Knowing how long to keep financial documents is essential to staying organize. The time to keep documents will vary depending on the purpose and the need. Some documents should be kept permanently while others will span anywhere from 3 – 7 years
A good rule of thumb when in doubt, keep the document longer if necessary. It is better to have too much than too little.
Keep Permanently
Birth/Marriage /Divorce Record
Legal Documents and court papers
IRA’s. Mutual Funds, Stocks and Bonds Certificate of Deposit (CD)
Wills, trust, living wills and powers of attorney
Medical History: List of all medications, diagnosis, summaries of recent appointments.
Real estate: deeds and titles, birth/marriage/divorce records, passports
Trash after Three years to seven years
Use best judgment for these documents it is better to err on the path of too much. This list might adjusted to the individual needs.
Bank Statements, Credit Statements
Tax returns and supporting documents, such as W-2, donation records, 1099’s Business receipts etc.
Large appliance purchase, Warranties and service records (or until expires whichever comes first)
One month to one year
Utilities bills
Recurring monthly statements
Statements received quarterly
Store Receipts that will fade
Where to keep these documents
Securing financial document is very important, proper care must be put in place to ensure safety. Financial documents can either stored the old fashion way in a filing cabinet or electronic. Use a fireproof safe that can secure for permanent financial documents. Some financial document should not store electronic.
Whether a filing cabinet or computer used to store financial documents that will trashed after the selected period care should take when deposing of sensitive documents. Documents that has information such as Social Security, date of birth, account numbers especially should be shredded. Here is some helpful information to help you delete files containing financial documents from the computer. In the article “Permanently delete files from any device” it tells how to delete files from the computer.
