Being a Financial Product distributor, one of our prime job is to keep your records properly and in most systematic manner, so that Tax filing should go smoothly, your Loan sanctioning should not get hindered….and so on. Maintaining financial records or Documents systematically is very important not just in our lifetime, but also our legal heirs when they get down to sorting what we leave behind.
We suggest a list of following documents related to your financial and personal details. Do prepare a file and keep them in a safe place... Here are these 5 important things related to such documentations :
Insurance Policies: Maintain a list of all the insurance policies that you have. These would include health, life, vehicle, personal and other policies. Keep them handy in one place. Must mention the contact details of your Distributor/ advisor on these files. You can also explore the methods to keep your insurance policy in Electronic form under special D Mat account.
Cheque books, bank details: Even if you won’t use your cheque book it is still an important instrument. If your legal heirs wish to close a few of your bank accounts, it helps if they can surrender old cheque books and debit cards. Keep a list of all your bank account numbers and make sure your family members know where you’ve kept them. You may also close unnecessary or unused Bank accounts to avoid any extra charges or unutilised funds lying in your savings account.
Bank lockers: Many of us have bank lockers to store important documents and jewellery. Many do not choose to inform their families about its existence during their lifetime. That’s fine, but making a note of it is important so that it can be found after we’re gone.
Investments: Either maintain an excel sheet with your investment details handy, or keep physical records of your consolidated account statements (CAS), along with D'mat statements. This book-keeping ensures that the distribution of your assets happen effectively and not a penny leaks out. Most of the investors pileup too many papers or unnecessary documents in their investment files, which later becomes very confusing for the legal heirs to sort. Hence we are providing some special pointers related to keeping the record of your investments – Mutual Funds, Stocks, Bonds, FDs etc :
CAS ( Consolidated Account Statement) :
Physical form : You must take a print out of your CAS every quarter and replace it with the old one . CAS contains details of all your Mutual Fund Investments, all your Shares details in every D Mat Account, all your other investments which are in D Mat. Contact your Distributor to know more about CAS (Consolidated Account Statement)
Digital Form : You must learn to use your Portfolio login panel on our website and mobile application . This will reflect all your Investment details at one place which could be accessed at a Click. Learn all about its Safety and accessibility features through your respective distributor.
D'Mat Holding Statement : You must take a print out of your D'Mat Holding Statement every quarter( if u have a D'Mat Account). In case you have multiple D'Mat account, then try to make offline transfers into one D'Mat account for easy tracking.
Property Records : Property is prone to encroachment or wear and tear if left ignored for long. Keep records of exact addresses, location, identification marks and related agreements handy. Besides physical file, you can scan all these documents and save Digitally also. In the Digital World, document storage has become very simple, but that need to be done with proper safety and security. So I am just sharing few key points related to Digital Document upkeep.
How to scan ? Generally we don’t have document scanner at our home, so it is advisable to download the Scanner App in your smart phone and use it for easy scanning. This is quick and simple
Where to save these documents ? Generally people send these documents in their Email and keep it in their INBOX. But this is not the best way ! You should buy your own Cloud Space or use Free space by Goggle Drive. You can create up to 5 family Users in such Cloud Drives. All your documents can be easily accessible from anywhere in the world at one click.
Happy Investing !
The author is Mrs. Neetika Gupta, Customer Service Head - Infinity Finserv Pvt. Ltd.
(Contact Number - 9307218766)