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.

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