This content was created by Alan Akina. This content was uploaded by Alan Akina. This is a YouTube video titled "Financial Fitness with Alan Akina - An Early Start on your Taxes" (created 2011-05-05). It is a short financial tips segment from KHON2's Wake Up Today program in which Alan Akina explains which short-term financial documents to keep (ATM receipts, bank/credit card statements, sales receipts, pay stubs, utility bills) and suggested retention periods; other speakers provide brief introductions and closing remarks.
Filing your taxes can be much easier if you have all your papers in order.
Alan Akina has some tips on how you can get an early start for next year.
Good morning, everyone. Now that the tax deadlines have passed, it's time that we clean up our financial house and tackle the piles of paperwork, documents, and statements. The question is, what should I keep and what can I toss out? So in today's financial fitness tip, we'll cover some of the short-term financial documents to keep. Next week we'll talk about the long-term documents. Now the IRS states that the main reasons for keeping financial documents are for tax purposes, insurance, and for getting a loan. And also keeping good records will help to simplify your financial life. Now for ATM receipts, you only need to keep those until you balance your checkbook, which is smart to do every month. Keep your bank statements, canceled checks, and credit card statements for 1 year unless it's for business purposes, then keep them for 3 years. Sales receipts should be kept until the warranty expires, or if it's on your taxes, then keep that for 3 years. Pay stubs should be kept until you can verify your income on your W-2 or 1099 forms. Cell phone and utility bills can be tossed after you check them for correctness, but again, if it's for business, then you need to keep it for 3 years. Now tune in next week to watch and find out which financial documents you will need to keep forever. These financial fitness tips are on the Wake Up Today page at khon2.com. I'm Alan Akina. See you on Thursday.
