Set up a file for all your financial documents and a checklist for reading any new one.
Every money check starts with finding the document. Before you can compare a payslip with your contract or match a CPF contribution to a wage month, you have to locate both, and they are rarely in the same place. Every check in this course began with that search. The project here removes that step by giving every financial document one home.
You build the file: one organised store, digital, paper or both, where you can find any document in under a minute. You save this year's documents in it, named by date. You set a keep-until rule for each folder, write a one-page checklist of what to check in each document type, and book a yearly review. Keep the whole thing simple enough that you are still using it five years from now. Setup takes about 40 minutes, plus the time it takes to move this year's documents in.
Priya, the learner whose story runs through the course, started with her documents in five places. Her payslips were in her work email, her CPF records in an app she rarely opened, her card statements in another app, her contract in a drawer and her notice of assessment somewhere in myTax Portal. When a landlord asked for three months of payslips, finding them took her an evening.
Make eight folders: income, CPF, banking, tax, insurance, employment, housing and loans. They match the course's modules and the documents each module covered.
Inside each folder, documents that arrive regularly, such as payslips, statements and tax notices, go into year subfolders. Long-lived documents, such as a policy contract, an employment contract or a tenancy agreement, get one subfolder per policy, job or tenancy instead of per year.
Name every file with the date first, then what the document is, so the files sort themselves. "2026-03 payslip" sorts correctly next to the other months. "Payslip March" does not.
If your file is digital, store it somewhere backed up and protected, because these documents contain your NRIC number, your income and your account details. If you keep paper, keep the originals in one place and scan the ones you would need quickly.
Not everything needs keeping forever. A file that only grows becomes one you stop using, so each folder gets a keep-until rule: a stated retention period written on one line at the top of that folder, so the rule stays with the documents.
Some periods come from official sources, so check them and write them down. IRAS sets how long you must keep records that support your tax return and any reliefs you claim, and the period is stated on the IRAS website. Keep insurance policy documents and the policy contract for as long as the policy is in force. Your insurer can tell you if anything needs keeping longer.
The other periods are common sense, tied to what each document proves. Keep your employment contract and payslips at least until you have left the job and everything owed has been paid, including CPF. Keep a tenancy agreement, its inventory and the photos until the deposit is returned. Keep loan documents until the loan is fully repaid and you have confirmation that it has been discharged. Keep monthly statements long enough to cover any dispute, and longer if they support a tax claim.
Priya wrote her rule on one line at the top of each of her folders.
The checklist is one page with a short section for each document type, drawn from the lessons you've done. Its purpose is to make sure the next document gets read properly even when you are busy. Each line should be short enough to read in a few seconds. If a line needs explaining, it is too long.
Priya's checklist had these sections:
Payslip: required items present; additions match the contract; CPF recalculated on the right wages; net pay matches the bank credit. CPF history: one contribution per wage month; amounts match payslips; each outflow matched to a loan or policy; interest credited each January. Bank and card statements: every fee and its trigger; bonus interest lines present; statement balance paid in full; foreign currency charges checked. Notice of assessment: income matches IR8A; reliefs complete; due date and objection deadline noted. Insurance, employment contract, tenancy agreement and loan offer: three or four lines each, taken from modules 5 to 8.
Save the checklist at the top level of the file, where you see it every time you open it.
Once a year, on one date, go through the file. Archive or delete anything past its keep-until date, check that every policy and contract is current, and run the checklist on anything that slipped through during the year.
Pick a date that already means something, so it is easy to remember. Just after your notice of assessment usually arrives works well. Add it to your calendar as a repeating event now, while the file is fresh.
Building the file took Priya an afternoon. The next time a landlord asked for payslips, it took her two minutes.
Your file is finished when it has eight folders, each with a keep-until rule at the top. This year's documents are saved and named by date: your payslips, CPF statement, bank and card statements, notice of assessment, insurance documents, employment contract, and any tenancy or loan documents. The one-page checklist sits at the top level of the file, and a yearly review date is in your calendar.
Yours starts with the eight folders, so create those first and work outwards from there.
Set up the document file, save this year's documents in it, write the checklist and put the yearly review date in your calendar.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).