We all have piles of documents. They stack up in our file cabinets, on our desktops, on our hard drives and in our cloud storage. How do we segment them and how long do we need to keep these documents?

This series focuses on the type of documents we have and, generally, how long we should hold onto them. The kind of documents we collect vary in importance. Here are the types we all tend to amass.

• Federal & State Tax Returns (and the supporting financial documents)
• Banking Records (savings & checking, credit & debit card statements and term declarations)
• Investment Documents (IRA employer & individual contributions, monthly & annual positions, withdrawals & transfers)
• Health & Medical Records & Bills (particularly special events like major injuries or surgeries)
• Home Financial Records (first & home equity loans, appraisals, property surveys & title, proof of payoff, capital improvements, etc.)
• On & Off-Road Vehicles (cars, trucks, boats, ATVs, etc.)
• Warranty Documents (for major purchases)
• Permanent Documents (driver’s license, passports, birth & death certificates, etc.)
• Other Special Circumstance Documents (like big ticket item purchases)

OUR ADVICE
Always seek appropriate advice from your financial, legal and medical advisors. Also, you can find more on Federal tax recommendations at https://irs.gov. Whatever your financial need, we’re here to help.