The thought of managing money bewilders Parvati. She depended on her husband, a chartered accountant, about money matters. However, he passed away unexpectedly. She had been secure in the knowledge that he was managing their investments, taxes and accounts efficiently. Their children lived abroad and were too unfamiliar with the Indian financial system to be of help to her. This is the story of how she reined things in.After the initial period of mourning, Parvati was faced with the task of managing the money her husband had left behind. She decided that she would get familiar with what was there before she asked for help. She was not comfortable with handing over all the documents to a third person to read, scrutinise and interpret for her. She found files and papers in her husband’s office and on reading his tax returns and the audited accounts attached to them she was able to arrive at a list of investments and wealth.For someone who only had a working knowledge of English and no exposure to finance, the details were tough to figure. But she was determined to use the Internet to educate herself about each line in those documents and the terms that she had to figure. She read extensively on personal finance and made notes. There was enough money in the bank and as easily accessible bank deposits to take care of her expenses. Her children were more than willing to back her up where needed.She divided her tasks into three bins. The first one represented what she needed to claim and receive. The second one represented what she needed to hold and organise. The third was what she needed to clear and dispose.She met with the LLP members of the CA firm where her husband was a partner. She asked for his share to be liquidated and returned to his estate. She was fortunate that the relationship between partners was cordial, and they were happy to settle the dues from the firm quickly. She put up claims with the insurance companies and took the trouble of reading through the insurance documents and the claim documents to ensure she knew what she was getting. She hired a retired employee of an insurance company for a fixed fee and worked with him to get the insurance dues paid and paperwork completed.The tasks in the second bin were more complicated. The list of investments was too long. There were shares of companies she could not even find! There were little sums lying in mutual funds she now knew had been merged with some other fund. She used the FAQs in the NSDL and mutual fund websites to understand what she needed to do. There were no agents to help her with the documents she needed. But she made a list, dealt with them one by one, submitting death certificates, NOC and other paperwork, to get all the investments transferred to her name. She also pushed into the third bin the shares and funds she wanted to liquidate.She was narrating her approach to sorting these out and told me that investments were not complicated in the content, but in form. She knew what equity shares in a company meant in terms of her entitlement, but the task of working with registrars in the case of paper shares, or with multiple forms for making the modifications in ownership was tedious. She had to write on a paper the various functionaries involved, list what each one did and how they mattered to her transaction, and what they would need and why. After a few rounds, she figured it out quite well. There has to be a way to reduce the paperwork, she lamented. She uniformly made herself the sole holder of the investments, and nominated her two children equally. She filled out a few papers each day, and ticked off the entire list in a few weeks.The third bin was relatively easy since she had the consent of her children to deal with the assets the way she wanted. She decided that she would live in the one house that was centrally located and she was most familiar with. She decided to sell the farm house and the small flat that had been purchased as an investment. These tasks were easy as these properties were in her name and while the farm house took a lot to maintain, the flat had remained locked. She sold investments she thought were dud.When asked how she made that choice, she said that she applied three rules. One: It should be a known name of repute. She used the Internet to see top names in that industry or category, and if she did not find the name there, she did not want it. Two: If it is a company it should be profit making, and if it is a fund it should be doing better than the index. She used last three years, and knocked off what did not qualify.Three: The investment should be sizeable to matter to her. She did not want to spend her energy monitoring if a small amount was performing alright.It was only a few weeks ago that people lamented about women not taking interest in finance. Parvati has learnt enough in the last two years to feel there is much ado about nothing. Her view is that there is nothing too complex about finance and money—one has to begin somewhere and keep at it. Being a voracious reader was her thing, and she made the most of it where it mattered.What were her top three points of advice to others? First, keep your records clean. Ensure there is a joint holder and there is a nomination and that everything you own is listed somewhere. Second, do not accumulate investments and assets using a lazy approach to deploy your money. Do the homework first. Third, you don’t need too many choices. Less is more when it comes to investing. Parvati’s money is now in a dozen equity shares, bank fixed deposits and a few mutual funds. She draws from her deposits, and plans to replenish them by liquidating her shares and funds when it is depleted. Where did she learn about laddering, I ask. She tells me she used common sense, but will look that up and figure soon!Parvati is a pseudonym I have used, as she is uncomfortable disclosing her identity.Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.