Over our lifetimes, most of us receive a tremendous amount of paper work that we don’t always know what to do with. We have in our possession legal documents, health records, passports, birth certificates, tax returns, credit reports, vehicle information, bank statements, and loan statements – just to name a few. It is not always easy to determine what we should keep and how long we should keep it for resulting in piles and drawers of disorganized papers.  Ric Edelman, a national financial advisor, posted a very helpful checklist on his website which outlines exactly what to do with all of these papers. Edelman provides a list of around fifty different types of documents. For each document he tells you where you should keep it, after how much time can you shred it, and who you should give copies to.

You can view the “Important Document Checklist: What to Keep, Store, Shred” HERE.