{"id":1400,"date":"2015-08-31T16:15:44","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T20:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paageetcie.com\/blog\/?page_id=1400"},"modified":"2015-08-31T16:23:03","modified_gmt":"2015-08-31T20:23:03","slug":"good-record-retention-and-beyond-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.paageetcie.com\/blog\/good-record-retention-and-beyond-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Record Retention and Beyond 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Record-Retention\"<\/a>A word on keeping good financial records:<\/strong>
\nby Cate Williams, Vice President of Financial Literacy, Money Management International<\/em><\/p>\n

“As part of getting on a budget and keeping track of their finances, clients become focused on how long to keep certain records. Given the age of technology and the new way we pay our accounts (via electronic transfer of funds or use of a debit card) some of the old rules need to be viewed differently.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAsk your account or tax preparer how long they retain your return information and if there would be a charge to retrieve your return. Or request the data be backed up on disk. Day-to-day statements and receipts only need to be retained until you are sure the payment has been received.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cConsumers need to think \u2018Why am I keeping this?\u2019 \u2018If I didn’t have it, could I retrieve it some place else?\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cBudgeting is finding a system that works to track spending, not to track paper!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Record Retention: What to Discard<\/strong><\/p>\n

To help you avoid \u201cdocument overload,\u201d here is a list of items that you can begin tossing out today!<\/p>\n

\u2022 Bank records such as ATM receipts, canceled checks and credit card receipts can usually be tossed after you’ve made sure the information is correct on your monthly statement. However, if your receipts will be used for tax purposes (such as for charitable contributions and business expenses), you’ll want to keep them for at least three years (six if you own a business).
\n\u2022 Most people can also throw away utility receipts once the bills are paid. But hang onto them if you’re deducting phone or electricity charges as home-office expenses, or if you want to keep a year’s worth of utility expenses to show a prospective home buyer how much your utilities typically cost.<\/p>\n

Additional items that you can begin getting rid of immediately are:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Appliance & Software Manuals \u2013 for items you no longer own
\n\u2022 Catalogs and magazines that come in every month \u2013 toss on a frequent basis
\n\u2022 Charity solicitation letters that you have not responded to – there is always another on its way to you
\n\u2022 Checkbooks & passbooks for accounts that have been closed for 3 years or longer
\n\u2022 Computer Software \u2013 toss the box, register the product and file the manual
\n\u2022 Credit card solicitations \u2013 Use it or lose it
\n\u2022 Expired and old membership cards
\n\u2022 Expired credit cards
\n\u2022 Expired store coupons
\n\u2022 Gifts you\u2019ve received but did not like or have not used
\n\u2022 Junk Mail \u2013 Walk from the mailbox to the trash and dump them
\n\u2022 Obsolete computer wires, cell phones and other related equipment.
\n\u2022 Obsolete office supplies and computer programs
\n\u2022 Old business cards that you have collected but never used
\n\u2022 Old canceled checks with no tax consequence or benefits
\n\u2022 Old floppy disks \u2013 They are almost extinct
\n\u2022 Old letters and cards \u2013 with no sentimental value
\n\u2022 Old newspaper or magazine clippings
\n\u2022 Old receipts (that are not for large purchases)
\n\u2022 Old school papers
\n\u2022 Old tax returns (keep 3\u20137 years as per your accountant) toss the rest
\n\u2022 Outdated calendars and appointment books
\n\u2022 Outdated membership cards and lists
\n\u2022 Outdated phone lists
\n\u2022 Outdated to-do lists
\n\u2022 Out of focus photos or ones you just do not like of yourself or someone else
\n\u2022 Papers and manuals from an old job that are no longer relevant
\n\u2022 Recipes you no longer need or use
\n\u2022 Statement stuffers and brochures from banks, credit card and investment companies that you deem not useful or relevant
\n\u2022 Travel Brochures & Maps \u2013 that are outdated or that you will never need again
\n\u2022 Text books from college \u2013 check with your local library to see if they have an interest
\n\u2022 Warranties & Service Contracts \u2013 that are expired or are for products you no longer own<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Methods of Disposal<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end of the required retention period, financial records may be disposed of unless they support current audit or litigation. When destroying documents it is now a good idea to use a shredder to prevent identity theft \u2013 particularly when you are disposing of any receipts that have your credit card numbers or other personal information on them.<\/p>\n

According to the National Crime Prevention Council, identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the USA. About 7 million people had their identities stolen in the year ended July 2003, according to two studies done by Gartner Research and Harris Interactive.<\/p>\n

Plus, The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which was passed in December 2003 and goes into effect this summer, has a provision that says if you employ even one person \u2014 a nanny, a yard man \u2014 and you have their personal information for Social Security tax payment purposes, you have to shred, burn or pulverize the information before you throw it away or you could be sued or fined.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A word on keeping good financial records: by Cate Williams, Vice President of Financial Literacy, Money Management International \"As part of getting on a budget and keeping track of their finances, clients become focused on how long to keep certain records. Given the age of technology and the new way we pay our accounts (via [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paageetcie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1400"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paageetcie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paageetcie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paageetcie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paageetcie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1400"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.paageetcie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1408,"href":"http:\/\/www.paageetcie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1400\/revisions\/1408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paageetcie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}