Can safe and easy go together?

If you are like me, you have dozens of technology tools and online accounts that you rely on in your work and personal life that help you efficiently make it through your day. From Gmail to Dropbox, and your brokerage site to the MLS, we are constantly logging in.

I think we can all appreciate how much convenience the technology in our lives has brought us. But forgetting a password at the very moment you need it can cost you both time and money.

Many are relying on a password vault to tackle this problem. The idea is simple: You encrypt all your user names and passwords in this vault, then you only need to remember the password you need to get into the vault. Think of it as a cheat sheet for life.

This reference vault would, by itself, be a true convenience, but many of these products integrate into the technology you already use. For example, if you are using 1Password in the Chrome browser or on your iPhone, you can insert your credentials and login with a couple of quick clicks. For those of you who hop between multiple sites regularly, logging in once and having fast access to all of these sites will save you a lot of time. And, as you create new logins as you move through life, these vaults can seamlessly capture this new information.

In addition, once you no longer need to remember (or type in) all your passwords, you can make the passwords you have longer, more complex and varied across different sites, so you will be safer in the end. Easier and safer – I’m all for that.

LastPass, DashLane and 1Password seem to be the most commonly used password vaults. The pricing ranges from free to about $4 per month, depending on features and mobile access you are looking for.