How long do you keep paperwork

Recently I was involved in a financial transaction and had to go through the checks for money laundering. A couple of years ago I moved some money to a new account and the closed old one. Unfortunately I had a paper clear out and shredded the old statements.
The money laundering check required the old account statements, which of course were not available on my banking App. Fortunately I could get to a main bank branch. Even so, they could only access the last statement to print off for me.
Lesson learned, do not shred anything that you can’t access on line.

I once read that you are supposed to keep anything tax related for seven years, and estate/ Probate docs for 20 years! House docs- for ever, or until you sell/ die.

I would recommend 3-7 yrs for anything you cannot get online, ie bank statements, bill statements, etc. to avoid keeping actual paper copies you can scan and save. If you don't trust keeping in cloud storage then keep them on external storage card. As for will, power of attorney, heath directives etc, keep hard copy as well as scan to save on PC but also back up on external storage

Max 1 year. Most stuff is available online now

Make sure old financial info gets shredded!

M0nica

'paperwork' is often used as a generic term for things kept online.

I talk about 'looking for the paperwork' even when it is an electronic file. It clearly means copy of a bank statement , utility billetc online.

Maybe so. Can't say I've heard that myself.

However the OP mentions shredding so I assumed it was actual paper being discussed

I have a good clear out once a year. I keep older bank statement where I have moved sums of money, because I write where it has gone from and to but the ones in between get thrown so I have Oct to Feb, but an odd one from 2019, 2022 for example this will help with probate tracing for IHT especially as my DH and I will often swap monies between accounts as we treat our money as ours rather than his or mine. (I would love to have ISAs that are shared)

Far too long.

'paperwork' is often used as a generic term for things kept online.

I talk about 'looking for the paperwork' even when it is an electronic file. It clearly means copy of a bank statement , utility billetc online.

We have no paperwork. Haven't for years.

prestbury

Usually I scan any documents I store and keep them on my laptop (forever). Laptop updated to a seperate hard disk regularly.

It is usually recommended that financial documents are kept for at least 6 years anyway.

I do something similar. I have folders on my laptop (also saved to iCloud) for money, health, large-item receipts, work on the house etc. I take a photo of letters or other documents pertaining to each folder, save it and destroy the original. My family all know the password for the laptop, so could get access if necessary. Much easier than having to root through lots of paperwork.

Gosh,you are all so incredibly organised!! However, I must agree with AuntieE - I can locate a paper copy of something in a nano second.

I have been yelled at by the young for having bits of paper going back to the 1980s We moved about 18 months ago and I was persuaded to do a major cull (against my better judgement). I was right I needed reference documents for a property we owned in the nineties and EON wanted to see my divorce papers from 1997 in order to transfer ownership of solar panels!! It is now going to be a major hassle. My advice is that if you have the space, hang on to everything!

The years roll by faster now. I dont keep a diary but every so often I have to pin point an event. Usually a prompt will be there in a credit card or bank statement so I find it handy to have them to hand to browse thru. I do have a notebook with some details over a couple of pages of important things that happened that year. Another notebook has medical stuff.

I don't like to rely on online docs as I'm not particularly adept with computer stuff. I keep paper copies of bank statements etc but did shred some old closed account paperwork yesterday. I checked on HMRC website re retention of docs and although it mentions 7 yrs it does, in another place, say to keep all bank account docs with no end date. I decided to shred any closed account stuff over 10 yrs old which was quite a lot and ended up over heating the shredder!

I keep mine for a year or when I can be bothered to shred them after that.

It depends on what papers we are talking about.

I keep anything the tax authorities have the right to demand to see for the number of years they legally can go back and re-audit tax. How long that time is, depends on the country where you are paying tax, so beware if you have property abroad.

Receipts and guaranties for the length of time, usually two or three years ,they are valid.

Any documents relating to my house go into the folder with the papers we received from the estate agent when we bought the property. They will be needed when the house comes to be sold, whether I or my executor sells it. Receipted bills for repairs to the building go into that folder too for the same reason.

All the papers relative to the winding up of my husband's estate are in a folder along with my funeral plan, birth and marriage certificates etc and the receipts for the yearly payments for our grave plot as these too will be needed when I die.

I never rely on online documents, but print hard copies of anything relevant. After all, digital systems change, which might make it difficult or impossible to read older documents and has indeed done so in the past. Also the digital infrastructure can be hacked, disabled or simply crash,so where will we be if any of that happens and we have no copies?

Usually I scan any documents I store and keep them on my laptop (forever). Laptop updated to a seperate hard disk regularly.

It is usually recommended that financial documents are kept for at least 6 years anyway.

I'm like Casdon so in January we keep all the last years documents, bills, etc and shred the rest. I know I can get stuff in accounts online but like to have paper copies.

Casdon I like your system and will adopt it. I do like having paper copies as the online system never seems to work when I need to do something quickly.

I keep current files, and move papers from them when they are a year old, in January. I then have one folder for each past year with everything in, and ditch the folder after seven years on a rolling basis. My family laugh at me for keeping stuff so long, but it’s easy to ditch a whole folder rather than rifling through all the files to do it.

Two years

No longer get bank statements it’s all online even some hospital stuff is online. I do get a credit card statement I keep those for a year. My paperwork store has shrunk in the last few years.

Calandergirl i m like you I have folders ( not bank but any not on line) and they are just there and can be chucked when I disappear, but at least they ll be proof if there were any disputes after I ve gone. I ve also got a hospital one with all my appointments, records, results in date order, luckily not a very big folder🤣

All our bank statements are online now so there’s no paperwork to worry about. As for credit card statements…….I always pay the credit card bill when it is due so there’s no roll over in balance from one month to the next and I only keep six months of statements. Any older than six months get shredded. However, I do keep three years of the annual statement that the credit card company send us.

Sometimes, it’s just easier to look something up on a paper copy than scrolling through online stuff though.

I keep paper stuff far too long, I know, but it’s in folders or binders, clearly marked.

I get rid of it gradually, and if some of it is still there in time to come, well, the family can dump it then.

At least they can see what’s what.