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Paper or Plastic? er, I mean Electronic… Statements that is.
By DaveM | March 17, 2006
I was rifling through a stack of papers this morning trying to find a statement from one of my brokerage accounts. The frustration brought on by this search made me start thinking about the age old question… Should I choose paper or electronic statements?
It seems that every time I log into one of my accounts online, I’m presented with a sales pitch for electronic statements. It’s either something about saving trees, or saving me time and making my life simpler and more secure. I’m not 100% paper free (probably never will be) but I have made an attempt — as long as it’s to my benefit. For instance, my primary broker offered a free subscription to Smart Money magazine if I would agree to stop receiving paper statements. Well, heck yea! Bring on the free magazine!
Now I’m no dummy; I realize the paper-free push is only to save these companies money. They don’t really care about how convenient things are for me, or how secure my information is. After all, my personal financial data is sitting on a bunch of computers in some building in some state, and I have no idea where it really is or if it’s safe. Heck, it’s probably spread through multiple buildings in several states, and I’d be none the wiser. I also don’t know any of the people who have access to that data, or if the computer equipment is properly secured from physical or electronic theft.
So it really boils down to this… Do I want to receive a bunch of paper every month, open envelopes, shred the envelopes and any other miscellaneous crap they add in with my statement, and figure out a neat and orderly place to file everything so I can find it when I need it? Or, do I want to go online every time I need a statement, or at least remember to download my statements and store them in an organized fashion somewhere that won’t go bye-bye if my hard drive decides to crash?
The safest bet with electronic statements is probably to download them to my own PC, organize them in some directory structure that makes sense, and burn then to CD or DVD on a regular basis. The problem with that is REMEMBERING to download my statements and forcing myself to do it on a regular enough basis that they don’t roll off the online system and get replaced by newer statements. Most companies keep statements online for at least a year, so that should be plenty of time. Shouldn’t it?
If I do go electronic, it just couldn’t be 100%. I would definitely consider it for bank and investment accounts, but I’d never do it for credit card statements or utility bills. That paper in the mail is a nice reminder that I owe someone money. Getting an email that says my “electronic bill” is ready to download just wouldn’t cut it for me. My luck, I’d never see the email amongst the 426 spam messages I get every day.
So, I guess the decision is made…or is it? I’ll go electronic for bank and investment accounts, but that’s it. I’ll TRY to remember to download my statements each month, store them in a safe orderly fashion, and maybe even print a copy to make me feel better. Hey wait a minute — that’s going to cost me paper and ink!
If anyone has some thoughts about this topic, or interesting ways you’ve devised to deal with the dilemma, please post a comment.