Your taxes have just been filed and now it’s time for spring cleaning: cleaning up dirt and clutter in your homes and work spaces to allow for a chore-free summer. Why not take this opportunity to “clean up” your finances as well? With a little annual cleaning and our three ideas, you can keep your current financial situation well-organized, streamlined, and up-to-date.

Clean up document clutter

We are all human and sometimes we accumulate piles of important documents and statements. Now is the time to review your financial documents and consider which ones to keep and which ones to throw away. Save recurring documents, such as bank and investment statements, property and casualty insurance renewals, or social security and retirement statements, for one year. You only need to keep household bills and credit card statements until you have a record that the bill was paid (unless you need these statements for tax return evidence or proof of purchase). Shred all the obsolete and unnecessary declarations.

Try to organize your saved documents in a folder with the most recent date at the top. That way, if you’re looking for a specific document, you won’t have to go through a year’s worth of backup. Maybe you prefer to store everything digitally. If so, consider naming the folders beginning with the year, followed by the two-digit month, and ending with the name of the institution or document. This keeps the files arranged in an easy chronological order. Remember, all electronic files should be backed up regularly, whether they are stored locally or in the cloud. These days, there are many who will sync your devices and backup your storage safely.

When you cut back and keep only what you need (for tax purposes and tracking financial records), you’ll have less clutter and a better understanding of what you have in your possession.

Consolidate retirement accounts

How many retirement accounts have you accumulated? Throughout his career, he may have changed employers and purchased several retirement accounts. You’re not alone: ​​Many people have old 401(k) plans, IRAs, and other convenient retirement accounts. Speaking of financial mess! Now is a good time to consolidate them. IRAs, SEP IRAs, and SIMPLE IRAs can be consolidated into a single IRA. (Roth IRAs can only be combined with other Roth IRAs.) Old 401(k) accounts can also be rolled over to your IRA. When distributing an old 401(k) into your IRA, be sure to review the investment options and expenses in the 401(k) compared to what’s available in your IRA. Combining multiple accounts can save you fees and will certainly save you paperwork. Most importantly, you and your advisor can more easily and strategically invest your retirement account for now and in the future. When it comes time to make withdrawals, calculations and taxes will be much easier too.

Update your critical information

Finally, as you begin to clear financial clutter, you may have multiple accounts and people that have changed since the last time you organized. That’s why now is a good time to record all of your critical information in one central location. We like to call this your critical record organizer. If you already have your information in an organizer, perhaps your information is outdated or they have changed professionals. Use this spring cleaning time to review information and make updates. If you’ve never organized your important information, you should include all of your current account numbers, login information, and business contacts. You may want to keep this information in hard copy or choose a mobile app (like 1Password) or cloud-based document service (like Dropbox). Creating a central location for this information is not only helpful to you each year, but can be critical to your family as well. You may have account information and professionals in your life that you interact with, but the rest of your family may not know how to communicate. Once you update and organize your critical information, remember to let important people in your family know where they can find this information for the future.

Spring cleaning your finances doesn’t have to be an exhausting process. By keeping important statements in one place, throwing away recurring documents, and shredding unnecessary or outdated personal documents, you can eliminate document clutter in your life. Consolidating multiple accounts that have stood over time will give you new confidence and control over your savings, and updating your information in one central location keeps you protected for the future.