Ending the Scavenger Hunt for Loved Ones’ Accounts and Documents

By Justin Reynolds (Redding Sentinel, CT)

In the event you suddenly become incapacitated – or even worse- would your loved ones be able to find your most important information, like financial statements, retirement plans, account credentials, and healthcare records?

Or would they have to put on their deerstalker hats, dust off their magnifying glasses, and investigate every nook and cranny of your life to surface such documentation?

To give folks peace of mind that their most important information is stored securely in one place, Redding native Ryan White co-founded Your Digital Vault, an online cloud storage solution inbuilt with military-grade 256-bit encryption to comply with the highest digital security standards.

“We are an online service that allows you to organize, track, and safeguard everything you’ve earned in your lifetime,” said White. “People don’t like giving out their information and don’t like giving out their passwords to other people. We found a way for people to safeguard their information and assets without feeling nervous about giving it to someone else.”

Your Digital Vault subscribers get access to a secure online vault and can assign “delegates” to their accounts who can engage the company on the customer’s behalf when the situation merits it.

“My delegates are my sisters and my father,” White explained. “If anything ever happened to me, my sisters and father would contact Your Digital Vault, our team would verify what they’re saying is true, and once that verification is done, we’d release the information. Then my family would know what bank accounts and other assets I have and how to access them.”

White, the company’s CEO. started Your Digital Vault with Paul Adams, who serves as President, in January 2023 after a very close friend from college experienced a “major health issue” and could no longer take care of herself.

“It took two-and-a-half years to find all of her info,” White said. “We were fighting with credit card companies asking to access certain accounts, and no one would say yes. It took us years to find a bank account we didn’t know she had.” 

The way White sees it, people work for 30 years, build up assets, and should be able to keep them and make sure they’re ultimately distributed exactly how they want. But if someone’s incapacitated or dies suddenly, accounts might get lost forever. 

In other cases, accounts might get surfaced during the probate process, which costs money.

“We are trying to solve these problems,” White continued. “Probate takes eight or 12 months, there are fees associated with it, and you lose whatever money that is. Let’s stop that.” 

Your Digital Vault was designed to be a “much easier” solution to this problem than working with lawyers or insurance companies. 

“If you go to a lawyer, you spend a lot of time, the lawyer’s always asking for more information, it’s endless,” White said. “Your Digital Vault is a huge organizational tool that follows you anywhere you are. As long as you have access to the internet, you have the info in front of you. If you’re traveling and lose your passport and license, you’ll have a picture of those items in your vault. It saves a lot of time and headache.”

Due to the sensitive nature of the data stored in customer accounts, White and his team are laser focused on security. 

“Security is our number-one priority,” he said, adding the solution was built in accordance with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework standards using FEDRAMP-certified cloud services. 

White is a serial entrepreneur, having founded Vital Integrations, an integrator that works with hospitals and medical centers to create custom ergonomic solutions, nearly two decades ago.

“Your Digital Vault is the next progression from that business,” White said. “I’ve worked in 40 different states with Vital Integrations, and I see when people come in during emergencies. Your whole life can change in a split-second, and people shouldn’t have to search for months or years trying to find this stuff.” 

In addition to being the co-founder of the business, White is also a customer. 

“I use my vault every day – every time I pay a bill – because I have everything in one spot, safe and secure,” White said. “I feel better about what would happen if something happened to me. My family has no idea what accounts I have, but now they don’t have to.”