We earn relentlessly. We also try to save and invest as much as possible.
But do you give equal importance to managing this wealth which is in the form of different investments?
Recently, one of our clients called me for a quick review. He was hospitalized for a Covid and the hospitalization was really longer than his expectations. By the Grace of God he recently returned home safely. But this accident shook him a lot and he now wants to take his finances more seriously and in an organized manner. He wanted my help in organizing his assets better and creating a clear succession plan for his loved ones.
Starting with nothing, he had made it quite big by the time he turned 45 recently. Over the years, he had invested in many asset classes like commercial & residential real estate, freehold open lands in his native village, equities, mutual funds, besides creating liabilities like home and car loans. He also wanted to write a Will after this incident.
When I drafted a Financial Plan for him at that time only I have asked him to streamline things, make his portfolio clutter-free and get his WILL and all insurances done on Time. But until some unfortunate incident happens, we do not take all these things seriously. Now he understood the importance of not only saving and investing and insurance planning but also streamlining the investments in a proper way.
So now I have advised him to get a clear picture of his assets and liabilities on priority, to which he agreed, and together we began working on his requirement.
As per my experience, there are many such dynamic and busy Professionals who are clueless about organizing their assets in time and creating a proper succession plan! And in an unfortunate event when they depart without doing this, their heirs end up fighting a long bitter battle over the assets and liabilities or they need to run from pole post.
Not only investing to achieve your financial goals are important but streamlining it, letting your family members about this is equally important.
Here are the 7 things that every individual must do to organize their assets & liabilities better and avoid any future challenges for their loved ones:
1. List down the details of both assets and liabilities
2. Create a Will that clearly demarcates the asset distribution
3. Organize all your important documents ( Personal, legal, financial) in a single place so that they will be easily accessible for your trusted family members
4. Review your Finances periodically such as home loan interests, investments, etc.
5. Prepare a financial calendar for all your bill payments to avoid huge penalties
6. Periodically review your Term, health, home, vehicle insurances and keep those updated to avoid future challenges
7. Take the help of a professional if you do not have time or feel clueless about money management.
We always believe that unfortunate things will happen to others. Because of that when it knocked on our door we are not prepared and we find ourselves helpless. We feel that this is a tedious task and so we keep on postponing it but give it a priority before it is too late.
Preeti Zende is a SEBI registered Investment Adviser and Fee only financial Planner. She is Founder and owner of Apana Dhan Financial Services, Associate of Insurance Institute of India.
