The Buyt Desk
You work hard all your life, save and invest money to support your family and fulfil their dreams. But how much information does your family have regarding your investments? If a situation arises where ‘YOU’ the sole earning member is no more then what happens? Especially if your family is not aware of your investments. You may have accumulated enough money to take care of their needs atleast for a few days till they find their way out. It could turn out to be a financial mess with no access to these investment and above all no knowledge about if they have a safety net or not. To make sure it does not happen to your family, you must take care of the paperwork and nomination details.
Nomination
Nomination is a very important part of forward planning. You must ensure that right from your insurance to bank account and mutual fund investment or fixed deposit all of them have a nominee. The nominee may not be the legal heir. They are the trustee of your money and play the bridge between the institution and the legal heir. They ensure that if something happens to you money reaches the legal heir. Generally the nominee is the caretaker of the money but in case of insurance and employee provident fund nominee is the legal heir of the money in case something happens to the primary holder of the account.
The financial record that your family should know about-
Insurance Policies: Maintain the list of all insurance policies you have. It includes health insurance, life insurance policies, personal insurance, and other policies such as LIC, keeping them in one place could be a good idea. If any broker is involved, keep the contact number of the broker along with his name and address so that family members can reach him easily.
Cheque Books and Bank Details: Cheque books, passbooks are crucial financial documents you must keep in a safe place and inform your heirs about the same. They might need it to close your account permanently after you. If you have more than one bank account, keep your family informed about the same.
Bank Lockers: If you have a locker in the bank where you keep your documents and valuables, keep your family informed about the same. If you dont want to tell them then also you must write down the details and keep it at a place where you store all your financial documents. Do not forget to mention the passcode of the locker, the pin of your debit card, etc.
Investments: You must keep a record of all your investments. For this, you can either prepare an Excel sheet on your laptop or keep documents of all the investments you have made along with their heir’s name. E.g. If you have made a particular investment for your daughter, mention her name in the document to avoid confusion.
Property Records: Property disputes, we all know how bad they are and how long it goes to get fixed. And it is also prone to encroachment if left unattended or unclaimed for a long time. To avert this situation, keep the record of every property you have with full address and buying agreement. If any broker is involved in the deal, keep his phone number and other details as well with the record.
Keep all the original financial documents of the property with you in a safe place.
We cannot predict the future, but with thoughtful planning, we can control its impact. In a situation of an emergency, accident or even death, your family must be aware of all your financial details and use them at the right time. Being in the dark about finances will add up to their problems in an already difficult time.
