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A Real Household Story
After a death in Dibrugarh, a locker key was found with no note of the bank. The family visited three branches. The list would have been one line. They now keep that line, and they told their daughter where the note lives.
Family preparedness is the least legal part of this pillar and often the most useful. It means that one other adult can find what you hold, what you owe, and whom to call, without opening every drawer in the house. It is not a published list. It is not a substitute for a will. It is a map.
"An asset that nobody can find is, for the family, an asset that is not there.
— MoneyChanakya
The MoneyChanakya Framework
4th W of Wealth
What Is Worth Organising
A single note — paper or a simple digital file that someone else can open — with: bank accounts and where they are held; provident fund, public provident fund and pension accounts; mutual-fund folios and the registrar; insurance policies; loans and credit cards; lockers and important jewellery or papers; the name of the planner, the accountant and, if you have one, the lawyer. Add where the will is stored, if one exists.
Digital access belongs on that note at a high level: that an email and a password manager exist, and who is allowed to use them when the time comes. Do not publish passwords on the same page you leave on a desk. Do tell one trusted person how the family will obtain access.
Who Should Know
At least one other adult in the household. A grown child, if that is the right person. The planner, if you have one. The aim is not to inform the whole extended family. The aim is that the first person who must act is not starting from zero.
Tell them that the note exists and where it sits. Update it when an account is opened or closed. The yearly review in Wealth Optimization is a natural date to refresh it.
Did You Know?
Families often find a policy years later because a premium reminder arrives at an old address. A one-page list would have made that reminder unnecessary.
MoneyChanakya Insight
Preparedness is courtesy. It costs an evening. It saves the people you love a search they should not have to run while they are grieving.
Common Mistake
Keeping everything “in your head,” including passwords, and assuming a spouse already knows. Heads are not files.
Key Takeaways
- Write a simple map of accounts, policies, loans, lockers and whom to call.
- Tell one trusted adult where it is. Refresh it once a year.
- The next article separates death from incapacity: who can act while you are alive but unable to sign.