"Help - what papers should I save?"

This question popped up again from a new client who had been holding onto most of her paper statements for years, worried about shredding something important. Many people have gone nearly paperless, which is great! If you still use paper statements to review bills or for tax purposes, that's completely okay, but let's lighten your load as much as we can.

The following is NOT LEGAL ADVICE, but it is based on my 17+ years helping people create easy filing systems. I've consulted CPAs, attorneys, bankers, etc., to gather the following. So, here we go:

Keep forever

Deeds and titles to property you own

Home maintenance records for a home you own

Life insurance policies

Loan payoff statements

Marriage, divorce, birth and adoption papers

Military and civil service records

Patent and trademark records

Personal property inventory

Property records

Stock and bond certificates you still hold

Wills for yourself, partner, and parents, even if they are deceased

Keep for 7 years

Accident records

Employee contracts

Employee expenses

Property damage reports

Tax returns and supporting documents

Keep for 4 years

Deeds and titles to property you no longer own

Payroll records and payroll tax records

Keep for 0-2 years, or longer, based on personal preference

Bank statements

Credit card statements

Current year paystubs

Deposit slips

Explanation of benefits statements

Home maintenance records for a home you no longer own

Medicare statements (unless there’s a known error)

Mortgage and escrow statements

Paystubs for the current year

Keep while active

Insurance policies - home, auto, umbrella (keep expired policy paperwork if there are any open claims)

Loan/line of credit documents

Medical records

Product warranties with purchase receipts

Insurance policies (keep expired policy paperwork if there are any open claims)

Warranties (auto, home, appliance, etc.)

Discard

Check registers for time periods that have no disputes

Junk mail (can you toss it before it even comes into the house?)

Manuals you can find online for items whose warranties have expired

Paystubs for a year where you're received a W-2

What needs to be shredded? Well, that depends to an extent on your comfort level. If you want to mark out your address before recycling, there are markers and rollers that work great - no need to shred. These are also good for marking empty prescription bottles. Definitely shred anything with a social security number (which includes Medicare statements pre-2010!), birthdates, pictures of IDs, or a full credit card or bank account number. Shred canceled checks, expired credit cards and tax returns more than 7 years old. And I would shred receipts and packing slips that have a barcode, as there is sensitive information that could be scanned.

If you cull a lot of paperwork to shred, I recommend taking it to your favorite office supply store, where you'll pay a reasonable fee by the pound; burning it in a fire (very cathartic!); or finding a local shred-a-thon. Don't let a big pile of paper-to-shred sit in your house for months!

Having your paperwork in order and knowing what to keep going forward is so stress-relieving, not to mention a huge gift to whoever deals with your downsize or estate one day. Watch this blog for a future post on setting up a firesafe box with important documents and other irreplaceables. Another future post will go into detail about what kinds of files to keep where and some ideas for mail and paper flow.

Visit the Resources page for a downloadable Excel version of this list. If there's a category I didn't mention or you'd like help with your files, please reach out!