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| How long do you keep financial/legal documents? |
| 7+ years / as long as possible / forever |
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32% |
[ 8 ] |
| 3-6 years |
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8% |
[ 2 ] |
| 1-2 years |
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4% |
[ 1 ] |
| < 1 year |
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4% |
[ 1 ] |
| I review/pay them and trash/shred them immediately |
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48% |
[ 12 ] |
| Other / Don't care / Don't get bills / Don't have money |
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4% |
[ 1 ] |
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| Total Votes : 25 |
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| Author |
Message |
motherface
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 12 Mar 2003
Posts: 3407
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 Posted: 05/30/05 - 17:53 Post subject: How long do you keep financial documents?
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I always heard you should keep financial/legal documents for seven years, but as someone who has had to move several times over the past few years I've found that to be impractical if not impossible, so I just started shredding stuff after a few months. Just curious how long others hold on to this stuff (bank statements, credit card statements, utility bills, etc.).
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kbarr
RealPoor Jedi
Joined: 05 Oct 2004
Posts: 11239
Location: New York, now go fuck off...
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Posted: 05/30/05 - 17:57 Post subject:
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I keep tax forms and all that goes with them, forever. So far.
I even keep them in fireproof boxes in the basement.
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Okami
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 2242
Location: The new board
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Posted: 05/30/05 - 19:20 Post subject:
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They all go into the trash until I get a red one. Then its paid and trashed.
I really should put more of them on auto-deduct so I can just put the trash can under the mail slot.
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Soriak
Toomuchtimeonhands
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 952
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Posted: 05/30/05 - 21:55 Post subject:
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Bank statement only from december and I keep that around for at least a year. Tax forms only the one from last year, soon as the new one is filed, the old one gets shredded.
Haven't thrown away any credit card statements yet, no particular reason though. I used old ones once because a friend asked me to take his EQ account on it and hadn't paid for 2 years - since he's working full time I thought I'd collect :p
If I ever needed a credit card (or bank) statement again, I'm sure the company/bank would send me a copy if I requested it. Probably same with the tax form, although I never needed it so who knows.
Bills just long enough to ensure I have a receipt if anyone ever feels like claiming I didn't pay... but almost everything goes on the credit card anyway, just rent, electricity etc comes as bills.
7 years is a long time, it really depends on the type of document I suppose. Legal agreements/documents you'd obviously keep in a safe location (preferably a safe in a bank), but you'd need an extra house to keep all bills and statements saved up for 7 years :p
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kbarr
RealPoor Jedi
Joined: 05 Oct 2004
Posts: 11239
Location: New York, now go fuck off...
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Posted: 05/30/05 - 22:46 Post subject:
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| Soriak wrote: | Bank statement only from december and I keep that around for at least a year. Tax forms only the one from last year, soon as the new one is filed, the old one gets shredded.
Haven't thrown away any credit card statements yet, no particular reason though. I used old ones once because a friend asked me to take his EQ account on it and hadn't paid for 2 years - since he's working full time I thought I'd collect :p
If I ever needed a credit card (or bank) statement again, I'm sure the company/bank would send me a copy if I requested it. Probably same with the tax form, although I never needed it so who knows.
Bills just long enough to ensure I have a receipt if anyone ever feels like claiming I didn't pay... but almost everything goes on the credit card anyway, just rent, electricity etc comes as bills.
7 years is a long time, it really depends on the type of document I suppose. Legal agreements/documents you'd obviously keep in a safe location (preferably a safe in a bank), but you'd need an extra house to keep all bills and statements saved up for 7 years :p |
If you get audited they can go back 7 year more or less. If they want to. Its good to save stuff, you never know.
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rosie
Can't Stop Posting
Joined: 21 Aug 2003
Posts: 665
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Posted: 05/30/05 - 23:08 Post subject:
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How about soft copies (not even necessarily photocopies, just an electronic record) of financial documents? They'd be much easier to keep track.
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Celestra
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 6929
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Posted: 05/31/05 - 04:54 Post subject:
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1-2 years for bills and creditnotes and stuff for tax purposes.
I would keep legal documents until they would serve no purpose anymore.
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