Personal Record Retention Guideline

I must admit that I hate having piles of paper around. I am a big fan of scanning everything and shredding it if possible. One of my pet projects for the past year is to thin out how much paper I have around. I have come up with a general guideline for personal record keeping:

Keep Forever:

• Income Tax Returns (filed copies)
  
• Investment Trade Confirmations
• Retirement plan and pension plan records
• Estate Documents (will, living will, trusts, powers of attorney)
• Social Security Card
• Social Security Statements
• Divorce Documents
• Child Support Documents
  
• Marriage License
• Inheritance-related Documents
• Credit Report Dispute Documents
  

Keep for 6 years:

• Supporting Documents for Tax Returns (W2, 1099, etc)
• Car Accident Police Reports and Claims
• Copies of annual credit reports
  
• Receipts and Bills with Tax Effects

Keep for 3 years:

• Expired or Canceled Insurance Policies
• Credit Card Statements
• Bank Statements
• Brokerage / Investment Account Statements
• Medical Bills (in case of an insurance dispute)
• Utility Bills

Others (time varies):

• Car Maintenance and Loan Records (until sold, includes motorcycles, RV's, etc.)
• Current Insurance Policies (Keep for life of policy + 3 years)
• Mortgages, Deeds, Leases, Closing Documents (keep 6 years past end of retention or sale of property)
• Sales Receipts (For the life of warranty on the product)
• Warranties and manuals (keep for life of product)

Record retention is a necessary step in staying organized as well as attaining financial independence. The majority of the above documents can be kept in digital format so you can save time and space when you need to dig something up. I would retain a digital and paper copy of at least everything in the "Keep Forever" section.

Organizing and shredding your personal records can seem daunting at first but goes pretty fast once you get going. It will save you hours upon hours later when you need to find something. It also allows you to reduce clutter and storage needs. See my PDF Filing System post for more information.