How to: Organizing important papers

My son recently needed to get his passport renewed and since he got it before he was 16, he needed lots of paperwork to get a new one. Every time I rifle through rarely used documents, like birth certificates or social security cards, I vow to get just a little more organized. Here are some tips for storing the documents all of us need to keep track of:

Any official or government issued document can be really hard to replace. These include birth certificates, Social Security cards, passports, a copy of your driver’s license, marriage certificates or divorce papers, wills and military discharges. It’s smart to store these in a fire proof box that’s rated for 30 minutes. That may not sound like a lot, but since fires move quickly, it usually sufficient to protect your important papers.

Tax Returns must be kept, along with all supporting paperwork, for 7 years. You can be audited for up to 3 years for good-faith errors, six years for under reporting your income, and as long as it takes if you didn’t file or filed fraudulently. Keep 3 years back in easy access files, older returns can go into deeper storage.

Investment records should be kept for as long as you own the securities and then for seven after they’re sold to prove capital gains and losses on your tax returns.

Titles and proof of ownership: Mortgage paperwork and property titles should be easily accessible in a file while you own the property. It can go into deeper storage when you sell, but you need to keep the paperwork for seven years after the date it’s sold. Car title and registration: Keep your car’s title and registration as long as you own the vehicle.

Warranties and receipts for major purchases: Create files for things like electronics, appliances and home improvements and keep copies of the receipts for both warranty and insurance purposes. You can also scan the receipts and store them digitally for back up.

3 tips for keeping your files and records nicely organized:
1. Put them somewhere that’s convenient to access.
2. Try the “touch it once” principal. Don’t let papers pile up.
3. Go through and purge your paper work annually and discard what you no longer need to keep.