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Vault Key

Your Vault Key helps protect the most sensitive information stored in AfterPlan.

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This is different from your account password. Your password signs you in. Your Vault Key helps protect private information such as personal identifiers, financial account details, and other sensitive records.

If someone gets access to your password, your encrypted information is still better protected when a Vault Key is also required.

What It Does

Your Vault Key is used to help protect sensitive information stored in your account.

Examples may include:

  • Social Security number
  • driver’s license number
  • passport number
  • last four digits of bank or account numbers
  • sensitive notes
AfterPlan never asks for full bank account numbers, routing numbers, credit card numbers, or your usernames and passwords for outside websites. Financial records store only the last four digits of an account number for identification purposes — never enough to access or move money. Other sensitive fields (SSN, driver's license, balances) are stored encrypted with your Vault Key — AfterPlan never sees it.

This key is part of what helps keep that information private.

How It Is Different From Your Password

Your password and your Vault Key do different jobs.

  • Password signs you in to your account
  • Vault Key helps protect sensitive stored information

Even if they are both entered during login, they are not the same thing and should not be thought of as the same protection.

Choosing a Good Vault Key

Choose a Vault Key that is strong and hard for others to guess.

A good Vault Key should be:

  • unique
  • not reused from another website or account
  • at least 20 characters long
  • stored somewhere safe

Many people choose to store it in a trusted password manager.

Important Warning

Keep your Vault Key in a safe place.

If it is lost, the encrypted information in your account cannot be recovered. AfterPlan never sees your Vault Key — that is what makes it a real protection. The trade-off is that we cannot help you retrieve it later.

Because of that, you should treat this key as an important part of your long-term records.

If You've Lost Your Vault Key

You are not permanently locked out, but the recovery option is destructive.

From the sign-in page, click "Forgot your Vault Key?" next to the key field. We'll email you a one-time confirmation link. After you confirm with your account password, AfterPlan will:

  • Permanently erase the encrypted information on your account — Social Security number, addresses, phone numbers, account locations, medical records, password-manager and 2FA backup-code locations, safe combinations, personal goodbye letters, and voice recordings
  • Leave your non-encrypted information intact — names, dates, dropdown selections, account institution names, family relationships, document types
  • Reset trusted-person access — your trusted people will need re-issued invites once you set a new key

You'll then sign in normally and set a new Vault Key. Anything you re-enter from that point forward is protected by the new key.

This step cannot be undone. It is intentionally a last resort. Try every place you might have written down or stored your Vault Key (password manager, secure notes, printed copy, sealed envelope) before using this option.

For Loved Ones and Trusted Helpers

If you want a spouse, family member, or other trusted people to access important information later, make sure they know where to find your Vault Key after you've passed.

That may mean storing it in:

  • a trusted password manager
  • a sealed written record
  • estate planning instructions
  • another secure place you trust

A Simple Example

Think of it this way:

Your password opens the front door.

Your Vault Key opens the locked cabinet inside.

Both matter, but they do different things.