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Posted by BRH on May 24, 2008, 7:18 am
I'm admittedly a pack-rat.
Although I track all of my investments (mutual funds) using Quicken
software, I still have almost every monthly/quarterly/annual statement
that I've ever gotten for each of my 15 funds. Needless to say, my file
cabinet is at the point of bursting. (I've had some of these funds for
over 15 years.)
I'm moving to a new home in the next month or so, so now seems like a
good time to clear out the file cabinet clutter.
How far back should I be keeping these paper statements? I'd like to
dispose of a lot of the old ones, but I don't know where to set the
"cut-off" date.
Thanks.
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Posted by Mark Bole on May 24, 2008, 10:05 am
BRH wrote:
> Although I track all of my investments (mutual funds) using Quicken
> software, I still have almost every monthly/quarterly/annual statement
> that I've ever gotten for each of my 15 funds. Needless to say, my file
> cabinet is at the point of bursting. (I've had some of these funds for
> over 15 years.)
First, let's assume these are ordinary accounts, not IRA's, in which
case your recordkeeping is essentially non-existent (unless you've made
non-deductible contributions to a traditional IRA or are planning to
withdraw your contributions from a Roth IRA before retirement).
Second, for years in which you made no purchases or sales, the annual
statement alone is quite adequate, dump the monthlies and quarterlies,
and just keep your buy/sell transaction record if you got a separate one.
Your main requirement is probably for taxes. For investment tracking
and reporting (financial planning), it sounds like your Quicken records
are more than adequate (assuming you can access all prior years, and
have off-site backups!).
Even for taxes, your Quicken might be adequate. You need to know when
and how much every purchase was, so that when the stock is eventually
sold, you can correctly calculate capital gain or loss. If you have a
dividend reinvestment (DRIP), this means you were probably making
purchases every quarter. If all of this is in Quicken, you don't need
the paper.
Several other "short cuts" might come into play when the stock is
disposed, reducing or eliminating the need for your own records: for
mutual funds (only), your brokerage can give you a basis amount to use
for tax purposes using a formula allowed by the IRS. Or, if you've
always had the same brokerage and they are good, they can actually give
you the specific purchases that match each sale. Or, some commercial
services can be used to match historical data to your current holdings
(essentially, to reconstruct purchases based on known prices and
dividend payouts). Or, finally, if you don't plan to sell the funds,
your heirs don't need to worry about what you paid, only what it was
worth when you died.
HTH!
-Mark Bole
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Posted by joetaxpayer on May 24, 2008, 12:32 pm
Mark Bole wrote:
> Your main requirement is probably for taxes. For investment tracking
> and reporting (financial planning), it sounds like your Quicken records
> are more than adequate (assuming you can access all prior years, and
> have off-site backups!).
I continue to receive notices of shareholder lawsuits on stock purchased
during a certain period. The one in my hand now is for those who bought
Xerox from 2-17-1998 thru 6-27-2002. So this throws out the great rules
of thumb regarding the 7 yrs or even 10.
(Re-reading the OP, he mentions mutual funds only. Don't know if the
shareholder actions apply or are as frequent)
The last one I submitted for got me a whopping $32 after looking for the
documentation for over an hour. YMMV.
Joe
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Posted by FranksPlace2 on May 24, 2008, 10:21 am
I had the same problem. Plus these are sensitive records that I don't
want spread around. So I waited until a cold day and burned
everything more than 2 years old in the fire place.
Records you need for taxes - those forms, not the monthly statements -
should be kept for 7 years.
Frank
> I'm admittedly a pack-rat.
>
> ...
> How far back should I be keeping these paper statements? I'd like to
> dispose of a lot of the old ones, but I don't know where to set the
> "cut-off" date.
>
> Thanks.
>
> --------------------------------------
> Misc.invest.financial-plan is a moderated newsgroup where Moderators strive
> to keep the conversations on-topic for financial planning. Other posting
> guidelines include a request for brevity and another for trimming posts to
> which we respond. For all of the other tips and suggestions, see "FROM THE
> MODERATORS: Posting to misc.invest.financial-plan", a weekly post now on the
> Newsgroup.
--------------------------------------
Misc.invest.financial-plan is a moderated newsgroup where Moderators strive
to keep the conversations on-topic for financial planning. Other posting
guidelines include a request for brevity and another for trimming posts to
which we respond. For all of the other tips and suggestions, see "FROM THE
MODERATORS: Posting to misc.invest.financial-plan", a weekly post now on the
Newsgroup.
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Posted by Dave Dodson on May 24, 2008, 1:12 pm
> Records you need for taxes - those forms, not the monthly statements -
> should be kept for 7 years.
Records that prove your basis should be kept until seven years after
you've sold the stock and reported the gains or losses on your tax
return.
Dave
--------------------------------------
Misc.invest.financial-plan is a moderated newsgroup where Moderators strive
to keep the conversations on-topic for financial planning. Other posting
guidelines include a request for brevity and another for trimming posts to
which we respond. For all of the other tips and suggestions, see "FROM THE
MODERATORS: Posting to misc.invest.financial-plan", a weekly post now on the
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