Your Legacy Map

Legacy planning reaches far beyond possessions. It holds the stories, values, relationships, and expressions of care that give those possessions meaning. Before you move on, pause for a moment. Look around your home. Consider what you would want someone to understand about you if they were standing in your lounge room, surrounded by your belongings, without you there to explain what was important.

Identifying your core values will guide you to what is most important to preserve and why. These reflections will appear at the beginning of your exported Legacy Map PDF — providing context for everything that follows.

Family conversations about legacy often sit quietly in the background of daily life. Parents hope their children will understand what matters to them, while children try to avoid sensitive topics for fear of causing upset. The distance between intention and understanding grows over time, and families frequently reach turning points without a shared plan.

These conversations matter now — not later. Families who take time to reflect, talk, and document their wishes tend to experience less conflict and confusion during inheritance transitions. Preparing now spares your loved ones from having to make difficult choices in a moment of grief and uncertainty.

Use the conversation guide attached to each item to prepare for and record discussions with family members. Once a conversation has taken place, mark it complete. These notes become part of your Legacy Map.

A Legacy Project focuses on organising, restoring, repairing, or preparing items so they can be enjoyed by the next generation. Items that are broken, tangled, or incomplete are rarely received joyfully, no matter how meaningful they may be to you. Taking the time to address these issues now ensures they feel like gifts rather than problems to solve.

Legacy projects are attached to individual items in your inventory. To add a project, open any item and select the Legacy Project tab. You can track vendors, costs, restoration notes, certification numbers, and current valuations.

Your digital legacy is the collection of online accounts, digital assets, and virtual records that form part of your life. Without a simple map, executors and family members may struggle to locate important information or understand which services need to be managed, transferred, or closed.

The goal is not to record passwords here — only to document the existence of your accounts so your executor knows where to look. Store passwords securely in a password manager or with your Will.

Consider recording accounts across these categories: email and digital identity, cloud storage and photos, banking and financial accounts, superannuation, social media, household services and utilities, and family history platforms.

Legal documents provide the framework that protects your wishes and guides your family when important decisions must be made. One of the most generous gifts you can give your family is clarity — written down in advance — so they can lean on your decisions rather than make them on your behalf under pressure.

Nearly 50% of people over 55 do not have a Will. This is not because they are careless — a mix of beliefs, fears, and the feeling of being overwhelmed often gets in the way. Yet your legacy reaches far beyond money or possessions. Taking time now to express your wishes is one of the most loving and future-minded actions you can take.

You are not rewriting documents here — only noting where they are kept, when they were last updated, and who to contact. You can also attach scanned copies of documents for safekeeping.

Legacy planning is a journey. This checklist is a simple reminder to track your progress through the five essential phases of rightsizing. Together, they form a practical pathway that helps transform a complex and emotional process into steady, achievable progress.