In this episode of Inside the Plan with the 401(k) Brothers, Bill Bush and Andy Bush, advisors at Horizon Financial Group, talk about tidying up financial clutter, strategies for getting rid of documents you no longer need, and how to stay on top of your economic situation.

Episode Highlights:

• 02:57 – What should you do with your financial documents that are laying around?

• 03:28 – Consider shredding old receipts.

• 04:35 – How far back do you need to save your tax documents?
• 05:16 – What should be your process with printed pay stubs?

• 06:16 – Secured cloud storage is a good way to protect financial documents like utility bills, annual tax returns, and receipts.

• 07:26 – What should be done about property records?

• 08:11 – How long should you keep bank statements?
• 10:37 – Keep your 401k-related statements.
• 12:04 – Which physical documents should you keep very secure and safe?
• 14:10 – The flood of 2016 affected many people that lost vital documents and pictures.

3 Key Points:

1. If you ever have to prove any purchases during an audit, have at least 7 years of tax receipts.
2. Hold onto property records because any improvements can increase the property value and capital gains.
3. Bank statements can be cleaned out annually.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “When it comes to tax documents, how far back do you need? You need about seven years of tax documents. Well, if I have 12, I surely don’t need those extra 5.” – Andy Bush

• “‘If you do get pay stubs, you may want to keep those around until you receive your annual W2 form. But then you don’t need them after that.” – Bill Bush

• “‘Investment documents. So, some of those play into, especially when we are talking about capital gains, are a part of your tax returns. So you kind of want to hang onto those.’” – Bill Bush

Resources Mentioned:

• Inside The Plan with the 401(k) Brothers-- Discover more about the Podcast

• Horizon Financial Group

• Contact Information:

• bbush@horizonfg.com
• Abush@horizonfg.com