This morning I saw a snippet of an email which was sent to my fellow Adviser colleague looking for an Advisory service stating the following concerns.
“If I am not there tomorrow, would you assist my better-half with the following?
- Work with my company to complete all the formalities related to the settlement of Provident Fund, Superannuation, Gratuity, Term Life Insurance and any other applicable benefits.
- Work with the Insurers to get the necessary paperwork done in a timely fashion for smooth settlement of my Life Insurance policies?
- Dispose of my assets abroad, pay applicable taxes and transfer it in spouse’s name
- Identify assets which are not in spouse’s knowledge and ensure a smooth transfer of those assets in his/her name
- Consolidate bank accounts and change all pay in and pay-outs from a single bank account
- Assist spouse in the disposal of hard to manage assets/properties
- Simplify the investment options matching spouse’s risk profile ensuring regular cash flow as per his/her needs
- Assist spouse in the amicable distribution of assets among our heirs
- Connect spouse with a trustworthy auditor for regular filing of taxes
- If the spouse needs the services of other professionals (e.g. Lawyer), connect his/her with the right person
- Be available to the spouse for any guidance and support in future“
This got me thinking. While most of us are thinking about putting a financial plan in place, how many of us have thought about how smooth the transition will be for our better-halves in our absence. I believe we have not given enough thought and if we have, there is no good solution out there.
I was trying to recollect that as a Financial Adviser what have I done to alleviate some of these concerns? One thing which comes to my mind is encouraging all my clients to bring their better-halves in the engagement discussion from day one. Till date, I have limited success with approximately 20% of my clients bringing their spouses in the discussion. The importance of bringing a spouse to the same level of knowledge in the context of family finance cannot be overemphasized. I do include the creation of Will as a mandatory component of the financial solution for my client but it addresses only one of the needs mentioned above.
I know that these are one-off solutions and cannot replace a comprehensive solution and give peace of mind to an individual. While I am working on a good solution for the same, I would request you to be cognizant of this need and plan for the same. If you have been my client ever, please do let your better-half know that in difficult times they can reach out to me for help irrespective of the validity of the contract. I will try my best.
Once a client, Always a client
The writer is a SEBI Registered Adviser and Founder of FinMyn (https://finmyn.com). He provides Fee-Only Financial Planning and Investment Advisory services. If you want to know more about him, click on https://finmyn.com/about/.