Spring Clean Your Documents Today

Disorganization will not only cost you valuable time when you need to locate your important papers, it can also cost you money.

While individuals who are young and single can probably get away with a large folder to keep track of their financial papers, if you are married or have any type of investments, you really need to purchase or create a filing cabinet dedicated to them.

Where you place it depends on where you open your mail and take care of the bills. Placing it in a home office or next to a family room desk where you open mail makes it easy to access and file everything immediately so it doesn't get lost or misplaced. Some people even use a kitchen cabinet. The most important thing is that it's where you have easy access and a place that you use regularly.

Create a Master Document

Once you have established a place to store all these financial documents, then create a master document.

While you won't be able to create this master document until you have gathered all your other financial information and determined a filing system, it's important to mention it here because most people never create one.

Once all their financial papers are gathered together, they feel that is enough and they are finished -- which can be a huge mistake.

You may know what all the papers mean, where they are located and how they are filed, but nobody else does. The importance of a master document is to explain what all of your financial papers are as a guide to an executor of your estate or anyone else that may need access to them someday.