I usually check and compare the 2 to see that the coverage and everything has stayed the same, or see what has changed and why, and then pitch the old one.

I sure know what you mean about drowning in a sea of paper. It is a lifelong dream to get everything that I want/need filed and the rest pitched.

Somewhere here I have a list of what all one needs to keep, for how long, and what should be kept in a safe deposit box (or fireproof safe).

Maybe someone here knows where to find a good list here on the net. I don't know when I would be able to find my hard copy, and get it scanned in here.

Sue

Usually, they send you the policy when you sign up, and then each they send a rider. I believe you can toss the yearly riders, but you should keep the original policy.

I keep the rider with the original policy. I have a file for each policy. Life policy's are kept in a safe along with trust and will copy's. My agent , a personal friend, told me she could get me copy's of any policy we ever needed if mine were ever destroyed or lost.

Sue, This is how I got myself out of the paper work mess after years of putting it off.
When we moved, 4 years ago, I had to do something I didn't want to take all the mess with me. I went through everything and shredded papers for three days. On the advice of our attorney and CPA I put all tax returns older than 5 years in a box. I have a note in that box to my daughter saying" If you are reading this I am gone, you don't need this stuff so shred it. Love ya MOM". CPA said to keep the tax returns forever no matter what the IRS says. I keep the current 5 years worth in the file. I made up a box and put everything from the house we were selling, blue prints, permits, warranty's, manuals, in it and left it for the new owners.

For household bills I keep one months worth. When the new bill comes in I pay it, file the new bill , take out the previous bill and shred it. Every January I go through and clean out all the files and shred anything that I missed the previous year. I shred all pay stubs except the year ending one and keep that with the tax returns.

I have 3 file drawers, one for household and personal stuff, one for household appliance manuals and one for household repairs. I keep all receipts with the proper bill, invoice, manual, ect. One of the handiest thing I did is make up a file for each month, January through December where I put every receipt for every penny we spend, cash, ATM, charges even deposit receipt. It has really come in handy. I shred a month as I come around to it. I will be shredding April at the end of this month.

It took me several week to get this set up and I did and do change things along the way but it has made the paper work mess go away. I pay, file, shred almost every time I come home from the post office. We are on the "Do not call', Do not send" list for everything I know about so junk mail is not a problem. If I do get any I call and ask to be removed from the list.

With all that said I do have one file that is totally out of control. I have a file that just says Dad. In it is piles of paper work for thing I am involved with for my father and it seems that anytime I shred anything in that file I end up needing it. LOL so it will stay the mess it is.

Just start and do one file at a time. It sure has made my life easier, less cluttered and I can find anything I need in a hurry. Well except for the dad file.

wow partst... I love your method of organization! We will be moving sometime this year, so maybe I should take the bull by the horns and do this so we don't have to lug all those weighty years worth of papers with us. Investing in a shredder sounds like a great way to save money on the move as well as space in a new home.

Partst

Love the monthly method. What do you do with mutual fund statements or monthly statements from your IRA/401ks where nothing has really changed and it is minor variation from month to month. We have so many different accounts it is ridiculous. Between banks and retirements it is just silly and I really feel like I drown in paper and there are no new buys or sells its mostly for buy and hold stuff

Saphire

I keep bank statement for five years. CD statements I keep until they come due and all the 1099's come in.Year end they go with the tax papers. DH keep all the 401 statements in a file in his office at work. Odd as it sounds I don't deal with the 401 at all and all I ever did with it was made sure our trust was the beneficiary. I think that's what we did. It's been a long time but I know we did something when we had the trust made. I do know he scanned several years statements to a disk and it's in our safe. DH just said he can keep a file of statements on line with the broker also.

Another good thing I did, and should update, after being evacuated several times with fires. I took pictures of everything in our house and garage and put it on a disk. It took me about 2 days. I just opened every drawer, cabinet, closet, even the refirg and snapped pictures. My insurance agent said that the food and liquor would probably meet our $1000.00 deductible. I gave a copy to my daughter, DH gave one to his boss to put in his safe and belive it or not I have one in my purse along with copy's of all the necessary legal paper work I would need if something happens to my father.

This message is off-topic relative to auto and home insurance, the subject of this thread, but some similar issues have been raised earlier, I think.

If you have mutual funds, or, possibly, stocks, where the growth/dividend is reinvested each year, quite likely you were taxable annually on those amounts ...

... and if you will be liable for tax on capital gain when those assets are liquidated ...

... it is very important that you keep track of all of the amounts of those reinvested growth/dividends over the years, for those amounts, added to the original cost, is your cost base that's deducted from the final value in order to calculate your capital gain, on liquidation.

Quite likely this action will not be encessary if your asset is in a tax-deferred retirement account.

Check with your advisor who is familiar with the tax system.

Good wishes for careful and increasingly wise management of both your income and your assets.

ole joyful