Tidy Files, Peace of Mind. It’s Your Money.
Hi Friendos,
Tax season is over, the flowering trees have burst into bloom, and it is time for some spring cleaning! It’s also a great time to freshen up your routine personal finance practices and build strong new habits.
Last year I wrote about how smartphones often don’t support optimal practices, and one reader commented, “I’m so curious as to why you save your pdf statements on your computer. I review mine, as well, when they come in, but if I ever need to refer back, they’re saved in my account. (I know there’s a limit to how far back they go, but so far it’s never been a problem.)” (emphasis added). I responded that for me, it’s about convenience and also that to me, “if it makes sense to have access to a statement, record keeping best practice is to not rely on a third party to do that for me.”
This New York Times article (gift link) provides one example of just how helpful it is to have your own copies of account statements. The woman featured had multiple investment accounts at Fidelity. One day Fidelity sent her messages “alerting her that her phone number and email address had been removed from her profile — and to contact Fidelity if she hadn’t done it.” She hadn’t so she logged into her account and found: “all of my accounts had disappeared and my balance showed zero dollars.” That is SO scary!
Initially, Fidelity customer service was not able to find any of her accounts. When she logged in online, her “online statements and tax documents had also vanished, so she couldn’t immediately find any of her account numbers.” She ended up partly driving to her nearest Fidelity branch, 2.5 hours away…I can only imagine the stress and anxiety of the situation. She ends up pulling over to call their fraud department one more time, and by this point, “had found one account number to share” with a Fidelity rep.
You can read the article for the details, but it turns out there was a back-end issue involving both her previously issued tax ID and more recently issued Social Security number being used on her accounts. Going forward “she’s going to be sure to keep physical evidence of her accounts and balances in a secure place. Her tale serves as a reminder that we all should adopt that habit.”
Wow. This would have been a horrible experience no matter what, but it sounds like it could have been less awful if she’d maintained her own copies of her account statements. It’s your money! Is it not hard to hit “download” or “save” as you are reviewing each monthly or quarterly statement. If you don’t have a practice to regularly review your account statements…well, I can’t make you value all the labor and effort it took for you to get the money in the first place.
Financial institutions have no incentive to help you put your files and affairs in order. Tech companies absolutely want you dependent on their search functions and AI tools to locate things. There is no substitute for old fashioned file organization, a system created and understood by you, maintained by you, owned by you. It’s your money.
-Stephanie
Frequently Taxed Questions 