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One of the easiest things you can do to help keep your financial management in order is to get organised. Having your financial information stored and processed in a systematic manner will go a long way in helping maintain and control your finances.
Start a Simple Filing System
There is a lot of financial information that needs to be organised in any Household and a simple filing system can make this less complicated. You can essentially break down all of your financial papers into one of the following 4 categories:
1. Bills due
2. Receipts, although the issuing of receipts is less common nowadays.
3. Important documents to keep.
4. Items to throw away or shred.
Either you have a bill that needs to be paid, a receipt or document that should be saved, or something that can be discarded. This can be as simple to organise as using four folders clearly labelled with the above headers. Always taking the time to file any financial document you receive into the correct file or folder thereafter will ensure good practice for storage and recovery of a document.
Keep Important Documents
While the basic filing system will do a good job in keeping your financial documentation in order, you will still need to organise the important items you should keep. Usually a lever arch file(s) or a concertina file kept with your individual labelled folders to keep everything in order will ensure ease of location when needed. Some examples of financial documents you should keep:
-Tax returns.
-Insurance policies.
-Mortgage documents.
-Investment and retirement account statements.
-Guarantees or service contracts.
Being Organised Can Even Help Your Heirs
In the event that something happens to you, the financial documents will greatly help those who will be taking care of your affairs. At such a time of loss anything that assists the ease in settling of your estate will comfort those who are left. If you have a will, it is also important to have a letter of instruction so that the executor knows where to find these documents.
All of the above suggestions are very easy to implement and are just good practice. They are easy to maintain, resulting in ease of dealing with and locating your financial and important documentation, when required.
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