Labels only you can read.

The problem

The label is metadata.

“Coinbase, main account, 2019 phrase” tells you exactly what you need. It also tells anyone who ever sees your open vault where to go and what they will find.

The vault is encrypted, so this only matters when the vault is open, on your screen, over your shoulder, in a screenshot you forgot you took. That is more often than you think.

Aim for labels that are unambiguous to you and uninformative to everyone else.

How

Four naming habits.

1. I

   Category, not brand

   “Exchange” rather than the company. “Bank A” rather than the bank.

2. II

   Personal anchors

   Reference something only you would connect: a street you lived on, a nickname nobody else uses.

3. III

   No amounts, no dates

   Never put value or timing in a label. That is what turns a name into a target.

4. IV

   Stay consistent

   A scheme you can reconstruct in five years beats a clever one you cannot.