It's truly terrific news that the recent fires in California are mostly behind us. I worry for all the people who have lost their homes in those fires. This isn't at all unlike a hurricane hitting Florida or the Gulf Coast. Disasters like these uproot entire neighborhoods. Some will rebuild. Some will leave and never return. None will ever be the same.

I can't help but wonder how many people's lives will be made even more complicated than they already are because they've lost all contact with their records. Think about it for a minute. How many accounts do you have? You have financial accounts, probably checking, maybe savings, a brokerage account. There's your 401(k), your IRA (maybe a couple of them). You probably have one or more nsurance policies, and a mortgage. Don't forget credit cards.

The list goes on and on. My personal stress level goes through the roof thinking how awful it would be to try to reconstruct all that information literally from ashes. I have three recommended ways to safeguard your personal information in the event of disaster

Make it portable and keep it with you at all times. If you're technically astute you can make use of strong encryption tools to carry your data with you. Keyring flash memory devices are cheap. Back up all your personal data to one, encrypt it and never let it leave your side. The encryption will protect you. Just don't write down your pass phrase anywhere.

Many people believe in keeping a safe deposit box, essentially a rented locked box within a vault. Usually that's a bank vault. The advantages of a safe deposit box are they're physically located away from your home and presumably very secure. They're also low tech, which is very appealing to many. The disadvantages are accessibility and cost.

An alternative to the bank's vault is to do it yourself. For not much money you can buy your own safe and do a lot to protect your important personal information. The advantages to having your own safe are that in the long run they are cheaper than renting, and they are more accessible than the bank's version. They are also a lower tech solution than hiding your information in plain sight with encrypted media. Buying your own safe has drawbacks too. The safe itself needs to be able to withstand whatever attack might befall your personal data, whether fire or water or theft of the safe itself.

Personally I believe a combination of encrypted media and one of the physical protection devices is the right way to go. What works best for you depends on what you're most comfortable with.My father believed in writing things down and securing them at his bank. There is nothing wrong with going low tech here.

What is wrong, is not having backup copies of your important private data in the first place.