It’s that time of year again – spring cleaning! As you are cleaning your baseboards and blinds, don’t forget your files. What do you really need to keep and for how long should you keep it???
- Taxes – 7 years, just to be safe.
- IRA contributions – don’t toss! Keep permanently.
- Retirement/ savings plan statements – Keep the quarterly statements until you receive the annual statement, but keep the annual statements until you close the account.
- Bank records/utilities – Keep for a year and then you only need to keep those related to taxes, business expenses, home improvements and mortgage payments after that.
- Brokerage statements – Keep until you sell the securities.
- Credit card receipts and statements – Keep seven years if it documents tax related things, otherwise you can shred after you receive your statement.
- Paycheck stubs – Keep until you receive your W2. If they match, you can shred.
- House records – Keep all records regarding permanent improvements until you sell, expenses incurred in buying and selling keep for six years.
- Receipts – It’s a good idea to have a filing system for all those receipts that accumulate. I like to file them by date after they are recorded in my finance software. I just staple them all together. That way, if I need to return something, I can find the receipt. Periodically clean them out (monthly – quarterly) and keep only those related to business expenses, taxes and large purchases.
Resources:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mtg/20000518h.asp
http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/ask/archive/2002/q0325.htm
http://www.bluesuitmom.com/career/getorganized/receipts.html
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