I calmly asked my wife recently, without any introduction, what she would do if I suddenly died, maybe from a cardiac arrest? I am 51 years old, you see. She stared at me piercingly for a few seconds and stormed out of the bedroom like a bullet leaving a pistol.
I went to her, made her sit on the sofa and told her to calm down and asked if she will know how to manage my finances and investments upon my death — at which again she got up and hid inside the kitchen. I followed her like a lamb, and persisted with my question. She looked at me and said that if I didn’t stop talking death she would leave the house.
That’s the problem when it comes to discussing death with family members. It is a taboo topic. It was reported that over ₹51,000 crore is lying unclaimed in banks, post offices, provident funds, insurance companies, stock investments including in unclaimed dividends, mutual funds and such other investments as on March 2016.
Besides, thousands of safe deposit lockers in banks have remained unaccessed for years without rightful successors to those who had opened them. The time has come for families to take a look at the scenario beyond the expiry date. There has to be a simple solution.
I realised that trying to talk about this directly with my family members is futile and hence worked on a simple plan that anyone can follow (particularly those who are above 45 years of age). I want to share this idea with others.
First, make yourself comfortable at a time you are free, without disturbance for about an hour. Pull out all the investment documents and details from every nook and corner of your house and/or office, take a book and pen and start jotting down all the investments that you have done so far. Fixed deposits, recurring deposits, post office savings, life insurance policies (endowment, money-back, whole-life, ULIP, term assurance and the like; also medical insurance policies), demat account number (eight digit or 16 digit number as given to you by your stock broker), PAN number, if salaried then the Provident Fund account number and any other investments that you may have.
Enter all the details of your investments on a sheet of paper and get it typed in an MS Excel file; take the assistance of your children if you are not computer-savvy.
There is no need to enter the value of your investments; just the numbers would do. For instance, your life insurance policy number is 67564566; your demat account number is 30381990; your FD receipt number is 423/2016, and so on; mentioning these numbers would be enough on the sheet. In most cases just your PAN would suffice, such as with mutual fund companies and stockbrokers. Many investments could be tracked with this number.
Once you are done with entering all the details, comes the important part. Choose your best friend or a trusted relative who understands the ‘F’ of finances and ‘I’ of investments, meet him or her as soon as possible and hand over the details that you have prepared, the list, in hard copy or in the mail as a soft copy. Request the person to assist your family members in withdrawing or claiming the investments should anything go wrong with you. I am sure your best friend or relative will do that without expecting anything in return. Once every six months update the list for any changes in investments and share it with the same person.
Try this simple solution. I have done it and am confident my hard-earned money will be enjoyed by those for whom I have worked hard after I kick the bucket.
balajiraodg@gmail.com
