Think of a bank. They store your money digially, physically, and they have access controls to prevent unauthorized people from accessing your funds. With bitcoin, you must think like a bank as you are taking control of your bitcoin.
You DO NOT want to ever store your seed phrase digitally. No pictures, no computer recordings, no password managers, no USB sticks, nothing digital. This is a very odd thing to say considering bitcoin is digital itself. The reason – the seed phrase can be copied by an attacker and used without your knowledge to spend all of your bitcoin. Instead, you should write it down on a piece of paper or stamp it in steel. Steel will help with mitigating risks of fire damage, water damage, and physical damage.
Does this sound like a lot of work?
Yes, it does, but it is not as much work as it sounds. It also happens in steps. There is no reason to do everything if you’ve just purchased a small amount of bitcoin. In that case, a piece of paper stored in a safe place is enough protection. As you progress and you purchase a substatial amount of bitcoin to you, you can then expand to steel.