Help users create complex passwords that are easy to remember

So how can you make sure users' passwords are complicated enough to deter hackers and easier enough to remember? One of my colleagues offers the following trick for creating complex passwords that meet complexity requirements while still being possible to remember.

Step 1: Come up with a base wordPick the name of a pet or any common thing that's easy to remember. For example, say you once lived in Louisville. You can use that to establish the base of your password and satisfy the required criteria for a strong password.
Remember: You need at least one capital letter and either a number or special character. So, using Louisville as your base word, you can substitute an ! or 1 for i and replace the s with $—e.g., Lou1$ville or L0u!$ville.

Step 2: Add more characters to the base wordPick any four characters to add to the base word.

Step 3: Store your password without worryNow, write down the added four characters, along with a clue for the base word. Using our previous example, you would write down city1xyza, where city1 signifies Louisville with a 1 and $ and xyza represents the four additional characters.

So, even written down, this password reference would serve as a reminder of your complete password while revealing nothing to any roaming eyes. (Keep in mind that this example is a 14-character password. While that may be longer than the actual requirement, it may be easier to remember.)