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Feb 26, 2026

Digital Clean-Up: Protecting Your Online Financial Life

by Canadian MoneySaver

As warmer weather starts to make its way to Canada and the familiar urge to start spring cleaning begins, consider starting your annual clean-up with your online financial life. Today, most of your financial life is online: bank accounts, credit cards, tax software, crypto wallets, brokerages and more. Think about your digital financial footprint like a garden – left untended, it grows ‘weeds’ in the form of dormant subscriptions, security vulnerabilities and outdated information. A few hours of ‘digital weeding’ conducted with the same rigor as you would organize your filing cabinet can help protect you in the future.

Step 1: Take Inventory

Make it a goal to know what digital financial accounts you have, and where they live. Make a securely stored master list of your:

  • Bank accounts (chequing, savings, joint accounts)
  • Investment accounts (RRSP, TFSA, non-registered, pensions)
  • Credit cards and lines of credit
  • Mortgages and loans
  • Crypto exchanges and wallets
  • Subscriptions or retailers with stored payment details

Step 2: Upgrade Your Passwords

Reusing passwords makes you vulnerable to cybercrime and identity theft. Consider the following upgraded strategies:

  • Use a reputable password manager (like Dashlane or RoboForm)
  • Generate long, unique passwords (minimum 12-16+ characters)
  • Avoid storing passwords in browsers without encryption

Step 3: Turn On Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is one of the easiest ways to help secure your digital financial accounts. Wherever possible, use app-based authentication (like Microsoft Authenticator or Google Authenticator) instead of SMS. As a minimum, have MFA set-up for your financial institutions and investment platforms.

Step 4: Clean Up What You Don’t Need

Take a hard look at your digital financial accounts, and take action to close what you don’t use.

  • Cancel any dormant subscriptions
  • Delete old payment methods from online retailers
  • Remove stored credit cards from platforms you aren’t actively using

Step 5: Audit Your “Digital Paper Trail”

Cleaning up your digital life means less clutter in your inbox and physical mailbox.

  • Switch to paperless – review any accounts that still mail you physical statements, and move them to digital delivery

Step 6: In Case Of Emergency

If something were to happen to you, would anyone know how to access the master list you created in Step 1? Ensure a spouse or trusted family member knows how to gain access to your password manager or where you keep ‘digital legacy’ instructions.

Much like a physical spring cleaning revitalizes your home, a digital audit secures your financial legacy; a few dedicated hours today provide invaluable protection for your assets tomorrow.