too many accounts

[LivingAlmostLarge]

General bookkeeping as I sit here downloading statements. Do you guys even download steps anymore? I am so tired of it. My problem is that we have so many accounts.

Capital one checking/savings
Bank of America checking/savings
Vanguard 529s (2)
Charles schwab Joint Taxable, Roth IRA for DH and LAL (2)
Fidelity 401k DH
Etrade 401k LAL
Charles Schwab ESA (2) and UGMA Kid (2)

then credit card statements and utility bills- too many but I do monthly to keep up sort of

Do you guys download your statements? I'm just annoyed by how many investment accounts we don't look at but i don't download all year. I used to be better but we have a total of 12

[disneysteve]

Call me a tree-killer but I still get paper statements for almost everything. I only switched Vanguard to electronic a few months ago when they started charging for paper, but I do look at those regularly since 2/3 of our entire portfolio is there. Ally and my 401k are electronic but I think that's it.

[ua_guy]

We are electronic whenever possible. I look at them when they come in via email.

[Drake3287]

Call me a tree-killer but I still get paper statements for almost everything. I only switched Vanguard to electronic a few months ago when they started charging for paper, but I do look at those regularly since 2/3 of our entire portfolio is there. Ally and my 401k are electronic but I think that's it.

Yep, me too. Still get everything in paper if at all possible. Same goes with monthly bills, if I have the physical bill I'll never forget to pay it. Our garbage bill is the only one which is an emailed statement only. I'm one of the few that actually still balance my checking accounts each month, much easier when it's sitting in front of me vs reading it off a screen.

[kork13]

Honestly? No. Bothering with the statements is one of the things I gave up as we got more busy. I look in on our accounts somewhat regularly (at least every 2-3 weeks), so I generally know what's going on with them, and I realized that I didn't get any added benefit from taking the time to look through a dozen different statements every month. My only regret is that I don't pay closer attention to our credit card statements. But then, perhaps it's better for my marriage that I don't nit-noid all of my wife's purchases....

[bjl584]

I went paperless with everything that I could.
Then I proceeded to close out and consolidate accounts.
I had a ton of old open online accounts from back in the mid 2000's when I was yield chasing.

[srblanco7]

Investment accounts and bank accounts are electronic statements. I prefer electronic over paper as I end up wasting time shredding the paper statements.

Most of our recurring bills are electronic as well. I think the only exception at this point is our utility bill.

[Fishindude77]

Honestly? No. Bothering with the statements is one of the things I gave up as we got more busy. I look in on our accounts somewhat regularly (at least every 2-3 weeks), so I generally know what's going on with them, and I realized that I didn't get any added benefit from taking the time to look through a dozen different statements every month.

This is pretty much how I operate.
Regarding monthly bills, etc. I still prefer to have things mailed to me and pay the majority by hand written check and snail mail.

[riverwed070707]

Why does this make me think of the thread the other week about what people are doing now that Mint is shutting down and everyone said "nah I just use a spreadsheet". This is literally why I use it - I keep a very close eye on my transactions, gains, losses and fees every month. But I log in one place to do it and I definitely am not downloading statements from 14 different places or transferring data to a spreadsheet. I get the security concern to an extent but you can't make transactions by logging in, you just get a picture of your accounts and I get notified anytime its accessed from a new device. I'm not saying its impossible, I'm just saying the hours per month it saves me is worth it.

ETA: I can definitely see why your list is tedious but it doesn't seem to me like you have an excessive number of accounts. Could maybe consolidate to one bank for your checking savings but I understand the benefit of 2 (I use Chase and Capital One). My list would be unmanageable - personal checking + savings, joint savings, business checking and savings, 4 mortgages, 2 misc checking accounts mortgage lenders have made me open in order to get a loan with them, 4 retirement accounts, taxable brokerage + various credit cards I use for different rewards and purposes

[myrdale]

I still get paper statements.

For Vanguard, I am paying their $20 fee this year.

I have been having issues with mail delivery. I am continuing to get my neighbors' mail. Last month was the first month didn't receive one of my bank statements. At this point I am assuming it went to the wrong address too, and my neighbor wasn't polite enough to return it to me like I have for the others on my street.

Last month I took 15 years of bank statements and scanned them all. I plan to burn the stack as soon as I get a couple of good dry days.

Say paper, but pay extra and have mail lost. Scan it in anyway. Why not go digital? Because I am who I am.

[Jluke]

Myrdale. Sign up for informed delivery from the postal service to monitor your mail.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Why does this make me think of the thread the other week about what people are doing now that Mint is shutting down and everyone said "nah I just use a spreadsheet". This is literally why I use it - I keep a very close eye on my transactions, gains, losses and fees every month. But I log in one place to do it and I definitely am not downloading statements from 14 different places or transferring data to a spreadsheet. I get the security concern to an extent but you can't make transactions by logging in, you just get a picture of your accounts and I get notified anytime its accessed from a new device. I'm not saying its impossible, I'm just saying the hours per month it saves me is worth it.

ETA: I can definitely see why your list is tedious but it doesn't seem to me like you have an excessive number of accounts. Could maybe consolidate to one bank for your checking savings but I understand the benefit of 2 (I use Chase and Capital One). My list would be unmanageable - personal checking + savings, joint savings, business checking and savings, 4 mortgages, 2 misc checking accounts mortgage lenders have made me open in order to get a loan with them, 4 retirement accounts, taxable brokerage + various credit cards I use for different rewards and purposes

Because I don't need it for my 1 mortgage and 2 checking. It's all the investment accounts. I'm never going to have one statement, I have one statement for every account because they are in everyone's name. Kids have 4 different accounts. 3 investment and 1 checking savings. We have 2 checking/savings, 2 roth, 3 401ks, 1 joint and 1 regular IRA for backdoor. But it's important to see all the tax statements or 1099 for all the accounts. Retirement accounts have them with distributions. Mint would help me download or check. I mostly login into schwab now for most of our investment accounts are there. But I still have etrade (401k solo), and Vanguard 529. Maybe I should give up capital one or bank of america

[kork13]

Because I don't need it for my 1 mortgage and 2 checking. It's all the investment accounts. I'm never going to have one statement, I have one statement for every account because they are in everyone's name. Kids have 4 different accounts. 3 investment and 1 checking savings. We have 2 checking/savings, 2 roth, 3 401ks, 1 joint and 1 regular IRA for backdoor. But it's important to see all the tax statements or 1099 for all the accounts. Retirement accounts have them with distributions. Mint would help me download or check. I mostly login into schwab now for most of our investment accounts are there. But I still have etrade (401k solo), and Vanguard 529. Maybe I should give up capital one or bank of america

Ah, there's your problem! Just get all the kids grown up & gone, then it becomes their issue! Consolidate the retirement accounts into a single rollover, and voila! 4-5 account statements.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Ah, there's your problem! Just get all the kids grown up & gone, then it becomes their issue! Consolidate the retirement accounts into a single rollover, and voila! 4-5 account statements.

hmmm so 8 accounts out the door after they go to the door. Sounds good. ESA, 529, taxable, and checking and savings for kids. All gone.

401k and Roth for each of us. Then joint taxable and 2 checking accounts would work. Much less at that point

[riverwed070707]

Because I don't need it for my 1 mortgage and 2 checking. It's all the investment accounts. I'm never going to have one statement, I have one statement for every account because they are in everyone's name. Kids have 4 different accounts. 3 investment and 1 checking savings. We have 2 checking/savings, 2 roth, 3 401ks, 1 joint and 1 regular IRA for backdoor. But it's important to see all the tax statements or 1099 for all the accounts. Retirement accounts have them with distributions. Mint would help me download or check. I mostly login into schwab now for most of our investment accounts are there. But I still have etrade (401k solo), and Vanguard 529. Maybe I should give up capital one or bank of america

Not clear what you mean by this. My investment accounts are also linked in my finance software. 1099s and tax statements are a different story but that's once a year