Community Chat

[jackthebear]

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@Pook wrote:

Everything can be found online or accessed through the bank so no need to keep paper copies!

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one of my banks only has online access for 18 months, in the unlikely instance you need something before would be a PITA to get it.  I keep all that stuff,

credit card statement shred after a year.

[Bri36]

I have tax records going back about 10 years.  I will get rid of some the next time I shred documents.  

I don't keep anything medical at all.  I have no idea why I would need anything like that. 

Once a bill is paid, I get rid of the statement. 

We don't have pay stubs.  I do keep any 1099 or W-2 Form with the tax records. 

I have our home warranty information in a folder with relevant receipts going back a few years. 

I get a year end statement from the bank.  That's the only one I keep.  Anything relating to retirement accounts or savings/investment accounts I have going back maybe 3 or 5 years. 

[jaxs mom]

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@Mominohio wrote:

things like checking statements, cancelled checks, pay stubs, medical EOB's, statements from your annuity etc.?

I spent a week cleaning out files, and some of these things I have kept and arranged in chronological order for a decade or longer. I'm paring back many of them, and thinking that one year for most of these things is good enough.

Tax returns I have back to the early 1980's and those are the only thing I have I'm really sweating getting rid of. 

Anyone have any input about 'important' papers and how long to hold on to them, and why?

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I haven't gotten a cancelled check in the mail for I don't know, 15 years? Maybe longer. Same thing with bank statements and pay stubs. Everything is electronic now. If I want to see it, I log into the website and look. 

[NickNack]

I don't receive checking account statements or cancelled checks in the mail anymore.  I can print them from online if I need anything.  I do keep my medical EOB's but only for a year.

[chrystaltree]

I don't get checking account statements, bank account statements, pay stubs, retirement account statements or any of that stuff by paper.  I live in 2017 and all of that stuff is available online.  Even my medical bills are all online.  They say we should keep our tax documents for 7 years but I think that is an old wives tale.  We've been doing our taxes online for the past few years, so we have everything on hubby's laptop in a file and in the cloud.  I'm 57, so I can certainly remember when we hoarded all that paper and packed in boxes in the attic.  Seems really funny now,  wasn't so funny when we sold our house and had to go through a couple of decades of that stuff....90% of which we shredded.  Life is so much easier now.

[house_cat]

Tax returns - 10 years - just because that's what I have room for in the box where I store them - but I do have the returns from the year we were married, for sentimental reasons. It cracks us up to think we earned enough money to get married, but somehow we managed to stay afloat.

I have a drawer for sales receipts, I stuff them in there when I bring something home, just in case I need to return it, which I almost never do.  I get rid of them all when the drawer gets full - it's a very small drawer.

The bulkiest file that I have is the one in which I keep warranties, instruction books and receipts. I purge it every year, as necessary.  People laugh at me because I might give away an item or sell it years later and I have all the paperwork that goes with it.  My mom did that and I guess it's in our genes.

[SilleeMee]

IRS papers I keep for 7 years...think that's how far back they can legally check your records.

Monthly bills are kept on files on my computer.

Medical bills, statements and other papers from health insurance I keep until my folder gets too full but that doesn't happen for a very long time...I'm basically very healthy. My shredder doesn't get used much because of technology.

I write two checks a year...one for my car plates and the other for my property tax. These two are both county government records which charge extra if you pay them online. If not for this then I would have no check stubs to file in the file box in my desk and I would probably cancel check printing altogether.

[Stray]

Very little paper any longer....anything I need can be accessed through my bank online, health care, Aetna online....pension and SS via government or Company websites.  I have direct deposit, automatic bill pay through my checking account.  My taxes, we keep online records and our accountant has backup info.   I rarely write a check except for special items/services and do not get paper statements or cancelled checks. The only documents we have are our wills, advanced directives and relevant documents for home/car/ and warranties. 

[Mominohio]

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@chrystaltree wrote:

I don't get checking account statements, bank account statements, pay stubs, retirement account statements or any of that stuff by paper.  I live in 2017 and all of that stuff is available online.  Even my medical bills are all online.  They say we should keep our tax documents for 7 years but I think that is an old wives tale.  We've been doing our taxes online for the past few years, so we have everything on hubby's laptop in a file and in the cloud.  I'm 57, so I can certainly remember when we hoarded all that paper and packed in boxes in the attic.  Seems really funny now,  wasn't so funny when we sold our house and had to go through a couple of decades of that stuff....90% of which we shredded.  Life is so much easier now.

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Life might be easier now, but let something go haywire  with 'the cloud' and so many people are going to be up the creek without a paddle!

It's going to happen on some level to some people sooner or later. Some of this information that is electronically stored is going to disappear or be unavailable or erased (not to mentioned hacked!). 

I'm not one to save every little slip of paper, but when it comes to finances insurances, tax related documentation, and certain medical things, I'll never rely on an electronic form of storage. 

I used to work for a company and went back to visit a very long time employee (I remember that he was there 20 years when I left there almost 20 years ago) I asked him how many years of service he had in the company now, and he told me that when the did away with all their paper files, and put everything 'in the computer', they only went back so far, and now have no idea how long he has truly been there!!.

He has no pension or anything through them so he won't be affected that way, but just a small example of what it could be like if things aren't properly loaded, saved, protected etc.

For those that note cancelled checks don't come back anymore, my bank still sends a miniature photo copy of those that still actually get cashed (as opposed to those processed electronically). 

One of my 'fears' is that someday, way on down the road, after paying on something like say, life insurance for 30 years, you go to collect, and they say you weren't in good standing because you missed premiums. How do you prove otherwise if you don't have that older written documentation showing payments were made?

[LilacTree]

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@Mominohio wrote:

things like checking statements, cancelled checks, pay stubs, medical EOB's, statements from your annuity etc.?

I spent a week cleaning out files, and some of these things I have kept and arranged in chronological order for a decade or longer. I'm paring back many of them, and thinking that one year for most of these things is good enough.

Tax returns I have back to the early 1980's and those are the only thing I have I'm really sweating getting rid of. 

Anyone have any input about 'important' papers and how long to hold on to them, and why?

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@Mominohio

I worked for CPAs, and they always advised seven years.  It's probably less than that now that it's all electronically prepared and filed.