<p>It’s happened again. I received a notification of securities litigation involving some stock traded more than 5 years ago. In order to file a claim as part of the class action, I’m supposed to write down details of trades made between 2006 and 2008. My brokerage only provides access to 24 months of history, so if I had switched to e-statements years ago I would be out of luck, or stuck paying a fee to access old records. I opted for e-statement delivery last year, but now I’m thinking of switching back to paper. Any other reasons paper might be better?</p>
<p>We’ve gone to e-statements for some things. A lot of times the paper statements include a lot of pages with boilerplate carp that you don’t really need. I print out the relevant page of the statement and save that. In your case, I would go with the e-statements and just print the pages with transactions in months where you have any. That way you save trees, but still have paper records of anything important.</p>
<p>In looking through documents it appears the annual 1099 forms will have some of the information. However prior to this year they did not include purchases, just sales. I wish I had the discipline to print out statements, I just don’t. And who can predict these class actions that require data from so many years ago? The only ones cashing in are the lawyers.</p>
<p>I use e-statements and then save them in a PDF if they are important enough to keep, like stock transactions. Just right click and “save as” and select PDF or print to PDF. Make a folder on your computer, put each monthly/quarterly statement in the file by date. It’s a lot easier than paper files.</p>
<p>Agree with SteveMA. E-statements are a much more convenient way to go, and I also save backup PDF copies onto DVD-Rs or external hard drives. I only print them off as necessary. Not a tree-hugger by any stretch, just got tired of the clutter of all the old statements. :)</p>
<p>So after a morning of filing and organizing I find out that the electronic statements are available going back 10 years. I wasn’t following the right links.</p>
<p>Advantage: E-statements!</p>
<p>Lesson learned, I’ll start downloading the pdf’s now & backing up just in case they become unavailable from the institutions.</p>
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<p>Shouldn’t you be keeping track of purchases anyway so that you can get the basis calculation of your stock holding correct?</p>
<p>^Yes, that’s true. I managed to go almost 2 years without selling anything and, but this year there was quite a bit of digging for cost basis. I’m really glad the brokerage houses now include purchase information in the annual reports.</p>
<p>You can download your statement as a pdf and save it upon receipt. </p>
<p>I stick with paper. Not for me, mind you, but for H. Should I get hit by a bus and go into a coma, he’ll be able to figure out where all of our money is residing.</p>
<p>I’ve pretty much gone to e-statements for everything at home and work. There are roughly a dozen between bank statements, credit card statements, car loan and mortgage, as well as ongoing payments for which I am no longer sent an invoice at all. After several incidents of missing items, I finally established a routine. On our about the 5-7 of the month, I save all statements that occur on our about the end/beginning of the month and print the ones I need. I do the same between the 15-20 of the month. I also try to schedule any payments that need to be made when the bill arrives. Fortunately, all my cc companies will allow me to pick the date when the payment is made. I’ve also establish naming conventions of the files I save (year-month-identifier). At the end of the year when I’m preparing my taxes, I go through and make sure I have all the items when I can still go back to the Web sites and retrieve them. If you don’t have a routine, it’s too easy to forget, lose the files on your computer, etc.</p>
<p>We use estatements. Not only are they easier to search through but if I don’t get my mail as soon as it arrives, I don’t have to worry about someone else having a hard copy of my personal information.</p>
<p>( I also have a drawer full of old phones)
[Experts:</a> Discarded electronics can lead to identity theft | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News](<a href=“http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Experts-Discarded-electronics-can-lead-to-identity-theft-150271355.html]Experts:”>http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Experts-Discarded-electronics-can-lead-to-identity-theft-150271355.html)</p>
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<p>I have thought about this too. Especially with savings bonds and treasuries now requiring online accounts. No paper for the safe deposit box, or any other tangible record of these types of assets. At one time I scanned all important documents, but it was before the advent of high capacity flash drives and the information is on an old obsolete computer in the attic. Storing information electronically is always going to require a periodic technology upgrade, while paper will last hundreds of years. I think I’m motivated to print copies of all the account information and add it to the Trust documents, along with account log in information. Poor DH will finally realize all the work I’ve done over the years. I’m curious how many women are the primary financial managers for the family. My guess is the number is growing.</p>
<p>Our financial planner gave us a nice, huge, 3 ring binder to hold various policies, statements, etc. as well as a place to record information for bank accounts, auto insurance, safe deposit boxs, etc., etc. If anything happened to us, all they would need is that binder. He also has a copy of all of our “stuff” recorded in there as a back up.</p>
<p>The same could be easily accomplished with an excel file and a flash drive or two placed where your spouse or some other responsible adult would know where to access that information.</p>