Printing Statements

[mpeirce]

Consider keeping paper for your executor, should they need to find the assets. Electronic files are easily lost and difficult to access. This is especially important should you become incompetent at some point prior to death.

Depends on the family I suppose. We're covered on this.

Also, password managers like LastPass, 1Password, Dashlane, etc. make it easy to either share access or have emergency access.

For example: What is Emergency Access?

 

[mickeyd]

As long as VG does not charge me an additional fee, I will continue receiving paper statements in the mail. I can always access my accounts for up-to-date info, but those paper pages are readily available if VG online is not available. I end up shredding and burning them in the BBQ eventually.


I retain the annual statements forever.

 

[Cobra9777]

I don't print monthly or year-end statements, except for the Fidelity 1099 that goes into the tax folder. In fact, I don't even look at monthly or year-end statements. With real-time, online access to everything, they serve no purpose for me. Statements had a purpose before banks went online. That was the only chance you had to validate transactions and reconcile to your own real-time records, typically a check register.

On the rare occasion that I need a statement for a real estate transaction or something similar, Fidelity keeps 10 years worth online that can be easily downloaded and printed. I monitor all our accounts including credit cards on an almost-daily basis. It's incredibly easy because almost everything is at Fidelity, and the two accounts that aren't, are on Full-View. So just one log-in to see everything. I've operated this way since around 2002.

All our bills are electronic (no mail) with the exception of the credit card accounts. For various reasons, I still haven't converted these to electronic or auto-pay. I keep about 6 months worth of CC statements in a file and shred the others. I keep 7 years of tax returns and supporting documents. All others are shredded. We have a printed Word document that describes all of our accounts and lots of other details to help the kids once we're gone or incapacitated. It's kept along with our important papers in a firebox. Both kids know where these papers are.

 

[RetireAge50]

I keep an electronic copy of the tax return locally otherwise no paper or electronic for anything.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I file pdf's of my various brokerage/IRA account statements in a folder that's backed up on the cloud, but I don't always download them monthly. At year's end I keep hard copies of what's relevant to taxes in a hard tax folder; I should evaluate whether I should be scanning that.

When I cleaned out my late father's file cabinet a couple of years ago I found a continuous series of paystubs going back to the late 1940s (he retired in 1985 or '86), tax returns from the early '50s to the present, every electric bill he ever got on the house purchased in 1973, etc., etc. I swear I won't do that!

 

[jim584672]

I had a file cabinet of lifetime statements that I scanned in and dumped the physical. Every month I download statements as pdfs. If I get paper I scan it and dump it.

 

[FreeBear]

We keep end of year bank and brokerage statements as PDF in an encrypted file, backed up a few places locally and off site. We keep many revisions in case of an overwrite error. For the "big" brokerage accounts, in addition to the end-of-year, I try to download a copy every 2-3 months. I'm reluctant to receive hard copy statements from major brokerage accounts; seems like another identity theft vulnerablity.

Note that I also check balances and tally liquid investments monthly to make sure everything is as expected. I avoid checking more closely since it tends just to cause me to worry more.


Based on comments here, I'm thinking about including hard copy end-of-year statements together with all the other legal paperwork to help my/our executors.

 

[BeachOrCity]

It’s weird. I am an I/t guy yet I get most things on paper.
Why? Here is why:
—. Getting the email for each statement logging in after finding the password and then saving a copy of the statement takes more time than opening the envelope and filing.
— people forget that once 60-90 days passes YOU are responsible for what was in the statement even if incorrect. Opening up the mail forces me to look at it.
— I keep the details for 4-8 years and older than that just year end and tax returns
— I know from my own experience that if you need a bank statement from 8 years ago you are out of luck. I needed one to prove a tax payment and the bank could not provide so be warned!

 

[grasshopper]

I only print buy confirmations when I buy, and sell when I sell and staple the copies together for tax time. Every other statement is PDF on a external drive and a copy on a flash drive also. Most of my financial stuff Quicken, TurboTax, can only be done on windoze, so I have to move PDF files over to my Chromebook with a flash drive.

 

[ocean view]

I had a file cabinet of lifetime statements that I scanned in and dumped the physical. Every month I download statements as pdfs. If I get paper I scan it and dump it.

+1

I was drowning in paper, now almost none. Even original health care receipts for future HSA reimbursements are tracked in excel, scanned and then shredded. At YE I save a lot to a usb drive and store it in a safe location as a secondary backup.

 

[HI Bill]

I am anti-paper. I only keep hard copies of the annual tax returns, W-2, 1099s, and Vanguard’s consolidated statement. For 7 years, in a FedEx box for each year. PDFs of all other statements, filed in tax year folders. For unprotected statements, I consolidate the 12 annual statements into one Indexed PDF.

 

[Momcpa]

In regards to having a paper trail for someone to follow when I'm gone, this is what I did recently............I keep all financial accounts with all transactions posted on Quicken. I printed out the Quicken Net Worth page and then made a copy of it with the balances 'whited out' (just account/bank names showing). Before we left on an international vacation, I gave the sheet to my adult daughter. I had penciled in a few notes as to what town this bank was in, or who was my personal contact for an investment, etc. My paper statement files are in my desk. But at least this way she would have a 'skeleton' of what accounts/investments she needed to look for and contact.

When my FIL passed a few years ago, we had to dig thru piles of paper and watch the mail carefully to figure a lot of this out. Accounts may change a little over time, but this is a start for my heirs.

 

[Singletrack]

I’ve gone almost completely paperless over the last 10 years. Most of my account statements, LLC docs and the like are stored in Dropbox. For account statements, I usually keep only the year end statements and tax summary. I also use Evernote to store various items - web screenshots, receipts, recipes, assorted notes, etc.

I agree that that there is a small likelihood that I could need some detail from a bank statement dating back several years. I guess I’ll be out of luck if that happens.

 

[pb4uski]

Everything is electronic these days, but I’m thinking I should still print off and file my statements from brokerage and bank accounts at year end. I’m I just being old fashion or does it make sense to have a hard copy once a year. What do you do?

I keep pdfs of the statements... on my laptop and on a cloud backup and on a memory stick.

 

[rk911]

Everything is electronic these days, but I’m thinking I should still print off and file my statements from brokerage and bank accounts at year end. I’m I just being old fashion or does it make sense to have a hard copy once a year. What do you do?

i have digital statements going back forever on archived CDs but i print hard copies of the year end statements for our tax files (also digitized copies).

 

[mountainsoft]

I am 100% electronic. I choose electronic delivery for every statement I can, and scan the few documents I can't get electronically (shredding the paper document afterwards). I file my taxes online, and save the PDF tax return. I even balance all of my checking and savings accounts on the computer.

Old paper documents took up a lot of space, and it was always a hassle to dig through my file cabinet to find a specific document. Not to mention, I only had the one copy of each document so if there was a fire or other disaster I would lose everything.

With computerized documents I can have multiple backups, so if the computer dies or there's a fire I still have access to all of my important documents. I also keep my records on an encrypted drive in case prying eyes get access to my computer. Best of all, I don't have a bulky cabinet stuffed full of papers.

I can't recall a single time in 20+ years that I have needed a printed document. However, I can always print out an electronic document if I need to.

 

[PatrickA5]

While my equivalent book has a different title, it’s a good thing to have and write/update while still on your game.

My current version includes where/how to find passwords for websites, especially those financial-related.

Actually, the title of the book is Get It Together (see Amazon). It's a combination 3 ring binder and software that make it easy to have everything your heirs need to know in one place. I highly recommend it. It took about 3 months to complete, but everything my heirs need to know is all in one book - all the way down to who cuts my hair and mows my lawn. Now, I just update once a year and stick it back in the safe. Kids know about it and where to find it.

 

[vince]

I store a PDF file on my laptop and a thumb drive back-up. Paper is just to cumbersome these days.

 

[Ronstar]

I have everything digital on a 2 tb external hard drive. Statements, tax returns, receipts, photos, etc. I need to organize it better, and stick a thumb drive backup in the bank lock box.

 

[steelyman]

Actually, the title of the book is Get It Together (see Amazon). It's a combination 3 ring binder and software that make it easy to have everything your heirs need to know in one place. I highly recommend it. It took about 3 months to complete, but everything my heirs need to know is all in one book - all the way down to who cuts my hair and mows my lawn. Now, I just update once a year and stick it back in the safe. Kids know about it and where to find it.

Thanks for the pointer! Another NOLO reference, it seems (I’ve found them generally useful).

Although my version is “hand-rolled”, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are omissions.

The motivation for me doing this is experience as executor/trustee where many records were unknown. What a hassle...

 

[sengsational]

I got a bunch of nice wooden lateral file cabinets when my old megacorp moved...$5 each. I filled them up with paper statements. I only throw stuff out when I can't cram any more in, lol!


It's not because I need it, it's just because it's easier. I use the paper statements to nag me into reconciling on my PC software, then file it. After a couple of months, the chance I'll look at something is very slim, but the idea of shredding is like nails on the chalkboard, and my attempts at burning has been horrific. And the idea of scanning and then shredding? Really? Bamboo splints under my finger nails would be more pleasant.

 

[audreyh1]

I have everything digital on a 2 tb external hard drive. Statements, tax returns, receipts, photos, etc. I need to organize it better, and stick a thumb drive backup in the bank lock box.

We have drives with backups in the safe deposit box.

 

[COcheesehead]

Screen captures, stored in multiple places. As little on paper as possible.
Tax returns as PDF’s, stored same way. Super easy to find stuff if needed. No worry of fire or water damage.