Two-Factor Authentication

Best financial institutions require two-factor authentication (or multi-factor authentication).

With two-factor authentication, after you sign in with your user id and password, the "site" will send you a (generally) a 6-digit code (some "sites" send an 8-digit code).

You can often choose the method you want to receive your code; it may not necessarily require your cell phone. Options:

• voice message to your phone number
• text
• e-mail

Record Keeping -- Lessons Learned

 FAQ and Comments

If in doubt, scan / photograph and electronically store the PDF / photo. 

Documents: not necessary, but I photograph the following and keep those photos on my phone and I will also store those photos electronically where I store electronic records:

• driver's license
• social security card (if you still have it)
• passport (if you have one)
• car registration

How long to maintain / keep records? 

In the old days when one had to store hard copies in file cabinets, this was an important issue. No longer. Once a document / photograph is digitized, it can be saved forever. At one time, electronic storage could be limited by cost / price. No more. Storage is incredibly cheap. External hard drives are incredibly inexpensive and storage in the cloud has become very inexpensive. Apple provides huge amount of storage for 99 cents / month.

Retrieval.

 The trick to record-keeping is being able to retrieve / find copies of documents when you need them.

Photographs:

I don't store any photographs on my own devices. I store everything with a photo developer such as Walgreens. Storage is free as long as you occasionally print something.

Hard copies:

One needs to save original documents in some cases: birth certificates, social security cards, diplomas, etc. It should be pretty self-evident what original documents need to be saved.

Firebox: 

For documents that need to be saved, consider a firebox. 

Highly recommend:

Review your monthly checking account statement. Take a photo or scan of any check that has cleared that you may need in the future, and then file that photo / PDF in your record keeping / filing system. Example: yesterday, on the phone, my tax preparer wanted to know if I made any payments (quarterly estimates) so far this year. I could have gone through eight months of bank statements, but I had a photo/PDF of every cleared check to the IRS. I went to may filing system, immediately found IRS payments for 2024, and pulled those documents out in less than 30 seconds. 

Monthly credit card statements:

 I review those statements closely making sure no one else is using my credit care. I may photocopy some important payments. I do not save monthly credit card statements if everything seems in order. 

Bank statements, savings, checking:

First of all, I don't have any savings accounts. Having said that, I scan all monthly bank statements and save those PDFs electronically. This is unnecessary because the bank keeps those statements electronically but sometimes it's faster and easier for me to find a statement if I need it. Your choice.

Spaceholder

Heirarchical Filing

The typical spreadsheet can only store numbers (or short phrases). 

Spreadsheets are not used to save documents. Therefore, I pair a record-keeping system with a budget maintained on a spreadsheet., So, for example, the spreadshseet paired with this hierarchical filing system is found here.

Hierarchical filing, notional:

Notional Budget With Spreadsheet

Initial comment: 

At some points in your life, when there are a lot of changes, maintaining a budget is very, very difficult. 

Example: in the USAF, whenever we moved to a new location it generally took me two years to get back to where I was financially before the move. 

Transitions make budget-keeping difficult. In many cases, the best you can do is keep track of your expenses which will help you in many ways going forward. Examples when budget keeping is very, very difficult:

• each year in college; summer jobs change; moving in and out of new dorms; books; lab fees;
• transitioning from college to first job;
• moving in with a new longer roommate (significant other)
• moving from one job to a new job;
• a major life change: marriage or marriage-equivalency; birth of a child;

Items missing from the notional spreadsheet below:

• subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, etc
• recurring annual fees for apps
• some apps exist that make it easy to cancel subscriptions (e.g., Roadrunner) 

The notional filing system associated with this spreadsheet is linked here.

Notional Budget spreadsheet:

NOTIONAL BUDGET	NOTIONAL BUDGET	%	%	%	%
Income		100
	Source 1
	Source 2
	Source 3
Must-Pays			40
(Not all inclusive)
	Taxes
	Rent
	Medical
	Utilities
	Groceries
	Transportation
	Insurance
	Basic cable
Nice-to-have			20
(Not all inclusive)
	Hulu
	Amazon Prime
	Garage / storage
	Cosco Card
	Magazines
Absolutely don’t need			5
(Not all inclusive)
	Vacation
	Lego
	New iPhone
	New computer
	Dining out
	Alcohol
	Books
Discretionary			Equals income - expenses above	35
	Personal investment				0
	Arianna				7
	Olivia				7
	Sophia				7
	Judah				7
	Levi				7