How are making sure your family is aware and will manage finances "Just In Case"?

raksrules

raksrules

Northstar
This may be a morbid topic to discuss and many people don't even think about this. But till now, I was not managing my own finances (my dad would do it) and my dad would manage his own and my brother's too. But then I realized that what if something untoward happened and I leave my family in lurch if I am not there and finances is the biggest thing that need to be managed by them.
In India, mostly finances are handled by the husband / man of the house and most of the times, the wife is not even aware about what sort of accounts they have, where all money is invested, if there are any bank lockers or not and many such things. I have seen cases where the husband died and wife / kids have no idea about finances at all and they start sifting through whatever documents they can find in home and trying to figure out where money is and such.
So how are you planning to tackle this situation?
 
raksrules said:
This may be a morbid topic to discuss and many people don't even think about this. But till now, I was not managing my own finances (my dad would do it) and my dad would manage his own and my brother's too. But then I realized that what if something untoward happened and I leave my family in lurch if I am not there and finances is the biggest thing that need to be managed by them.
In India, mostly finances are handled by the husband / man of the house and most of the times, the wife is not even aware about what sort of accounts they have, where all money is invested, if there are any bank lockers or not and many such things. I have seen cases where the husband died and wife / kids have no idea about finances at all and they start sifting through whatever documents they can find in home and trying to figure out where money is and such.
So how are you planning to tackle this situation?
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Normally finances in the family are maintained by women not men. We people in the south has this tendency.
Men only get employed and bring money that's all
All finances are handled and maintained I mean house maintenance, monthly payments, any monthly debts payment, etc are looked after by women in the family.
This was how it was going on since my grand mother days onwards.
Even while my ex was there she too used to look after her house and monthly expenses. Not me.
I just listen that's all.
Like my father, his father etc
 
My situation is little different. Since we don't have parents living with us, we manage ( rather mismanage) in a completely chaotic manner.
The house loan EMI goes from my account. Everything else...no rules. Whoever has time pays bills, school fees. Whoever goes out buy groceries etc. We mostly use credit cards for everything as everyone accepts cards here.
We pay the credit card bills at the end of the month. Which often varies wildly.
Just couple of days back had a discussion about organising bills and other regular expenses.
Will organise it after moving to Sweden.
 
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I talked about this with my wife one day and told her this had to be done, however morbid it may sound. Since this is something that she should also be comfortable with, we decided to hold the details in an excel file. It has the following sheets: investments, bank accounts, outstanding loans, and insurance policy details. Each month, or at least once every two months, I try to keep it updated. It doesn't contain details like passwords. Just the account number, and which bank/branch it is with. In case of loans, how much outstanding, and how much to be repaid every month and to who. For policies, who is insured, and for what amount, whether any premium is due, and who the nominee is.
I would like to expand this further, so will be following this thread for ideas.
 
Some tips on how to handle this

1. Your family member/s need to know how much investments and liabilities are existing. Make sure nominees are in place according to how you want money to be distributed. Also lot of investments are long term and also with lock in periods so they must know how much more money needed to be invested if applicable
2. Keep an excel sheet with all details.It can be view only for family while you control it.
3. You can keep an online password protected doc with all login details and passwords to gain access to sites / devices etc. The link can be with family but the password of this doc can be left with the lawyer or CA to be revealed only after death. This can be officially or non officially done depending on personal equation.
4. A will can be done legally to make sure of no issues later with all types of assets if some family members can create issue later on. I know a lot of extended family who show up in such a scenario.

Other things if you are a more cautious:

1. You can have a phone backup online which can then be put into place into a new phone if needed by a family member. It helps with 1000's of sms messages, whatsapp etc if you are a businessman/woman.
2. Your phone sim card or number can be transferred to family member on producing death certificate, family member certificate ( can be done online while alive ) and NOC from remaining family members. This is important in case sim / phone is not recoverable. You can also shut down the number with your carrier on producing death certificate and some formalities at their office.
 
Don't write passwords in excel files. Just put enough information that will allow them to reset the password using phone. If phone is lost or something, for duplicate sim ...death certificate & proof of relationship is required.
 
Here is how we manage...
Me and wife both are working professionals yet our combined incomes aren't any bomb as other couples.
We live a rather very simple life-- No compulsory weekend outings/ shopping/ eating outside or any showoff shits like peers.

Since the beginning I have set the rules as below:
I bear all the major expenses like: house rent, all recharges like dth, electricity, phones both her and mine etc. Except for internet bills which we share between us.
Kitchen stuff and expenses like gas and groceries are all handled by her and I do contribute when I buy groceries when I shop alone.
Shopping: Its like I shop for her and she shops for my in cloths department. But for other stuff we spend independently.
Eating out: We share the expenses sometimes equally else I contribute majorly due to offers on my credit cards.
Credit card bills: My cards so I bear it all but obvious.
Movies: Equally.
If anything I missed out, just count that on me...:)

I don't like her spending and instead save her 80% salary for those just in case situations.

I got almost all payment modes activated while she is very simple woman dealing in debit cards and gpay while I"m a very complex in this part ;)

We got no addictions at all like drinking (except occasional may be max 3-4 times a year) and we aren't that shopaholic though we like to visit malls and places for a change and to taste ongoing trends we spend only if its a must.
We go for 2-3 outings every year to rejuvenate and there too I bear 90% of all the expenses always keeping my Queen worry free! :playful:

EOD for any crisis, our savings act as a huge pillar for survival. Even after all these expenses I manage to save 40% of my salary and I think that's huge for me.

I keep track of my daily expenses in an app be it even 2 bucks to 20k, everything is tracked in that and every 6 months or so I analyze the spending and try to minimize further wherever we can.

So this is how it is for us...
Mantra: live simple life, enjoy every moment and spend ONLY WHEN NECESSARY else cut the crap.

Lots of stuff to invest in..house, car and expand our family so yes all this will surely count for the future...:cigar:
 
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I think one of the most important part is to tell your family about your debts and investments. When my dad passed away we had to sift through his documents only to find rough bills for ICICI mutual funds. Without folio number all our money was stolen by the advisor.
 
vishalrao said:
What are valid proofs of relationship for parents/children and how to obtain it?
Click to expand...
Birth certificate/ school leaving certificate usually have parent's name in it.
AFAIK birth certificate for an adult can be obtained from local municipality/ Panchayat office. Voter's ID/ Aadhar card have father's name. Submit them with birth certificate application.
At least in 2015 this was the procedure.
To apply for residency in Europe only the passport from the country of origin and marriage certificate is needed.
Most countries in Europe doesn't require birth certificates.
But the procedure gets very complicated if marriage certificate is not applicable.
 
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sharktale1212 said:
I think one of the most important part is to tell your family about your debts and investments. When my dad passed away we had to sift through his documents only to find rough bills for ICICI mutual funds. Without folio number all our money was stolen by the advisor.
Click to expand...

This happened me with when I came back from US last year. Totally lost as no clue where all money is what folios and such. I checked the broker's portal, NSDL / CDSL statements and such and collected all the data and put in excel file so I can make sense of where all the money was kept.
I did the same for my father and brother and my father himself (who handled all my investments) who was also clueless about some of his own investments which was little alarming to me.
 
sharktale1212 said:
I think one of the most important part is to tell your family about your debts and investments. When my dad passed away we had to sift through his documents only to find rough bills for ICICI mutual funds. Without folio number all our money was stolen by the advisor.
Click to expand...

how money was stolen ? care to explain
 
nRiTeCh said:
Here is how we manage...
Me and wife both are working professionals yet our combined incomes aren't any bomb as other couples.
We live a rather very simple life-- No compulsory weekend outings/ shopping/ eating outside or any showoff shits like peers.

Since the beginning I have set the rules as below:
I bear all the major expenses like: house rent, all recharges like dth, electricity, phones both her and mine etc. Except for internet bills which we share between us.
Kitchen stuff and expenses like gas and groceries are all handled by her and I do contribute when I buy groceries when I shop alone.
Shopping: Its like I shop for her and she shops for my in cloths department. But for other stuff we spend independently.
Eating out: We share the expenses sometimes equally else I contribute majorly due to offers on my credit cards.
Credit card bills: My cards so I bear it all but obvious.
Movies: Equally.
If anything I missed out, just count that on me...:)

I don't like her spending and instead save her 80% salary for those just in case situations.

I got almost all payment modes activated while she is very simple woman dealing in debit cards and gpay while I"m a very complex in this part ;)

We got no addictions at all like drinking (except occasional may be max 3-4 times a year) and we aren't that shopaholic though we like to visit malls and places for a change and to taste ongoing trends we spend only if its a must.
We go for 2-3 outings every year to rejuvenate and there too I bear 90% of all the expenses always keeping my Queen worry free! :playful:

EOD for any crisis, our savings act as a huge pillar for survival. Even after all these expenses I manage to save 40% of my salary and I think that's huge for me.

I keep track of my daily expenses in an app be it even 2 bucks to 20k, everything is tracked in that and every 6 months or so I analyze the spending and try to minimize further wherever we can.

So this is how it is for us...
Mantra: live simple life, enjoy every moment and spend ONLY WHEN NECESSARY else cut the crap.

Lots of stuff to invest in..house, car and expand our family so yes all this will surely count for the future...:cigar:
Click to expand...
So detailed and great management of finances.
 
nRiTeCh said:
Here is how we manage...
Me and wife both are working professionals yet our combined incomes aren't any bomb as other couples.
We live a rather very simple life-- No compulsory weekend outings/ shopping/ eating outside or any showoff shits like peers.

Since the beginning I have set the rules as below:
I bear all the major expenses like: house rent, all recharges like dth, electricity, phones both her and mine etc. Except for internet bills which we share between us.
Kitchen stuff and expenses like gas and groceries are all handled by her and I do contribute when I buy groceries when I shop alone.
Shopping: Its like I shop for her and she shops for my in cloths department. But for other stuff we spend independently.
Eating out: We share the expenses sometimes equally else I contribute majorly due to offers on my credit cards.
Credit card bills: My cards so I bear it all but obvious.
Movies: Equally.
If anything I missed out, just count that on me...:)

Lots of stuff to invest in..house, car and expand our family so yes all this will surely count for the future...:cigar:
Click to expand...
Wise couple indeed. We are also working professionals with very average combined income. Other than college funds for the kid, we do not have any savings. We do not eat out a lot, both hate shopping. But I buy a lot of unnecessary software and hardware for music production ( in 2020 bought another small but very advanced Akai 25 key midi keyboard, Ableton Push 2, rarely used the original Push, entire Arturia V collection, the entire ROLI songmaker kit and numerous smaller software, expensive cables etc).
This needs to stop. My wife has developed an obsession for running shoes, she already has at least 10 pairs. That needs to stop too.
We can barely manage to save 30 percent of our combined income after all deductions monthly.
And all of that savings go away with single 2 months or two 1 month vacation every year. People have financial goals in life, our goal is to travel to as many countries as possible.
If everything goes according to plans, we will be shifting base to Sweden by October ( April was the plan, Corona ****ed up everything), sell our house in Praha and will use that money for a month long winter time Scandinavian trip.
We thought about savings like normal couples, but decided against it ( In the part of Europe where we are/ will be going, medical care is practically free and for medicos it is completely free with no upper limit. We plan to take full advantage of that)
 
This is what I am doing now...

  • All passwords are in Lastpass. Wife also knows password of lastpass and I will randomly ask her password like when she is cooking or just doing timepass on phone and such so she remembers always.
  • The excel I maintain is actually Google Drive which is also shared with wife, I make it a point to download the file and save as excel as and when I remember.
  • I have also listed the website name of that bank or fund house or broker where she can login to see the investment details so she doesn't have to go find the details.
  • Every month, I will update this excel as here everything is maintained, all MF investments, liquid cash, loan account details and money owed and such.
  • All PAN Card numbers are listed in the excel as PAN is super important w.r.t investment details fetching. Additionally, also have added whether investment details are in NSDL or CDSL and such.
  • I have also now started entering information when I either buy something explicitly (not counting SIPs here) or sell something.
  • Also I keep track of amount invested and now what the value of that investment is. Because that keeps changing all the time.
 
Just an update, I have included another tab in my google sheets that I maintain, namely "In case of death". This explains things to be done if i die. It is continuously evolving and I will be updating and deleting things as needed.
 
raksrules said:
Just an update, I have included another tab in my google sheets that I maintain, namely "In case of death". This explains things to be done if i die. It is continuously evolving and I will be updating and deleting things as needed.
Click to expand...
Can you share that excel format, might help others around.
 
Here is what I have written till now. As mentioned, it is constantly evolving. This is written as if I am writing this to my wife.

Sr. NoSteps
1Collect yourself and take care of children first. They are your top priority.
2Do not make any financial decisions, grief makes us do things we never thought we could or would.
3Get lots and lots of original death certificates. They will be needed at numerous places.
4Make sure you first claim my term insurance from XYZ Company. It is of XXX Rupees. Additionally, my company would also have a term / life insurance so use that. All this money will be needed for future expenses. This process can be tedious and companies try to always find ways to not pay.
5Check with John Doe (LIC Agent) if the LIC policy maturing in 20xx is redeemable now or not and due to death, is there any financial benefit?
6Immediately stop also SIPs of mutual funds as there would be no money in bank account to fund. This may be a temporary stop so you may restart it later if needed.
7All debt instruments like NCD, MLD etc will mature on its time. For them, get in touch with John Doe from <broker> on how to proceed.
8You are a nominee at all the places, so just contact each mutual fund house and tell them what happened and they have a way to transfer all the units to your name. There is a link on how to make it work.
9Cancel the credit cards in my name and apply for yourself. Banks may ask FD or something if you do not have any income to show. Just get one card or max 2 from 2 different banks, preferably where we have account like XYZ Bank, ABC Bank etc. Make sure it is free card, no yearly fees.
10All the stocks in my name will need to be transferred to you, contact John Doe from <broker> for this.
11Our all bank accounts are joint so nothing on that front, except ABC which is only in your name (which will be converted to joint soon).
12I HAVE NO DEBT...DO NOT LISTEN TO ANYONE WHO SAYS I OWE ANY MONEY...PEOPLE WILL TRY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE.
13XYZ house is in both of our names, if you wish to sell, you can and may be buy something <redacted>.
14Keep the investments (now in your name) intact as they will keep growing.
15Check the medical insurance to get my name removed.
16DO NOT LET MY PHONE NUMBER DIE...since everything is linked to phone, keep it active by recharging with unlimited plans frequently. This is until everything is shifted to your number.
17Contact <company> for the ESOP redemption on maturity.
18Get information on how to redeem PF and PPF and redeem them. Keep your own PPF active by paying minimum 500 Rupees per year. More if you want.
19Check our portfolio to see what else is invested, when it is maturing and whether transfer of ownership is needed to be done to you.
20Your FDs are already in your name so nothing to do on that front.
21Keep all the bank accounts active as we may be receiving dividends from stock and maturity amounts etc. in them.


If anyone has any suggestions, do mention so those points can be added. I haven't talked to my wife about this part yet as she tends to get upset when we talk this. But have to show her this "In case of" sheet soon.
 
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