The password map: what to write down (and what not to)

A password map is a written record of where your digital life lives. It is not a list of passwords. It is a list of accounts, providers, and the one thing your family needs to unlock the rest: your password manager.

The rule: map, not keys

Writing down every password is a security disaster. If the document is lost, stolen, or photographed, every account is exposed. Instead, write down what someone would need to know if they had 30 minutes to take over your admin, and no way to ask you.

What to include

• Which email address is your primary account, and which email provider it uses.
• Which password manager you use.
• How your password manager is unlocked (device biometrics, or a master password held by a nominated emergency contact).
• Which mobile number receives your two-factor codes.
• Where the SIM card lives, and the PIN to unlock the phone.
• Your main banks and where you log in (app or website).
• Your super fund and its member number.
• Your utilities and any providers with an auto-debit.
• Any cryptocurrency, and the location of the seed phrase (never the seed itself in the same document).

What to leave out

• Passwords, PINs, and passphrases.
• Cryptocurrency seed phrases.
• Full credit-card numbers or CVVs.
• Answers to security questions.
• Photocopies of your driver's licence or passport.

Where to store it

A workbook kept in a home safe, with a signed copy of the will, is the standard advice. If you use a cloud file, protect it with a strong, unique password held in a different place, and consider encryption. A printed copy is often the most useful, because it does not need to be logged in to.

Test it

Once you have finished, ask yourself: if I disappeared tomorrow, could my partner, sibling, or executor reach my email, log in to the family bank account, and pause my subscriptions using only this document? If the answer is no, the map is not quite finished.

Keep it fresh

Every time you change providers, close an account, or set up a new one, add or remove the line. A 15-minute review once a year, on the same weekend you review your will, keeps the map trustworthy.