Investment paperwork: be ready, save time

Investors are witnessing a new, but disturbing, feature. People are actually spending more time on various compliance issues related to their investments rather than focusing on what to purchase and the asset classes to select. This results in a lot of time being spent in giving details and filling forms as compared to concentrating on areas where the impact can be higher. There are ways in which an investor can stop wasting his time on such issues and ensure that more of his time is spent on the investment front

Know the time involved

Take the entire range of investments made by the investor and calculate the time spent on various administrative issued related to investment. These stretch from giving various documents in support of the investment and also undertaking various know your customer requirements. This has to be considered and then the time taken for these various process has to be understood to see whether a lot of time is spent in this area or not. Such time should not exceed 10-15 per cent of the time spent on investments. If it does then either there are too many investments in different areas or this is not being done in a proper and systematic manner.

Mutual fund requirements

There are two main requirements when it comes to mutual funds and they are: a) submission of the permanent account number (PAN) and b) the completion of the Know your Client (KYC) guidelines.

In these cases keeping a copy of the PAN along with a proof of address and a proof of identity is vital to ensuring that the process is completed smoothly. Having these details ready and knowing the requirements go a long way in reducing waste of time. In cases like the KYC guidelines, the original will have to be submitted and the copies self-certified. But this has to be done properly. At the same time efforts should be made to ensure that there is no duplication of efforts at regular intervals.

Stock details

In case of stock market dealings, when the transactions are done through a traditional broker, there are a lot of additional details that have to be completed after each transaction. This involves giving a cheque for the purchase and giving a depository transfer to the depository participant when the shares are sold. This can be avoided when the trading is done online. For those strapped for time it is better to work on your own schedule. The other details are usually to be submitted at the time of opening the account, or when an additional requirement is made known. So, this should be done properly and the requirements completed.

Deposits

There are several know your client (KYC) guidelines that have to be met when deposits are put with various institution and this once again requires the submission of various details and proof through the copy of documents.

The process of renewal of deposits is however easy and efforts have to be undertaken so that these are not repeated so when once the KYC guidelines are complete then this need not be done again.

Compliance Checklist:

* Administrative and compliance work takes up a lot of time
* Understand the existing time taken and make efforts to contain it to a certain level
n Keeping copies of documents like PAN, proof of identity and address helps reduce time here
n Often, going online reduces the physical paperwork involved
n Guidelines once complied should not be repeated