Ask HN: How do you manage your “family data warehouse”?

127 pointsby coderatlargevor 3 Jahren135 comments

By "Family Data Warehouse" I refer to all the info and documents that one tracks over the years, perhaps for one's self, but then also potentially for spouses, kids, parents, siblings, relatives, etc.

Some common categories:

(1) Financial: account statements (pdf, paper, etc), transaction CSV/ofx/etc, insurance policies, financial institution correspondence (confirmations, T&Cs, etc), tax forms, deeds/titles, loans, debts, contemporaneous records, paystubs, employment letters, receipts, etc

(2) Health: test results, diagnoses, medications used, doctor info/correspondence, vaccinations, hospital interactions, statements, bills, etc

(3) Product and services info: products purchased, maintenance info, warranties, replacement parts, recall notices, class action events, professional used (CPAs, lawyers, contractors, plumbers, etc), etc

(4) Personal legal and other documents: wills, trusts, health directives, pre-nups, legal settlements, personal contracts, rental agreements, government IDs, immigration/naturalization docs, law enforcement interactions, etc

(5) Memories and other info of sentimental or other value: pictures, videos, cards, recordings, music, diaries, clippings, personal notes, etc

For many of these one might ask the usual questions:

A. do I have a reason/obligation to retain it? for example, tax authorities often require certain classes of record keeping. sometimes commercial entities make false claims in retrospect that you can only rebut with evidence (even major banks!). some documents can end up only being used by heirs at end-of-life (ex: basis information for assets like a home, which can require proof of improvements over the years, depreciation claimed if the home was ever rented, etc)

B. is there a downside to retaining it? clutter, hard/costly to move, identity/other theft risk, physical decay over time (ex: obsolete storage formats (VHS, mini-DV, blueray)), etc

C. will I (or the appropriate person) be able to find it when I need it? physical paper vs electronic mgmt, indexing, filing, passwords, legacy services for transferring access.

D. can I actually retain it? backups, water damage, fire, theft, physical safe management, etc some online services don't provide any/easy export of data, many have inconsistent retention policies (ex utility companies)

Some of the categories above have specialized software and services dedicated to them (ex: photos services, quickbooks, etc) while some are more ad hoc (goog drive, dropbox, local HDD); even specialized services often fall short on key matters (quickbooks doesn't track statements afaik); many specialized systems have various platform limitations (no turbotax on linux, say); many vendors try to play various lock-in tricks; some vendors go out of business or discontinue products over the years; some institutions are very paper oriented so one perhaps scans or tries to limit paper delivery; some services place data in the cloud creating security exposure; etc etc

140 comments

AlexanderDhoorevor 3 Jahren

In Belgium, every citizen has access to a "digital vault" provided by the government, which is accessible using their ID card. Individuals can upload up to 1GB of documents into this vault. It's a well-designed system that ensures privacy during one's lifetime, but you can choose what happens with it after your passing.

https://www.izimi.be/en/

moooo99vor 3 Jahren

In Germany we have government entities that are unable/refusing to accept anything but Mail in forms or fax as an official communication channel :/

I’m jealous over countries that have such well designed systems in place to make things easy for their citizens

zirrorvor 3 Jahren

Same. I was unaware that Belgium or India have such systems and often wished for them to exist in Germany, but thought that it was impossible for privacy reasons in the EU. Now it's clear that it's just incompetence or lack of funds or vision in Germany.

moooo99vor 3 Jahren

„Datenschutz“ (data protection) is an extremely popular excuse for any failing digital project, in reality, it’s probably a mix between complete incompetence (see digital drivers license), a lack of funds (look at smaller cities/towns) and and lack of capable employees with It backgrounds.

Looking at the situation here it’s really damming that Germany not only has essentially no digital processes implemented, the people in charge seem to are even lacking something as fundamental as a coherent vision how it should work at some point. That the current coalition also decided to essentially cut funds for digitalization projects isn’t making the issue any better

egeozcanvor 3 Jahren

In Germany, the government entities also rarely, if ever, communicate with each other. I'm offered a citizenship and while I'm extremely grateful and even considering the fact that Germany is the country I love the most by a huge margin, I couldn't bring myself to start gathering the documents they need from various government offices. It's been many years, I wonder if I'll get on with it sometime in the future.

nicbouvor 3 Jahren

In Berlin it’s literally impossible to apply. They stopped accepting applications while waiting for the central processing location to open. You must force your application through with a lawyer. There is a backlog of 30,000 applications. They plan to process less 20,000 in a year if all goes well. It will not go well according to the latest report. Oh and they are about to reduce the citizenship requirements, but have no plan for dealing with the extra workload. Everything is still paper based.

I decided not to become a German citizen. I want no liabilities to this country.

moooo99vor 3 Jahren

> I decided not to become a German citizen. I want no liabilities to this country.

Sad considering the desperate need for people working in a variety of specialized professions, but a completely understandable reaction. Unfortunately, I don't see a realistic future where this is any better.

moooo99vor 3 Jahren

I can’t even start to imagine the annoyance that people have to go trough when they need something really important, like a citizenship or a visa.

I haven’t had to deal with that bureaucratic processes, but if I extrapolate the awful experiences I had with something as simple as a new ID, I can fully understand why people hate this kind of organization.