Five Kinds of Paper You Should Hang Onto

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is "what papers should I keep and how long should I keep them?"  My standard, quick, "in a nutshell" answer is "Keep anything tax-related for seven years, keep the actual tax returns forever, keep debt payoff statements forever, as well as very specific kinds of financial paperwork".  I have also often referred clients to a more detailed list called Publication 552 which you can find on the IRS web site.

I was alerted to a very good article by personal finance columnist, Liz Pulliam Weston on the MSNBC web site. The article is about the five kinds of papers you should always keep. Check it out because a few of them might surprise you!

Photo courtesy of Liz's web site.

Comments

[Terry Lessig]

She missed some important papers that are also valuable. I try to keep those with dead presidents engraved on them, but I'd gladly give up a few to see more pictures of you downing a giant glass of beer.

[Jon King]

I have all our birth certificates, marriage license and social security papers in a fire box... and I think my snuck a picture of her with Phil Collins she had taken when he was touring with Robert Plant. She ran into them in a hotel lobby, I think it was in Kalamazoo Michigan.

[Jon King]

Typo... somehow the word "wife" fell out of the first sentance, but you probably figured that out by now !

[Monica Ricci]

Jon, I'd be putting my photo with Phil into the fire safe too. In fact, that reminds me that I got my picture taken with the OTHER important member of Genesis, Peter Gabriel when he was in Philly on the Secret World Tour in 1993. Oh what a show!

Terry, I do have a fondness for those kind of papers too and I try to keep as many of them around as possible. :)

~Monica