Goodbye to 2008
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Joined: May 2005
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From: S.E., MI
Goodbye to 2008
I have just started to shred papers from 2008. A boring task at any time but it has led to me to think of a few questions.
How many years do you keep papers for?
What papers do you keep?
Do you stop and read what you a shredding?
Do you find papers that you wonder if you should still continue to keep them? If so what?
Please lighten this boring task with your replies.
How many years do you keep papers for?
What papers do you keep?
Do you stop and read what you a shredding?
Do you find papers that you wonder if you should still continue to keep them? If so what?
Please lighten this boring task with your replies.
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 34,131
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From: Canton, MA
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 7,907
Likes: 3,436
From: Foothills East of Sacramento
I have all the files for every year I have filed taxes. Not because I feel like I need to, just have them all neatly in a file box in the attic. Few other docs are still around. All the letters my wife and I exchanged during my cruises, Navy deployments (7-10 months) we still have.
However we are doing a house top to bottom clean out and my wife found the receipts for our wedding 32 years ago. My dad sprang for the rehearsal dinner and my father in law went for the music. My bride and I paid for the rest of the wedding at an officers club. The reception total was $1200. With the bar, dress, flowers, photography and all, the entire enchilada was less than $4,000.
The point is that some papers are kinda fun to keep around; it is like a little history book. Depends on your resources to store I guess.
Most of the time paper rarely lasts at all.
However we are doing a house top to bottom clean out and my wife found the receipts for our wedding 32 years ago. My dad sprang for the rehearsal dinner and my father in law went for the music. My bride and I paid for the rest of the wedding at an officers club. The reception total was $1200. With the bar, dress, flowers, photography and all, the entire enchilada was less than $4,000.
The point is that some papers are kinda fun to keep around; it is like a little history book. Depends on your resources to store I guess.
Most of the time paper rarely lasts at all.
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 33,171
Likes: 1,639
From: Randolph, NJ
You should keep your tax returns a minimum of 7 years. If you need the room, scan them and burn them to a CD and shred the paper. The IRS suggests that you keep your returns (on paper or digitally) for a minimum of 7 years.
You might want to keep the first 4 pages of the form 1040 forever. You should keep your W-2s forever. If there is ever a problem with Social Security the only way you can prove your income after a number of years is with your W-2s. If you are self employed and file a Schedule C on your tax return, you should keep that too. The best thing to do is to scan your tax return, burn the pdf to a CD and shred the paper. You can probably fit 3 or 4 years of tax returns onto a CD and it will take up considerably less space than your tax returns. It doesn't have to be a CD, and form of digital storage would work, just make sure the storage medium is permanent and will not be erased or lost.
You should keep the closing statement from your house, condo or coop at least until you sell the property. You should also keep the brokerage statement from the purchase of securities at least until you sell the security. You might have to prove basis. Diplomas, school transcripts and items like that should also be kept.
As is mentioned in the article that Bill linked you should keep birth certificates, social security cards, draft cards, discharge papers and etc. forever. Loans that are still open and mortgage papers should be kept until the loan or mortgage is satisfied.
After 7 years you can discard (shred) credit card bills and receipts. Bank and brokerage statements (except those with cost basis for security purchases of securities that you might sell in the future), other receipts (except those that might be needed for warranty purposes) and any other papers that will not have an impact on the future.
Make sure that you don't throw away important papers like wills.
I find that the hardest decisions to make are not the financial papers, but the papers with sentimental value such as travel brochures from vacation and traveling, letters, and other collectable paper. The rule of thumb that I like to follow is if I haven't looked at it in the last 2 years and haven't thought about it in the last four years, I probably don't need to keep it. We also periodically go through the box with owners manuals from the appliances and other items that we've bought. We often find that we have the manual long after the item has been discarded.
You might want to keep the first 4 pages of the form 1040 forever. You should keep your W-2s forever. If there is ever a problem with Social Security the only way you can prove your income after a number of years is with your W-2s. If you are self employed and file a Schedule C on your tax return, you should keep that too. The best thing to do is to scan your tax return, burn the pdf to a CD and shred the paper. You can probably fit 3 or 4 years of tax returns onto a CD and it will take up considerably less space than your tax returns. It doesn't have to be a CD, and form of digital storage would work, just make sure the storage medium is permanent and will not be erased or lost.
You should keep the closing statement from your house, condo or coop at least until you sell the property. You should also keep the brokerage statement from the purchase of securities at least until you sell the security. You might have to prove basis. Diplomas, school transcripts and items like that should also be kept.
As is mentioned in the article that Bill linked you should keep birth certificates, social security cards, draft cards, discharge papers and etc. forever. Loans that are still open and mortgage papers should be kept until the loan or mortgage is satisfied.
After 7 years you can discard (shred) credit card bills and receipts. Bank and brokerage statements (except those with cost basis for security purchases of securities that you might sell in the future), other receipts (except those that might be needed for warranty purposes) and any other papers that will not have an impact on the future.
Make sure that you don't throw away important papers like wills.
I find that the hardest decisions to make are not the financial papers, but the papers with sentimental value such as travel brochures from vacation and traveling, letters, and other collectable paper. The rule of thumb that I like to follow is if I haven't looked at it in the last 2 years and haven't thought about it in the last four years, I probably don't need to keep it. We also periodically go through the box with owners manuals from the appliances and other items that we've bought. We often find that we have the manual long after the item has been discarded.
Last edited by ralper; Jan 8, 2017 at 06:29 PM.
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From: Napa
Rob, I think you meant to say that you should keep escrow papers on your house for 3-5 years after you sell it, as you may need to prove costs etc. on an audit, which wouldn't be for a couple years after you report the sale. All good advice!
Last edited by Morris; Jan 8, 2017 at 07:19 PM.
