Keeping Old Statements?

[BigMoneyJim]

I'm not very organized, yet for some reason I have Vanguard statements (401(k) and Rollover IRA) going back about 15 years and paycheck stubs and returns going back 18 years. I'm not sure why I'm hanging onto them. At one time I had ideas about converting all the Vanguard statements into computer format and calculating ROI and so forth, but I don't think I'm really going to do that.

Any reasons I should hang onto these, or should I just toss 'em out?

 

[Telly]

Backup for calculating the cost basis?

Ahhhh... someday the piper will have to be paid 

 

[free4now]

I too had about 5 years of 401k statements and then realized I have no use for them. Now I just throw out my 401k statements when they arrive... soon I'll probably go electronic delivery on that.

Of course for taxable accounts you need to save statements for cost basis.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Cost basis...hmmm...I seem to remember vaguely worrying about that once, but that may have been when I did a Roth conversion that I later recharacterized (undid).

After sleeping on it I realize I could go high tech and scan them all in and store them digitally. In fact not 3 feet behind me is a scanner with a document feeder that I'm supposed to dispose of for work. That will take some effort, though.

 

[audreyh1]

401K or IRA - you don't need to know the costs basis - (WOW - that's a GOOD thing). Toss (shred) the old statements if you like.

Taxable accounts - you have to know the cost basis until you sell an asset, so you have to keep that information around indefinitely (i.e. until you sell).

I keep the annual summary statements from my taxable accounts which include all buy transactions.

Audrey

 

[Andre1969]

I'm just curious...why wouldn't you need to know the cost basis on your 401k? Oh, wait, I think I know the answer to that...is it because you got payroll taxes deferred when you invested that money in the first place, and also on any company matches? So that way, whatever you redeem in a certain year is considered 100% taxable?

 

[BigMoneyJim]

@Andre1969: Yes, no taxes have been paid on the money, so it's all income tax when it comes out.

 

[Danny]

Its kind of a cold day here in Minnesota...40 or so....think I'll burn some of those old IRA statements....

Bye the bye - Whats the statue of limitations on taxable accounts, etc...

 

[doushioukanaa]

401K or IRA - you don't need to know the costs basis - (WOW - that's a GOOD thing).  Toss (shred) the old statements if you like.

Some people make post-tax contributions to traditional IRA's if their income levels disqualify them from making pre-tax contributions.  Those people need to keep track of the cost basis so that you don't pay taxes on the money twice.

Also, may as well take this opportunity to remind everybody that only people with earned income (like salary from a job as opposed to "unearned" investment income) may contribute to an IRA in a given period.

 

[AltaRed]

I keep the annual summary statements from my taxable accounts which include all buy transactions. 

Audrey

Agree that this is all you need to keep. And even that is potentially overkill if you keep an electronic record (backed up of course!) in Quicken or equivalent. Generally speaking, your broker will have also stored all your records and evidence of past transactions can be requested from those institutions.