How Long Do You Need To Keep Those Documents?

Bank statements, business machine receipts, credit card statements for your small business – you're filing them away every month, year after year. Your filing boxes are filled to the gills, but is it really necessary to hang on to some of these items for years? How do you know when it's safe to shred it? Cybertary.com offers these guidelines:

Toss Every Month:

ATM and deposit/withdrawal receipts after recorded in your check register.

Credit card receipts after you've checked them against your statement.

Sales receipts for minor purchases with no warranty attached.

Toss After One Year:

Monthly bank and credit-card Statement (if you don't itemize deductions).

Monthly or quarterly brokerage and mutual-fund statements, after you've reconciled them with your year-end summary.

Monthly mortgage statements, as long as your year-end statement clearly shows the total amount you've paid in interest and property taxes over the course of the year.

Phone and utility bills (as long as you don't have a home office, use your phone for business calls, or anticipate any need to prove long-term residency).

Paycheck stubs, after you've reconciled them with your annual W-2 or 1099 forms.

Toss After Seven Years:

W-2 AND 1099 forms.

Year-end statements from credit-card companies.

Phone and utility bills (only if you deduct any portion for business expenses, have more than one home, or have moved within the past few years).

Canceled checks and receipts/statements for: annual mortgage interest and property taxes, deductible business expenses, child-care bills, out-of-pocket medical costs, or any other tax-deductible expense.

Keep Indefinitely:

Your annual tax returns. Your year-end summaries from financial-services companies.

Confirmation slips that list the purchase price of any investments you own.

Home-improvement records.

Receipts for major purchases. (any item whose replacement cost exceeds the deductible on your homeowners' or renters' insurance policy).

Beneficiary designations.

Read more here at cybertary.com

Here's more on this subject, from Consumer Reports :

The chart below tells you how long to save important papers, including wills and insurance policies, and where to keep them. But before you start tossing, make sure you have a working shredder, or be prepared to start ripping. Identity thieves thrive on account numbers and other personal information on tossed paperwork. Also, organize the documents you keep in loose-leaf binders or in file folders where they'll be easy to find. You might also want to use a scanner to preserve some items, such as tax returns, on CDs, says Evelyn Zohlen, a financial planner with Inspired Financial in Garden Grove, Calif.

Finally, make a list of your important papers and their locations that you or the person you've designated to carry on your affairs can consult for quick access. Include details about how to find your safe-deposit-box key, the combination to your home safe, and your computer log-ons and passwords. Give the list to loved ones and be vigilant about updating it.

It's also a good idea to keep copies of your most important documents in a single location so they'll be easy to grab in case you need to evacuate your home. Some items to include in that pile: passports; account numbers for your bank, broker, and utilities and other bills; family immunization records; Social Security numbers; computer PIN numbers; and photos of your family and pets for identification. "You should be able to grab that stuff, put it in a suitcase, and be out of your house in a half-hour," Lee says.

Document When to toss Where to keep originals/copies
BANKING
Bank-deposit slips >>After you reconcile your statements >>Home
Canceled checks >>Generally after one year; 7 years for checks that support tax filings >>Home
Certificates of deposit >>After matures >> Home
Check registers >>After one year >> Home
Check statements >>After one year >> Home
Credit-card statements >> After one year; 7 years if needed to support tax filings >> Home
Loan documents >>When repay loan >>Home
Loan-discharge notices >>Never >>Safe-deposit box
Pay stubs >>When you get a new one >>Home
ESTATE
Health-care proxy >>When updated >> Safe-deposit box/primary-care physician, attorney, anyone named to make decisions on your behalf
Living trust >>When updated >>Safe-deposit box/successor trustee, attorney
Living will >>When updated >>Safe-deposit box/attorney, executor
Power of attorney >>When updated >>Safe-deposit box/designee, attorney
Will >>When updated >>Safe-deposit box/attorney, executor
INSURANCE
Annually renewed insurance policies >>After renewal >> Home
Insurance inventory >>When updated >>Safe-deposit box
Permanent life (whole life, etc.) >>Never >>Safe-deposit box
Term life >> After the term expires >>Safe-deposit box
INVESTMENTS
Brokerage statements >>Hold until you sell the securities, then hold with your tax return for 7 years. >>Home
Purchase confirmations and 1099s >>Hold until securities are sold, then put with your tax returns. >Home
Savings bonds >>When matures Best to convert to electronic bonds at the U.S. Treasury. Otherwise, place in safe-deposit box, keeping a list of serial numbers at home.
Stock certificates >> Should not be held Transfer paper certificates to a brokerage account; consult your financial adviser.
PERSONAL
Birth certificate >>Never >>Safe-deposit box
Death certificates >>Never >>Safe-deposit box
Marriage license >> Never >>Safe-deposit box
Military-discharge papers >>Never >>Safe-deposit box
Social Security card >>Never >>Safe-deposit box
PRODUCT PURCHASES
Car title >> When you sell your vehicle >> Safe-deposit box
Receipts >> When warranty expires; after 7 years if needed
to support tax returns >> Home
Warranties >>When expires >>Home
RETIREMENT
Employer defined-benefit plan communications >> Never >> Home
401(k) statements >> When you get a new one >>Home
Social Security statements >>When you get a new one >>Home
TAX
Personal state and federal tax returns and supporting documents >>After 7 years >>Home
Note: For documents in a safe-deposit box, it's a good idea to keep copies
at home as well.

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