Most people have some form of financial arrangement in place. A life insurance policy, a pension, a mortgage protection plan, maybe an income protection policy taken out years ago. But here is a question worth asking: if something happened to you tomorrow, would your family know where to find any of it?
This is a gap that exists in many households, and the numbers back that up. 50% of adults in Ireland have no life cover at all, meaning around 360,000 families are without protection, and almost half a million children have parents with no life insurance in place. Even among those who do have cover, there is no guarantee their family would know about it or know how to claim it.
The problem extends to pensions too. Estimates suggest there is more than €500 million in unclaimed pension benefits in Ireland. Much of that sits unclaimed simply because people changed jobs, moved address, or never told anyone about the pension they had accumulated. In Ireland, numerous life assurance policies lie dormant, forgotten, overlooked, or lost in paperwork. Under Irish law, unclaimed life assurance policies must be transferred to the Dormant Accounts Fund, which is managed by the National Treasury Management Agency.
The money does not disappear, but reclaiming it puts an additional burden on families who are already dealing with grief or illness. The far simpler solution is to make sure the information is documented and accessible before it is ever needed.
What Is a Financial Passport?
A Financial Passport is a single document that brings all of your key financial information together in one place. It is designed to give your next of kin a clear, complete picture of your finances, without the stress of having to track everything down at the worst possible time.
A well-prepared Financial Passport typically covers:
It does not need to be complex. The value is in having the information recorded clearly, in one place, and accessible to the people who may need it.
Why It Matters More Than You Think
Consider the scale of what Irish insurers are paying out. Irish Life alone paid €404.3 million across 7,907 claims in 2025, with over €7.7 million paid out on average every week. Those are real families receiving real financial support at difficult times. But those payments only reach families who know a policy exists and know how to claim it.
Two in five Irish households say they would struggle financially if their income were lost through death, illness or injury. For families in that position, a missed claim or an undiscovered pension is not just an inconvenience. It is a material financial loss at the worst possible time.
A Financial Passport does not replace a will, and it is not a legal document. What it does is act as a practical guide for your family, giving them a starting point and reducing the administrative burden at an already difficult time.
It Is Also a Useful Exercise for You
Completing a Financial Passport often prompts people to review their existing cover, check whether old policies are still active, and identify gaps in their protection. If you have moved between jobs over the years, you may have secured pension benefits with more than one employer that you have since lost track of. A Financial Passport encourages you to pull all of that together.
Keeping It Updated
A Financial Passport is only useful if it reflects your current situation. It should be reviewed whenever something changes, including a new job, a change in pension provider, the purchase of a property, or the addition of a new policy.
Storing it securely is important. Your next of kin needs to be able to find it, which means keeping a physical copy somewhere accessible, telling a trusted family member where it is, or sharing it with your financial broker for safekeeping.
Download the Financial Passport here
We have put together a Financial Passport template that you can download and complete at your own pace. It covers all the key areas and is straightforward to fill in.
If completing it raises questions about your existing cover, or if you want to review whether your current protection is still fit for purpose, our team at Riordan Financial is happy to help.
Riordan Financial Brokers Ltd trading as Riordan Financial (C30375) is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
