statements: until you have decided they are accurate. Or until you have decided that you will never look at it again (with some of my retirement-savings accounts, I toss them almost immediately; I know I'm not going to act on the info in them by moving the money from one account to the other; I see that the account is doing well enough for the business c limate we're in, and I toss them).

Or for one year, if tossing right away makes you nervous.

Keep opening paperwork for all retirement accounts, insurance accounts, etc.

I've looked at Suze Orman's website before to get this info. I haven't actually tossed anything yet, because I'm still a chicken! But the info was helpful.

Something else I heard recently was that you should keep a copy of your insurance policies (home and car) until the statute of limitations runs out. I think that varies from state to state but maybe not. So if you could be sued for something for up to 3 years after the incident date, you should keep your policies for at least 3 years.

Here is a link that might be useful: Suze Orman financial clutter

I had paperwork for every possible account that I could never get rid of. This year, I finally tackled it! I now have all the statements from January 2007 to the present.

I kept everything pertaining to the IRS and ended up putting past years information organized in a box in the filing cabinet. Someone here wrote that suggestion and it works for me.

Since I move so often, I have had way more than most people of accounts that have been opened and closed. But when I culled everything, I kept the earliest statement for all closed accounts as well as the last one I could find. At least, I feel I've kept a record just in case. I'm sure I'll never need any of it but having them makes me feel safer.

I got lucky in that a local company was doing free shredding one Saturday and they shredded everything for me.