Your Digital Legacy: Making It Easy with Footprint

In today's digital age, each of us has a unique digital legacy. Think about your cherished photos, carefully crafted emails, and your presence on social media, it's all part of your digital footprint. But have you ever wondered what happens to your digital presence when the inevitable time comes?

At Footprint, we're all about simplifying the important stuff. So, let's dive in and understand what a 'Digital Legacy' is, why it’s important, and how we can help!

So, What Exactly is a Digital Legacy?

Think of your digital legacy as a digitised time capsule of your life. It includes everything from your password-protected social media accounts and digital assets to those funny cat videos you've saved for a rainy day. It's YOUR digital identity that you have developed online over time and it's worth thinking about!

As a starting point, think about:

●       What is your digital footprint?

●       What do you want to happen with your digital assets and digital presence?

●       What do you want to happen to your data after you are no longer here?

Why Does Your Digital Legacy Matter?

The answer is simple. Because your digital assets are just as valuable as your physical ones! Imagine your loved ones trying to access your online accounts, photos, or cherished memories without the necessary keys and passwords. Unless you have a pro hacker in your family, this process can be very frustrating and time-consuming.

Being able to leave a digital legacy provides a unique opportunity for you to not only protect your digital assets, but also to share memories, experiences and words with your loved ones, even if you’re not here. For example, you may be expecting a new grandchild. You can capture a video message and store it in your digital vault with specific instructions to show this video to your future grandchild when they turn 21!

How Footprint Can Make a Difference

Now that we've highlighted the importance of your digital legacy, let's explore how Footprint can support you. We’ve developed the ‘Footprint Digital Vault’ which brings everything important that’s digital into one secure place for executors.

The vault enables a customer to list their social media accounts and leave instructions on how to manage them, and digitise photos or important documents like passports, birth certificates, insurance policies, or bank details and paperwork. They can list their assets and attach supporting documentation and instructions for how they want everything to be managed in the event of their death.” - Belinda Heunis, Chief Business Officer of Footprint.

We support password protection practices and don’t encourage storing passwords in the vault. Instead, we encourage people to think about password managers and how their executor can access those when the time comes.  Already many social media accounts and password managers allow users to add a contact who can access your account to close it down after you are no longer here.

What Can You Include in Your Digital Vault?

Your digital legacy can be more extensive than you might think. Here's a quick list of some of your ‘digital things’ that can be listed in your vault:

●       A list of instructions on how you would like your executor to manage your digital assets

●       Digital photos, videos and letters

●       Instructions for how you’d like your loved ones to inherit your digital AND physical ‘stuff’

●       Cryptocurrencies (yes, even your digital coins)

●       Important documents such as insurance policies and birth certificates

●       Email and Social Media accounts

●       Rewards and credits e.g. Airpoints, Flybuys etc

●       Digital assets generating income (blogs, websites, and more)

Remember, it's not just about the monetary value of these assets; it's also about the memories and personal connections tied to your digital footprint.

Our Vision For The Future Regarding Digital Legacies

“Part of our drive with Footprint is to move the dial so people make their Wills earlier in life, and this shift intensifies the focus on how digital assets are managed. For example, millennials are more likely to have a growing digital footprint – over their lifetime, most if not all of their assets have been held or recorded digitally in some way – so how they are thinking about their Wills and those assets will naturally be within a digital framework.” - Belinda Heunis, Chief Business Officer of Footprint.

Our shift towards digital legacies and assets isn’t slowing down and it’s here to stay. Preparing for the inevitable in the form of a Will to pass down and preserve your digital footprint is quickly becoming an important consideration for many Kiwi’s.

If you would like to know more about the Footprint Digital Vault and other Will It benefits learn more here.