About 77% of Americans are fearful and stressed out about their financial situation. It’s easy to see why. Inflation increases fuel and energy costs, and rising rents and homes make it hard to be optimistic when your income doesn’t increase. As a result, you can feel out of control and uncertain about every single purchase. Bills and important financial documents can mount and make matters even worse.
Instead of being afraid and overwhelmed, take action. It’s time to take control and take action.
Start by getting organized. Read on to learn how you can organize your financial documents and take the fear out of your finances.
Choose Your System
Everyone has a system to organize documents. They either like having everything online, on paper, or combining the two.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each option. For instance, you have to make scanning your documents a regular practice.
If you have everything on paper, you could lose or misplace something important.
If you choose a hybrid system, you’ll need to be highly organized as you implement both systems.
Go Through Your Financial Files
You’ll need to go through everything you have and decide what’s important and what needs to get filed away.
Are you the type that hangs onto every financial document? You probably don’t need grocery store receipts.
It’s a good idea to know what you need to keep for tax purposes. For example, an entrepreneur needs to keep records for between four and seven years.
Create a pile of papers to get organized and filed away. You can create a separate pile for things that need action, such as a bill that needs to get paid.
Organize Your Documents
The goal of being organized is to create a system that’s easy to use and makes it easy to find financial documents. First, you’ll need to create an organizing system that works for you.
Do you want your papers in filing boxes? Separate them with filing tabs like the ones at https://tabshop.com.
If you keep files on your computer, make sure you name them so they’re easy to find. Again, using the same naming conventions makes it simple.
An example of a naming convention is Category_Vendor_Date. In this example, you can easily see the type of document, who it’s from, and when. TIn addition, the file names are searchable, so you don’t have to spend hours looking for a financial document.
Keep Backups
What would happen if a hard drive crashed or your files got ruined in a natural disaster? It’s something you need to think about because you’d lose your financial files.
That’s why it’s so important to keep backups of your files. No matter what filing system you use, don’t forget to make backup copies.
Organization Tips for Your Financial Documents
How can you ensure you have the best filing system for your financial documents? Follow the tips in this article.
Do you want more helpful tips to organize your life and manage your finances? Check out the other articles on the blog.