In short

An emergency information folder — separate from your will — is a single findable record of your accounts, super, insurance, debts, subscriptions, key contacts, and wishes, so whoever steps in isn't left on a treasure hunt. Keep it complete and current, but store passwords separately in a password manager rather than in the folder, and make sure a trusted person knows it exists and how to reach it.

Most people who plan carefully for the end of their life focus on the legal documents — the will, the enduring power of attorney (a document that lets someone manage your financial and legal affairs if you can't), the guardianship papers. Those matter enormously. But they answer only one set of questions: who makes decisions, and who inherits. They say nothing about the question your family will actually be stuck on when the time comes: what do you have, and where on earth is it? When someone dies or loses the capacity to manage their own affairs, the people who step in are so often left on a stressful, expensive treasure hunt — chasing down which bank, which super fund, whether there was life insurance, where the will is kept, and what the online passwords were. There's a simple, powerful fix, and almost nobody does it: one findable, up-to-date record of everything. This article is general information only, not personal or legal advice.

Why isn't a will enough?

A will is a set of instructions for distributing what you own. It doesn't contain an inventory of what you own, and it isn't a map to finding it. The same is true of an enduring power of attorney: it authorises someone to act for you, but it doesn't tell them where your accounts are or that a particular insurance policy even exists.

That gap is where the damage happens. Families miss accounts entirely — as at 30 June 2025 the Australian Taxation Office reported just over $18.9 billion sitting in lost and unclaimed superannuation across nearly 7.3 million accounts, much of it simply forgotten (ATO, https://www.ato.gov.au/forms-and-instructions/superannuation-searching-for-lost-superannuation). Bills go unpaid, or keep being paid on autopilot for services no one needs. Insurance payouts go unclaimed because no one knew the policy existed. And in an age where so much lives behind a login, a family can find itself locked out of email, myGov and online banking at the worst possible moment. ASIC's MoneySmart makes the point directly in its guidance for people who have lost a partner: listing your important documents and where they are kept can help your family and your executor enormously (ASIC MoneySmart, https://moneysmart.gov.au/family-and-relationships/losing-your-partner). None of this reflects a failure of love or care — it reflects the fact that all the information lived in one person's head, and that person is now gone or unwell.

What is the fix — one record, complete, current, and findable?

The solution is a single consolidated record — call it an "in case of emergency" file, a "getting your affairs in order" folder, whatever you like. It can be a physical folder, a secure digital document, or both. What matters is that it has three qualities: it's complete, it's kept up to date, and it's findable and accessible by the right person — someone who knows it exists and can actually get to it.

What belongs in it falls into a handful of natural groups. Start with your legal documents and where they live — the original will and who holds it, your enduring power of attorney and guardianship or advance care directive, and your birth and marriage certificates, passport and citizenship papers. Then comes the money map: every bank account, your superannuation fund or funds with member numbers, any account-based pension or annuity, share holdings and your broker or Holder Identification Number (HIN), managed funds and term deposits — the institution and the account identifier for each. Set out your insurance next — life, total and permanent disability, and income protection cover both inside and outside super, plus home and contents, car, private health, and any funeral bond or prepaid funeral, with the insurer and policy numbers. Record your debts and liabilities too — mortgage, personal loans, credit cards, buy-now-pay-later arrangements, and any guarantees you've given.

The record should also capture your income and entitlements, including your Centrelink Customer Reference Number (CRN), your Pensioner Concession Card, and any defined-benefit or overseas pension; your regular bills and subscriptions, from utilities and council rates to phone, internet, streaming and memberships, so they can be continued or cancelled rather than bleeding money quietly; your digital life, meaning email, myGov and key online accounts, handled securely in the way we'll come to; your key people, such as your solicitor, accountant, financial adviser, executor and attorney, doctor, and the contacts for your super fund and insurers; and finally your wishes — funeral or burial preferences, organ donation, and where any letter of wishes or prepaid funeral details are kept (ASIC MoneySmart, https://moneysmart.gov.au/manage-your-money-in-retirement/paying-for-your-funeral).

What is the security balance to get right?

There's one trap to avoid. It's tempting to write everything — passwords, PINs, card numbers — into the folder so it's all in one place. Don't. A document containing every password is a serious security risk if it's lost, stolen or simply seen by the wrong person.

The better approach is to separate where things are from the keys to get in. The folder can list your accounts and institutions freely. For the actual passwords, use a reputable password manager — a single secure app that stores all your logins behind one master password — and leave secure instructions for how a trusted person can access it if they ever need to. Keep the physical folder somewhere safe but genuinely reachable; a classic mistake is locking the only copy of the will in a safe-deposit box that can't be opened without... the will. And above all, tell a trusted person that the folder exists and how to get to it. A perfect record that nobody knows about is no record at all.

What do the worked examples show?

These show the difference the folder makes — for the person who keeps one, and the family who inherits one. They are illustrative only, not personal advice, and the figures are illustrative.

Consider Margaret, 70, a single retiree who spends one afternoon assembling an emergency-information folder: her will and who holds it, three bank accounts, two super funds with member numbers, a life insurance policy inside super, her home and contents and private health cover, her Centrelink CRN and Pensioner Concession Card, her regular bills, her solicitor and accountant, and her funeral wishes — with passwords kept separately in a password manager her daughter can reach. She tells her daughter Helen where the folder is. When Margaret has a serious stroke a year later, on these facts Helen can step in within a day — paying bills, contacting the super funds, and managing her mother's affairs under the enduring power of attorney — instead of spending weeks reconstructing a financial life from bank statements and guesswork. On these facts, the afternoon Margaret spent was one of the most useful things she could have done for her family.

Now consider Robert and Helen, a couple in their late sixties, where Robert dies suddenly without ever having pulled his affairs together. On these facts Helen faces the harder path: she has to hunt for accounts, discovers only by chance a life insurance policy Robert held, and, prompted by the scale of forgotten super nationally — that $18.9 billion in lost and unclaimed accounts (ATO, as at 30 June 2025) — checks Robert's myGov and finds a small super account he'd lost track of years earlier. On these facts it is generally rational, for anyone in Robert's position, to build the record while they can and to use myGov to track down lost or unclaimed super and fold it into the picture — so a grieving partner isn't left piecing it together alone (ATO, https://www.ato.gov.au/forms-and-instructions/superannuation-searching-for-lost-superannuation).

How do you keep it alive, and treat it as a gift?

A folder assembled once and forgotten slowly goes stale as accounts open and close, policies change and you move house. Tie a quick review to something you already do each year — your annual financial check-up is ideal — and update it after any big change: a new account, a changed super fund, a house move, a new policy, or a change in your family. While you're at it, it's worth using myGov to hunt down any lost or unclaimed super and fold it into the picture. (Our companion pieces on wills and powers of attorney and on helping an ageing parent with their money cover the neighbouring ground.)

It's easy to put this off as a morbid chore. It's the opposite. Assembling this record is one of the most genuinely thoughtful things you can do for the people you love — because the alternative is leaving them to piece your financial life together through grief or crisis, guessing and worrying that they've missed something. A single afternoon now buys them clarity at a time they'll need it most. If your affairs are at all complex, a solicitor for the legal documents and a financial adviser for the money map can help you make sure nothing important is left out.

Sources

Key takeaways

  • A will tells people who inherits and who decides, but it's not an inventory of what you own or a map to finding it — that gap is where families struggle most.
  • As at 30 June 2025, over $18.9 billion sat in lost and unclaimed superannuation across nearly 7.3 million accounts in Australia, much of it simply forgotten.
  • An emergency information folder should cover legal documents, accounts and super, insurance, debts, income and entitlements, bills and subscriptions, digital life, key contacts, and your wishes.
  • Never write passwords, PINs, or card numbers directly into the folder — use a reputable password manager instead, with secure instructions for a trusted person to access it if needed.
  • The folder is only useful if someone knows it exists and can reach it — tell a trusted person, and review and update it at least once a year.

Frequently asked questions

Why isn't a will enough to prepare my family for the future?

A will distributes what you own, but it doesn't list what you own or where it is. An enduring power of attorney authorises someone to act for you, but doesn't tell them where your accounts are or that a particular insurance policy exists. A separate emergency information folder fills that gap.

What should go in an emergency information folder?

Legal documents and where they're kept, a full list of bank and super accounts, insurance policies, debts and liabilities, Centrelink details, regular bills and subscriptions, your digital accounts, key contacts (solicitor, accountant, adviser, executor), and your funeral and end-of-life wishes.

Should I write my passwords in my emergency information folder?

No. A document listing every password is a serious security risk if it's lost, stolen, or seen by the wrong person. List your accounts and institutions in the folder, but keep actual passwords in a reputable password manager, with secure instructions for how a trusted person can access it if needed.

How much lost superannuation is there in Australia?

As at 30 June 2025, the ATO reported just over $18.9 billion sitting in lost and unclaimed superannuation across nearly 7.3 million accounts. You can search for lost or unclaimed super through myGov.

A note on advice. This article is general information only and doesn't account for your personal circumstances. Everyone's situation is different — before acting, it's worth talking it through with a licensed adviser who knows your full picture.