As you reach the age of
retirement, one of the first things you need to do, after resolving your
finances, is to take stock of all your personal documents. Boring and tedious
as it may seem, you will have to find the motivation and the time to organise
your personal files. This is required for you to understand for yourself which
document is filed where and to start listing these out for your family members,
in the event something were to happen to you.
A majority of people do
not think of consolidating all their personal documents in one place during
their work life and scramble to do this when they retire. It is also essential
to make sure that your spouse and at least one other family member is aware of
all these details. Sure, it will take a little bit of time. But if you don't do
it, there will come a day when your children will spend many hours trying to
figure out where all the accounts are and how to access them. Don’t leave then
in a situation where they will hope that they have not missed anything that you
would have left to them.
You need to preserve the following information and documents carefully:
- Details of Bank Lockers along with Passwords and Key Numbers.
- Details of Bank Accounts along with a list of all standing instructions that you would have issued
- Details of all your investments. If you are comfortable with a spreadsheet, list all your investments in a single spreadsheet and share it with your spouse.
- Records of Cheque Books, Share certificates, De-mat accounts, Life Insurance Policies, Health Insurance Policies, Vehicle Insurance Policies along with 3rd party ID Cards, Pension Papers, Recoverable and Payable money from/to friends and relatives.
- Records of passports, Aadhaar Card, Permanent Account Number, Income Tax number, Voter identification number
- List all your mobile and phone numbers, your broadband connection and all the passwords and direct debit instructions you would have issued for your phone connections.
- Title deeds of Property, any changes made to your property, Government approvals for modifications, if any and encumbrances if any, on the property.
- Original Will (Execute one if not already done). It is generally a good practice to give copies of your will to the beneficiaries so that there is no dispute after you. Your lawyer would be able to give you the best advice in your specific situation.
- Passwords of your email ID’s, ATM, Credit and Debit Cards, Bank accounts, Wi-Fi and other electronic access, online profiles, net banking, demat trading accounts, Income Tax e-filing, and any other points where you use a password.
- List out all your frequent flyer numbers, your hotel loyalty card numbers etc. along with passwords. These points could be worth a lot to your nominees.
- Ensure that nomination has been done in all investment and bank accounts, lockers, Insurance Policies. As far as possible all the investments should be in joint names of yourself and spouse with the nomination registered in every account. Ensure documentary evidence is clearly filed for any registered nomination. You can cancel and re-register the nomination during the currency of investment.
- Names and contact information for your legal and financial advisors
- If you have any outstanding loans, list out all the loans along with the loan agreements and the equated monthly instalments you are paying and contact details of the bankers
- Names and contact information for all your doctors
- Names and contact information for any spiritual advisors
- Power of Attorney, in case you have issued one
Locate all the original documents that you have lying in various files
at home and in your office and list out and catalogue every document. It is
worthwhile to invest in a home scanner. This will allow you to scan every
document. With the easy availability of storage space in the “cloud” it is
definitely worth your while to scan every possible document and store it in a
secure and safe account in the “cloud” which gives easy access to your family
members. The simplest would be to download the Google drive linked to your
Gmail account and store all your documents in this folder.
Make sure passwords to your accounts on the “cloud” are available with
your spouse and family. All your documents must be scanned and stored properly.
Once done, your documents can be accessed anywhere in the world as long as you
or your family members have access to Wi-Fi.
This is also a good time for you to record your own “end of life
arrangements.” If you are to be cremated, where would you like this to be and
would you like an electric cremation or a normal wood fire? If you are to be
buried, think about your casket. Some people I know have also written down
which photograph they would like to be remembered by and how their obituary
should be written. Morbid as this may sound in this article, if you have taken
the trouble to outline your wishes, this will make it much easier for your
children when the event actually happens.
When my 87 year old
father passed away a couple of years ago, we were surprised at the extent of
details he had left behind in his files. Not only were all his personal details
carefully filed and listed out in separate files but also he had made sure that
all these document files were then cross-linked together through an index in a
master file. We also found that he had written out detailed letters for
submission to the Provident Fund authorities, the Pension Fund as well as to
all the banks. All that was required for us to do was to insert the date on the
letter and the date and number of the death certificate and print the letter.
If you have not already
completed this critical exercise of taking stock of and recording your personal
documents, it time for you to get organized. This is necessary not only for
yourself and your spouse but ultimately for your children.
*******************
The author is the founder Chairman of
Guardian Pharmacies and the author of 5 best-selling books, Reboot. Reinvent.
Rewire: Managing Retirement in the 21st Century; The Corner Office; An Eye for
an Eye; The Buck Stops Here - Learnings of a #Startup Entrepreneur and The Buck
Stops Here – My Journey from a Manager to an Entrepreneur.
Twitter: @gargashutosh
Instagram: ashutoshgarg56
Blog: ashutoshgargin.wordpress.com |
ashutoshgarg56.blogspot.com
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