Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Having a special place for all your personal documents, records, and policies will make accessing these items easy. When my husband and I were married over twelve years ago, I remember finding his box of paperwork. Yes, a Xerox copy paper box held a large stack of credit card statements, hospital birth record, payment records, and policies. When I found this box, I knew I had lots of work ahead of me.

After sorting all the items into piles of similar items, I then labeled file folders and placed each stack into its own folder. I then added his documents to the filing cabinet of documents I brought into our marriage. In surveying our documents, I discovered that there were lots of items missing from my husband’s personal records, but I did not know what was missing or where to begin finding an organized system.

About six years later, I found a system that worked for me: The Protection Portfolio by Suze Orman. This portfolio consisted of a dark green binder box with pockets for each category. She also included a book and CD. I love the checklists she included for each section to be sure all your important documents are safe and easily accessible.

I would highly recommend Miss Orman’s Protection Portfolio; however, I found the one box to be too small for all our documents. I also felt there were additional documents I needed to include. Therefore, my system consists of five accordion-style files.

Each Sunday, I will walk you through my files which I organized based on Suze Orman’s Protection Portfolio. Next Sunday, I will start with my first file and the first pocket: Credit Report and Credit Card Documents.