrange life insurance or wills for our physical possessions, we need to also plan for the post-life experience with our digital stuff. In today’s connected world, managing what happens to your digital stuff in the afterlife is often as important as deciding what happens to your physical assets when you die.
The GoodTrust digital-legacy platform gives you control over what happens to your digital assets and reputation when you pass away. Think of it like a virtual safety-deposit box for your digital accounts and information.
GoodTrust also now offers innovative ways to create your digital legacy, like bringing photos to life with AI and facial-recognition technology to animate them. It’s called GoodTrust Memories and only involves uploading a photo and clicking a button to see the magic in action. It works well with both historic and current photos, which can then be shared with loved ones or on social media. It’s just the beginning of how technology with GoodTrust can help preserve anyone’s memories and stories in new and meaningful ways.
GoodTrust – Protecting everyone’s digital legacy
Let’s be honest – no one likes thinking about death. But the reality, of course, is that it’s all around us, through popular culture and life events and perhaps never more so in recent memory than with the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s also something never far from the minds of our military service people as they devote their lives to protect the country.
GoodTrust would like to extend two special cost-free offers to all Veterans to help preserve their digital legacy.
Digital Legacy e-book
To help you get started, the new book – Digital Legacy: Take Control of Your Online Afterlife – will empower you with what’s important about your online afterlife and ensure that your important digital assets are treated according to your wishes. Given that the average person spends close to seven hours per day online, it’s an essential read for everyone.
For a limited time all Veterans will at no cost receive the GoodTrust Premium service plan for one year (value $70) when you create an account at MyGoodTrust.com/partner/GoodTrustVeteran (if you already have a free account then just follow that link and log in).
In addition, all Veteran families will receive a 50% discount on the GoodTrust service fee when helping to manage the digital accounts of a Veteran who has passed away. Just register as a free GoodTrust member through that link, click on For Someone Else, and redeem the discount code GoodTrustVeteran at checkout.
The first 100 Veterans who register in April will also get the new e-book – Digital Legacy: Take Control Of Your Online Afterlife. Instructions on how to download the Digital Legacy e-book from Amazon.com will be emailed to you.
How does GoodTrust work?
Sardam, at the computer
Once you’ve signed-up on www.MyGoodTrust.com, you’ll go through two simple steps:
- Add your important digital media accounts and documents – your social media, email, online documents, photos, financial accounts, life insurance, will etc. For each account or document, you add instructions for what you want to happen if you pass away.
- Assign “deputies,” or those friends, family or people you trust to manage your accounts to take action on your behalf. These folks are granted selective access to your accounts and documents, along with the instructions you left for them.
From there, it’s up to you to choose your digital legacy; GoodTrust keeps your data safe by using industry-leading security and two-factor authentication.
The time is now. Don’t let your digital legacy be lost; ensure that your family and friends find your accounts, documents and priceless photo memories. It’s the digital story of you.
The sharing of any non-VA information does not constitute an endorsement of products and services on part of VA.
Rikard Steiber is the founder and CEO of GoodTrust.
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What happens after one year? Does your account close if you don’t pay for the 2nd year?
All Veterans will at no cost receive the GoodTrust Premium service plan for one year (value $70) when they create an account at http://www.MyGoodTrust.com/partner/GoodTrustVeteran – no credit card required.
This is a great service for Veterans that risk potential exposure to all sorts of scams. I’ve often tried to get the VA to secure information on Veteran employees that are confronted with all sorts of privacy breaches due to their medical files being accessed by fellow employees as well. There is proof that this can bring on undue stress and resentment where this is concerned. I’m really glad to see that Veterans are gaining these types of services on nationwide basis.