W elcome to Tax Time! Out with the old and in with the new. Why not consider doing the same for the financial aspects of your life? This month’s newsletter includes some ideas to help clean up the financial clutter in your household.

Gather all of your financial documents, receipts, and folders together in one place and get to work tidying up your financial life.

• Check Your Credit Rating:  There are so many places you can get your credit score for free now. If your score is not where you want it then it may be time to get together with us to make a plan.
• Document Retention: keep a minimum of three years of supporting documents for federal tax purposes and six years of supporting documents if you are self-employed or have multiple sources of income. Adjust this holding time period if you have state requirements that are different from the federal requirements. Keep all your tax documents together in one file, with separate sub-files for each tax year.
• Organize your Bank Accounts: consolidate your accounts, consider signing up for automatic bill pay, and shred old documents that go beyond the need to substantiate your tax returns or capital purchases/sales. Consider signing up for electronic statements to reduce your financial paperwork.
• Important Life Documents: gather your critical life documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates, social security cards, passports, and wills) and put them in a portable water and fire resistant home safe or a lock box at your bank.
• Buy a Shredder: put any old financial paperwork that you want to throw out through a cross-cut paper shredder to avoid identity theft. I personally wonder if your bank that already shreds documents might let you as a customer add your documents to their shredding pile. That would be customer service now would’t be.
• Estate Planning and Insurance: create or update your will, trust, and life insurance policies, particularly if you have experienced a major life event like the birth of a child, marriage, or divorce.
• Review your Investments: Are your portfolios properly balanced for your age, time until retirement, and your willingness to take risk? With tax law changes, you may wish to consider account rollovers or capital gain and loss strategies as well. If you are not making 18% on your investments you may wish to speak to us on how to get 18% on your money secured by real estate.