Preparing for your future: a conversation guide

This guide will help you with the first three steps of planning for your older age: thinking about, talking about, and writing down what you want for your future. In particular, it will help you work out the following aspects of your life:

• What is most important to you in your older age?
• What do you want your life to be like in your older age?
• Who would you trust to make decisions for you if you couldn’t make decisions anymore?

As a fourth step, when you have finished the guide, we recommend you formalise your arrangements in legal documents, such as an Enduring Power of Attorney.

This guide is not a legal document and does not provide detailed legal information.

There are three parts to this guide – planning for everyday life in older age, planning how to manage your finances as you age, and planning for end of life healthcare.

You don’t have to do all of the parts, and you can do them in any order.

It usually takes at least 30 minutes to complete each part.

This guide is designed to help navigate conversations about planning for older age, and works best with a facilitator and a group of peers. For example, you could ask your community group, social group, or seniors group to do a session with you. But you can also use this guide with one person you trust or by yourself.

However you choose to use it, take your time! And remember, you can always change your answers if you change your mind. It’s important to check your answers every 1-2 years to see if they still reflect what you want your life in older age to look like. 

If your community group, social group, or seniors group would like Justice Connect to run a facilitated workshop for your members, please contact our Seniors Law team at seniorslaw@justiceconnect.org.au.