Things family should know to avoid problems in your absence?

We are emotionally attached to our family and try to provide them with the best of the things possible. Even in the case of personal finance, you may have done a lot of things to make you and your family financially secure for the future. However, while doing so people forget to discuss these things with their family.

Following are some of the things that your family must know about your financials.

1. Insurance policy
It is really important to discuss with your family about the insurances that you have and where you have kept the policy documents. In critical situations, it would be easy for your family to access these documents. Apart from disclosing the location of the policy documents, it is also advisable to make a note of all the policies along with its policy number. This will help your family members to file the claim even if the original policy document is misplaced. Even while discussing with your family about insurance, you need to educate them on how to file a claim. If you yourself are unaware of the same then you may call your insurance agent or insurance company representative and understood the procedure from them, so as to easily file a claim when the situation arises.

2. Investment details
Even disclosing the investment details to your family is important. Like insurance policies, you may also let your family know about the location of the investment documents so that in your absence they can access it. The investment documents may include you fixed deposit receipts or if you have invested in real estate, the property papers and account statements, if you have invested in financial assets, etc.

3. Key contact details
This is one of the most important things you should consider discussing with your family. The key contact details would include contact details of your insurance agent along with the contact details of insurance company, your broker, your mutual fund distributor, your legal advisor or lawyer, your financial planner, etc. Having contact details of such people would help your family to get in touch with them, when you are not around.

4. Financial plan
This is one such document that contains all your personal finance recommendations and actions that you have done or still need to do. Financial plan not only lets you know about your investments or where you need to invest but also what are your financial goals and how the assets have been allocated for each goal. Not just that it also tells you about the emergency corpus that you require or have and also tells you about the insurance that you require and that you have. The financial plan also lists down your detailed income, expenses, assets and liabilities. It also includes details about estate planning and will or trust that you have created. So, even in your absence if your family has access to the financial plan they would be able to access the required funds.